Category: Freak Religion

Freak Religion, Middle East, Military, Politics, ZionismLeave a comment

An ultra-Orthodox ultimatum, and the future of the ‘Jewish’ state

Fernando Kaskais

(Photo Credit: The Cradle) The widening schism between Israel’s secular and ultra-Orthodox communities impacts not only the state’s military and economic wellbeing, but poses an existential threat to the stability of the entire Zionist project. By Robert Inlakesh Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, known as the Haredim, is the fastest-growing segment of the country’s population. This demographic shift is occurring amid escalating tensions between secular right-wing and religious-nationalist factions in Israel, raising concerns about the stability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition – particularly over contentious issues like Haredi military conscription. Projected to constitute approximately 16 percent of the occupation state’s population by … Continue reading An ultra-Orthodox ultimatum, and the future of the ‘Jewish’ state

Brain, Curiositys, Freak Religion, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

Thinking about God may encourage risk taking

Fernando Kaskais

Here’s how belief in a higher power can act like a psychological safety net. By Jim Davies Most God-fearing Americans feel the Almighty has got their back: Some 97 percent of those who believe in the God of the Bible say God has protected them at some point. So how does believing one has a buffer against harm affect a person’s approach to risk? Do believers take more risks, thinking God will ultimately save them from bad outcomes, or do they take fewer, fearing God would want them to feel the effects of risky decisions? York University psychologist Cindel White and colleagues … Continue reading Thinking about God may encourage risk taking

AI, Freak Religion, Future, Philosophy, ScienceLeave a comment

Untangling Religion From Our AI Debates

Fernando Kaskais

Is it inevitable that we infuse our AI debates with religious rhetoric? BY THOMAS MOYNIHAN – Thomas Moynihan is a writer and a visiting researcher at Cambridge University’s Center for the Study of Existential Risk. On a crisp night on the cusp of 1918, a young man watches the moon rise above the trenches somewhere in war-torn France. Scribbling in his diary, he records how, “gliding through the barbed wire,” it floodlit no-man’s-land. Fulfilling duties as a stretcher-bearer, that man was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Watching the “hesitant crescent,” he experienced an epiphany: about evolution, intelligence and extinction. Teilhard went on over … Continue reading Untangling Religion From Our AI Debates

Freak Religion, History, Manipulation, MetaphysicsLeave a comment

There was no Jesus

Fernando Kaskais

Photo by Larry Towell/Magnum How could a cult leader draw crowds, inspire devotion and die by crucifixion, yet leave no mark in contemporary records? Gavin Evans is a writer whose work has been published in The Guardian, Die Zeit, The Conversation and The New Internationalist, among others. His books include Mapreaders and Multitaskers: Men, Women, Nature, Nurture (2016), The Story of Colour (2017) and Skin Deep: Journeys in the Divisive Science of Race (2019). He lives in London. Most New Testament scholars agree that some 2,000 years ago a peripatetic Jewish preacher from Galilee was executed by the Romans, after a year or more of telling his followers about this world … Continue reading There was no Jesus

Freak Religion, Islam, Manipulation, Media&Culture, War, ZionismLeave a comment

How the Gaza War Can Be Big News and Invisible at the Same Time

Fernando Kaskais

Illustration by Walker Gawande by Norman Solomon – Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of many books including War Made Easy. Zen wisdom tells us that the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. Yet it’s easy to fall into the illusion that when we see news about the Gaza war, we’re really seeing the war. We are not. What we do routinely see is reporting that’s as different from the actual war as a pointed finger is from the moon. The media words and images … Continue reading How the Gaza War Can Be Big News and Invisible at the Same Time

Freak Religion, Politics, Psychology, Science, TerrorismLeave a comment

“Obsessive passion”: The surprising links between OCD and radicalization

Fernando Kaskais

People who score high in “obsessive passion” can become rigidly consumed by ideological causes — sometimes dangerously so. By Elizabeth Gilbert KEY TAKEAWAYS Mental problems are commonly blamed for extremist violence—radicals and terrorists appear by definition to be selfish psychopaths. Yet research finds that no single psychological profile leads to violent extremism. And while depression is sometimes correlated with political violence, these links are not always reliable and may only occur when combined with environmental factors like recent life stressors. Instead, most research finds that radicalization and political violence stem from environmental factors like marginalization, oppression, and perceived injustice. “Clinical traits that might … Continue reading “Obsessive passion”: The surprising links between OCD and radicalization

Ásia, Freak Religion, Manipulation, Politics, Science1 Comment

Amid Indian Nationalism, Pseudoscience Seeps Into Academia

Fernando Kaskais

Top: Scientists and students participate in the 2019 March for Science at Rajabazar Science College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Visual: Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images In recent years, falsehoods have spread to institutions, where the next generation of scientists are being educated. BY ARBAB ALI & NADEEM SARWAR IN OCT. 2022, India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, in collaboration with other ministries and departments, announced that it would host a four-day conference called “Akash For Life” at a university in the northern Indian city of Dehradun. “Akash” translates to “sky” or “spirit” in Hindi, and refers to one of five universal elements according … Continue reading Amid Indian Nationalism, Pseudoscience Seeps Into Academia

Activism, Freak Religion, Islam, Politics, RightsLeave a comment

Iran Has Become a Prison

Fernando Kaskais

What I learned about the challenge of resisting a regime that locks up thousands of political prisoners. By Kian Tajbakhsh Amid the nationwide protests that have rocked Iran since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly, a riot and a fire broke out at Tehran’s Evin Prison on October 15. Iran’s security services reportedly responded with extreme severity, threatening to shoot prisoners unless they retreated to their cells. According to the authorities, eight prisoners died. Evin Prison occupies a special place both within the regime’s security apparatus and in the political imagination of … Continue reading Iran Has Become a Prison

Freak Religion, History, Media&Culture, Philosophy, Psychology1 Comment

The imperative betrayal

Fernando Kaskais

The mystery of why Judas forsook Jesus goes to the heart of Christianity. A newly translated gospel offers a new view David Brakke is the Joe R Engle Chair in the History of Christianity and professor of history at the Ohio State University. His books include The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity (2010) and The Gospel of Judas: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (2022). Why did Judas do it? The betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth by Judas Iscariot, one of his 12 disciples, has become the paradigmatic act of treachery in Western culture. Modern historians are sceptical of many and even … Continue reading The imperative betrayal

Fascism, Freak Religion, Hypocrisy, Manipulation, PoliticsLeave a comment

An unholy alliance

Fernando Kaskais

Authoritarian leaders who play the religious card are not mere hypocrites. There’s something far more troubling going on Suzanne Schneider is deputy director and core faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. She is the author of Mandatory Separation: Religion, Education, and Mass Politics in Palestine (2018) and The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism (2021). Viktor Orbán reportedly does not attend church. Benjamin Netanyahu eats at non-kosher restaurants. New York libertine Donald Trump lacks all manner of evident religious virtue. Yet it is a fact that today’s crop of aspiring authoritarians invoke religious themes and … Continue reading An unholy alliance