Questions tagged [religion]
Use this tag for questions about religious practices. Do not ask questions about religious beliefs, though. Those are off-topic and there is no tag to use.
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Does the Quran advise men to beat their wives if they disobey them? [closed]
I found this post on Reddit in which it is mentioned that the Quran advises men to beat their wives if they do not obey them.
This is a quote from the link:
Surah 4:34: "Men are in charge of women ...
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Did Muhammad exist?
What contemporary historical records of the existence of Muhammad, the
prophet of Islam, exist or are known to have existed at some point?
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Did Moses live?
Moses is, arguably, the most significant prophet in Judaism and is credited with leading the enslaved Jewish population out of Egypt and into the promised land.
Aside from the Torah, are there any ...
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Fasting for 40 days - is it possible?
According to Deuteronomy 9:9, Moses did not eat or drink anything for 40 days.
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even
the tables of the covenant which the LORD ...
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Are there officially pronounced "no-go" Islamic zones in France?
In this Hannity interview on Fox News on 9 January, 2015, American author Robert Spencer said that:
So in France they have set up - the French government lists on a public web-site -751 no-go areas,...
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Claimed similarities between Jesus Christ and Horus and other Gods
The 2007 conspiracy theory film Zeitgeist: The Movie (Website, Watch online, Wikipedia Entry) states in Part I "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" that major points of the story about Jesus Christ's birth,...
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Is there any explanation for a near-death experience?
One idea I used to hear a lot about was that when people are near-death and saved by medical science that they sometimes see "a light at the end of a tunnel" in a vision.
Today I read about an ...
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Are human beings naturally predisposed to believe in God?
My girlfriend sent me this article from the Telegraph. This is an excerpt:
Led by two academics at Oxford University, the £1.9 million study found that human thought processes were “rooted” to ...
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Is Islam banned in Japan?
I noticed some people posting and reposting bold statements online that Japan is (the only) country that banned Islam. I searched a bit and found out that there are some mosques and Muslim societies ...
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Are non-religious people smarter than religious people?
There are quite a few studies that confirm this, the most recent one:
http://onefuriousllama.com/2011/09/11/another-study-links-intelligence-to-lack-of-religiosity/
Are non-religious people smarter ...
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Is there systemic sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests?
Is there a systemic relationship between Catholic priests and sexual abuse of children?
I ask because I grew up in Newfoundland, which was at the time engrossed in the abuse at Mount Cashel ...
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Is atheism the fastest growing "religion" in the history of the United States?
First of all, yes, atheism isn't a religion. Taking from the Wikipedia link, atheism is defined as
Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.
Penn Jillette ...
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Are religious people happier?
This video discusses the idea that religious people are happier.
Are there:
any sources that support or contradict the claims?
any scientific papers that address the issue?
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Do we lose 7 pounds when we die?
I often hear people claim that it is a fact that humans lose seven pounds when they die. Some people believe that this is 'proof' of the existence of the 'soul'. Is there any truth to this claim? I ...
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Can the events of the Ramayana and Mahabharata be astronomically dated to around 7300 BCE and 5561 BCE respectively?
The Ramayana is one of Hinduism's greatest epics. Nobody appears to know with certainty when the poem was composed or when the events in it occurred. However, while some scholars claim that the events ...
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Are most terrorists Muslim?
Those arguing for more profiling quite frequently claim that while not all Muslims are terrorists, most terrorists are muslim. Is there data to show that more than 50% of terrorists attacks can be ...
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Do atheists commit far fewer crimes?
According to a post by latimes.com, "How secular family values stack up":
Atheists were almost absent from our prison population as of the late 1990s, comprising less than half of 1% of those ...
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Did Einstein as a student debate with his professor about God and Evil?
There has been numerous videos online claiming that Einstein as a student had a debate with an atheist professor about God.
I read the text version of this story in forums and via hearsay, but I just ...
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Does prayer help to heal?
It's not hard to find claims like these in the media or on the web from time to time.
Is there any scientifically verifiable evidence that prayer (in addition to appropriate medical/surgical ...
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Is there a place in the world where two oceans meet and they don't mix?
This picture is currently being spread virally:
Some Muslims were saying that this is mentioned in the Quran where it is said:
He has set free the two seas meeting together. There is a barrier
...
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Is xenoglossy a scientifically verified phenomenon?
It has often been said that people can speak in languages that were not formerly known to them. Arguably the most often recited example of this is in the context of demonic possession. For example, ...
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Is the religious population declining?
Different groups argue that the numbers of religious people are either shrinking or growing, often depending on which group they are from.
One example of the shrinking religious viewpoint is the ...
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Is Idaho forcing pastors to conduct same-sex weddings or face penalties?
According to this article from "ADF" and this in the Washington Post, the city of Coeur d'Alene is requiring the Knapps, an ordained couple, to conduct same sex weddings or face penalties ...
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Does the Torah-encoded age of the universe match science?
Dr. Gerald Schroeder published an article in Aish.com about the age of the Universe and the Jewish bible:
So the only data I use as far as Biblical commentary goes is ancient
commentary. That ...
