What are the strange and bizarre forms of ritualized behaviour that humans prescribe to, what are the similarities between the faith systems of the world and why do we hold on to them? Anthropologist Pascal Boyer has extensively researched these questions and presents his findings in this enlightening lecture. A full treatment of the material discussed can be found in ...
I’m not sure if it’s Thomas Paine or Havelock Ellis who said this but it is an absolute gem: ”The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.”
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” It saddens me that religious humans of the modern age cannot even come close to ...
Rationalist Day 2011 will be held on the 7th of June (tomorrow) at the Namel Malini Punchi Theatre, Borella Sri Lanka. Get the full press release/invite from the Secular Society Of Sri Lanka here The event kicks off at 3 pm although I will probably show up a little later than that! see you there!
Sri Lankan hypocrisy at it’s best – A “gossip” site celebrates the Buddha Jayanthi (in style) Buddha Jayanthi, Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi call it whatever you want according to the establishment it has been 2600 years since Buddha achieved his ultimate goal. We are the kind of people that gives its politicians and leaders a lot of latitude. Thus we should ...
I had an interesting discussion with a creationist a few weeks back and I thought I should write up a post. This is more or less what I said to my friend on twitter a few weeks back. Quite a back and forth it was ! Evolution is a fact. Not a theory. Most people think that evolution (“gradual change ...
Before I move onto rebirth I would like to point out another peculiar feature of Buddhism. The ultimate goal, according to Buddha is the elimination of the samsaric cycle of suffering by attaining Nirvana – a state of “enlightenment”. Nirvana has been defined in a very peculiar manner. The Buddha does not go into detail regarding the qualities that the ...
THE FOCUS centerforatheism.org JULY 23, 2010 Volume 6, Issue 29 Published by the Center For Atheism (CFA) Editor: David Birnkrant The Focus provides links to articles collected from major newspapers and magazines, and is emailed weekly. This Week in Atheism is a cable show that discusses the articles featured below, every Wednesday at 6:30 PM (EST), Manhattan Cable station 57. ...
The Rationalist Day 2010 held at “Namel – Malini Punchi Theatre” – Borella, Sri Lanka on 18th May 2010. The day was organized by the Sri Lanka Rationalist Association (SLRA) referring the Birth anniversary of the great rationalist literate & rationalist activist Bertrand Russell. Many intellectuals shared their views on religion in Sri Lanka. The videos are available on YouTube ...
[Original Post: http://blog.secularsrilanka.com/2010/06/western-province-to-ban-tuition-class.html ] First Sabaragamuwa province banned tuition classes for children between the ages of 5 to 16 years on Full Moon Poya days and on Sundays between 8am to 2pm. A few days Later Matara district followed a similar decision. Now, the Western Province is also planning to do the same thing. The topic will be discussed at ...
…..after watching two recent episodes of South Park. The Sunday Leader has, according to their words, “uncovered a shocking new example of the West’s contempt for Buddhist culture and values…” after “uncovering” a cartoon Buddha snorting cartoon cocaine, with a cartoon Jesus next to him watching cartoon porn. I’m trying hard not to state the bleeding obvious, but its South ...
This blog is an abstraction from an article published in the New Scientist website.It is a report explaining the alleged religious experiences.There are many more research done on the matter and more need to be done to arrive at a scientifically acceptable conclusion. This is reproduce in religurd to initiate discussions,not to claim authorship of the content. (The above picture is to ...
[The following is a blog post I first wrote & published in 2003, and since belief in race theory has not yet disappeared from this planet, I thought I would re-post the entry here, it may be useful for people who are thinking about ending their belief in race theory & the negative practices & views that arise from that belief] Race ...
By Sujewa Ekanayake [First published in New Agnosticism For Sri Lanka & The Diaspora blog on 4/15/10] Agnosticism, in my view, is an approach to religion that states that a person may not believe in all or certain aspects of a religion or of all religions, or that a person may be comfortable with some aspects of a religion or ...
Edwin Ariyadasa(close associate of Sir Arthur) stated.. “Sir Arthur was one of the freest spirits, that walked the Earth. He was unencumbered by convention or dogma. At one point he described himself as a crypto-Buddhist later on. I was told that, he had an inclination to drop the adjective “crypto” I am happy that he sent me his touching greetings ...
Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, have asked human rights layers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI with crimes against humanity, specifically over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. They are planning the legal ambush when the Pope’s Holy Jet [PHJ] touches down in Heathrow, Britain in September, and are planning on using a legal principle that ...
The BBC news item reports that President Mahinda Rajapakshe revealed a plan to ban ethnic tags in party names. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8598150.stm He also said, more controversially, that “racial politics” would not have a place in future – a possible indication that he will seek to revive a recently tabled plan to ban parties with words such as “Tamil” or “Muslim” ...
