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Would it be right to say that Buddist teachings seek to explain or to show a way toward - ; in that it is a striving toward a goal that is called (for want of a more suitable word) 'perfection'. It's reliance upon and experence of the temporal is not as an attempt to define it or to explain it...

Depends where you live, you might find a decent bookshop. You can also use the Blackwells or Foyle's booksites, they actually have people reading your messages and give you sensible answers. Try a websearch for wicca and look up the official sites, they will be able to refer to specific info...

'The Greeks', as I am endlessly arguing with people, is a very tendencious term. Troy was destroyed in about 1300 BCE in what is now Turkey. The Greek world was based aouround the Aegean. The Romans lie on the other side of the peninsula that is modern Greece, then over some water and date...

Does anyone other than North Americans believe that there are pieces in the Hebrew text specifically about the United States (other than those who have decided that the Apocalipse will occurr there?) Regards martin hogan

Re: someting might be a scam I'm not sure how this is a contradiction. I'm trying to understand the link between theology and human behaviour. My argument is that, for theology-/ religion to be a scam, we must show that it's primary goal is the furtherence of human ends, hence the...

monogamy I think the easiest proof against monogamy is the persistant existence of brothels - even in countries where there is a strong religious taboo against such practices. I did have a short history of the behaviour of Popes but it tried to pass off various activities as a joke, which I...

Contamination of Meat As a vegetarian, I have the problem of trying to find food which doesn't have meat additives and it is not always as easy as you might think. Even cheeses, fruit drinks, beers etc. can have various animal parts in them - not to mention cosmetics, soaps etc. (don't ask...

holy spirit and the feminine The definition of 'the feminine', or of 'female, has changed greatly over the centuries. Some cultures do not understand the concept at all (the introduction of 'In Pursuit of Gender' (Altamira 2002), there is a discussion of the difficulty of defining gender)...

blasphemy The difficulty with blasphemy is working out who has the right to judge. As soon as someone other than the deity accuses another of blasphemy, they set themselves up on a level with that deity, thus can be accused of blasphemy themselves. Poytheism is less prone to this difficulty...

America and the Dead Sea Scrolls With works as complex as religious tracts and Shakespear, it is possible to link them to almost anything - particularly musical, as a great deal of music is still based on these works, or second hand references to it. Regards Martin Hogan

Monogamy 'The Social Ecology of Religion' by Reynolds and Tanner (OUP 1995) gives a reasonable overview of sacrifice, worship and sexual practices. The definition of monogamy is in itself not stable, nor is the definition of homosexual, hetrosexual, adult, hermaphrodite etc. Social...

someting might be a scam We are happy to say that 'religion is a scam' but we would not say that politics, or economics is a scam, only a particular branch with which we disagree. More people have been killed in wars in the 20th century than in the rest of known human history and of the 10...

Darwin and God In his 'Descent of Man', which outlines the theory of evolution and in particular human evolution, Darwin deliberately avoids the concept of God and theology. His comments on human intellect do not rise above the racist beliefs of his day. I find his concept of 'advancement' to...

I disagree that globalisation is inevitable. We will need six times the resources available on Earth to sustain globalisation, so it has severe drawbacks. It is telling that, in Western secular societies, world leaders have a tendency to be white, male and attend Christian churches; they also...

knee jerk reatctions Throughout the period 1970 to 2001, whenever a plane crashed, it was normal for 'Arab terrorists' to be named - this before any inquiry into the crash. At the end of the Cold War, CIA and Pentagon reports stated that the threat to US power could only be attacked through...

The Romans could hardly be described as placing a high value on lives of their enemies, slaves etc. Public execution was common. They also paid women to have children - not least to provide troops for their conquests. It should also be remembered that life expectancy was low, so devoting...

image creation http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/bodies/index1.html Has a handy list of mummy sites; it is interesting that nothing dates back further than 5 000 BCE. We often assume that peoole have always strove to create permanent structures, yet the evidence of human...

homo erectus art Once we accept that a creature adapts its surroundings for tools etc, there is no reason why it should not then go on to produce 'art' - that is, a structure which posesses a degree of abstraction. The ability to create thingss which at least change the relationship between...