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Do Christmas celebrations have these diverse non-Christian origins?
This image from Truth Saves is a little tongue-in-cheek but it makes claims to the real origins of several modern Christmas related traditions such as the tree and carols.
You don't need to ...
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Has the Quran (the recitation) been preserved since Muhammad?
Islamic scholars claim that Quran's preservation is the one of the most miraculous aspects of Quran. In fact, a major reason for muslims to believe in the Quran was the preservation of Quran, which is ...
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Are secular/atheist adults less vengeful, nationalistic, militaristic, authoritarian and more tolerant?
From: How secular family values stack up
Many psychological studies show that secular grownups tend to be less vengeful, less nationalistic, less militaristic, less authoritarian and more tolerant, ...
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Was there an organized early Jerusalem church?
In the period between AD 30 and AD 70, many historians claim that there was an Early Jerusalem Church active and preaching in Palestine. The mainstream historical narrative can be found in this pdf. I ...
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Do the Salvation Army policies discriminate against homosexuals?
I have seen several articles and read several blogs stating that the Salvation Army is "homophobic", and that they actively discriminate against gay and lesbian people:
The Salvation Army does not ...
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Does a miracle of spontaneous "holy fire" occur in a Jerusalem church every year?
Has there been any scientific investigation into the nature of Holy Fire, to either clearly debunk it or be determined inconclusive (thus allowing for a margin of plausibility)?
Patriarch Diodoros ...
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Was Jesus crucified?
Assuming Jesus was a real person, it is a generally accepted fact that he died on a cross. On the other hand, Jehovah's Witnesses are of the belief that the crucifixion of Jesus is a mistranslation ...
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Did Muslim immigrants rape over 300 Swedish children in seven months of 2013?
From Top Conservative News:
Muslim immigrants raped over 300 Swedish children in seven months of 2013
In the first seven months of 2013, over 1,000 Swedish women reported being raped by Muslim ...
user4951
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Did Christians burn the Great Library of Alexandria?
The Great Library of Alexandria was one of the wonders of ancient civilisation having collected many thousands of scrolls containing knowledge and literature from across the known world.
The 2009 ...
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Did St. Patrick rid Ireland of druids and other pagans?
I've read that the common story about St. Patrick ridding Ireland of "snakes" is actually a reference to ridding Ireland of druids and other pagans. Some sources say that he accomplished this through ...
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Is the Bible (Christian and Hebrew) the first one to suggest that the Earth is a sphere?
This website claims that the bible is the first to suggest that earth is a sphere way before the Greeks.
A literal translation of Job 26:10 is “He described a circle upon the
face of the waters, ...
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Is "No Religion" world's fastest growing religion?
This recent article from anonhq.com has been widely shared on Facebook.
It claims:
A recent global survey conducted by National Geographic shows that the worlds fastest growing religion is not ...
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Does putative Islam convert, Robert Guilham, exist?
A widely broadcast story on Islamic sites claims that a Jewish genetics expert from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine converted to Islam as a result of scientific evidence supporting the Quran. ...
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Why is the smell of flowers sensed in some situations?
Some people report sensing a flowery smell in some places or situations in which there are no flowers present. Those sensations are sometimes related to religious experiences.
There are also claims ...
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Did Soviet miners drill a hole to Hell?
This was claimed (though referred to as a hoax by one of the characters) in a recent XKCD comic:
http://www.xkcd.com/1330/
Did Soviet miners drill a hole to super-hot cavern where you could hear ...
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Did the Miracle of Lanciano turn bread and wine into flesh and blood?
The story of the Miracle of Lanciano is that, in 700 AD, a monk in Lanciano reported that:
During the Mass, when he said the Words of Consecration [...], with doubt in his soul, the priest saw the ...
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Have many Falun Gong practitioners forgone medical treatment and died of treatable causes as a result?
The Chinese government is notably opposed to Falun Gong. In 1999, they were quoted in the Sun Sentinel:
the government charged that Falun Gong was responsible for the deaths of 1,400 people -- many ...
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Is Halal meat healthier to consume?
Traditionally, Muslims only eat meat that has been slaughtered and prepared according to the rules of Halal.
Some people claim that leads to meat that is healthier to eat.
Halal for Health
Halal ...
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Does Gallup assume people answer honestly in their creationist vs. evolution polls?
A recent Gallup poll claims that 46% of Americans believe :
God created human beings pretty much in their present form within the last 10,000 years or so
It seems to me possible that, when asked ...
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Was Theodor Herzl a self-confessed atheist? [closed]
I'm watching a Youtube video that explains the Israel-Palestine situation, and at this point the journalist/narrator says that Theodor Herzl, known as the father of Zionism or at least a chief ...
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Did Theodor Herzl adhere to Spinozism?
The following are found among a list of Theodor Herzl quotes on the Web site of the World Zionist Organisation:
When I say God I do not mean to offend the freethinkers. For my part
they can say ...
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