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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Are atheists strongly underrepresented in US prison communities?
This popularly referenced survey gives statistics about the number of atheists in US prisons.
It suggests just 0.21% of the prison population is atheist. There are more scientologists! This is ...
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Did Pope John Paul II perform a miracle?
The catholic church has very recently beatified late Pope John Paul II. As one of the requirements for this, the church required at least one miracle attributed to the candidate. In this case, a nun ...
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Did any satanic cult ever commit organised ritual murders or sacrifices?
In Manhattan Beach, CA in 1983 members of the McMartin family were accused of a variety of abuse charges against the children in their care.
It was reported that the children:
"were victimized ...
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Are there no atheists in foxholes?
As Merlin Mann once said,
There are no atheists in foxholes and
firmware updates.
Okay, scratch the firmware part, but you see the core sentiment expressed quite commonly. I've never fully ...
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Do bar-codes contain "The Number of the Beast"?
I've encountered lots of people and some other sources that claim that every bar-code contains the number 666 and is therefore "The Number of the Beast"?
The first thing a scanner looks for when ...
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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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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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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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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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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 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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Upon retirement, what percentage of pornstars turn to religion, and which ones?
I have heard from word of mouth/gossip/etc. that many retired pornstars turn to religion after their careers are over. To what extent is this true? Is it uniform over sexes? Is it also the same for ...
user876
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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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Ash Wednesday History
I recently read a blog that stated:
Ash Wednesday is a relatively late addition to the Christian liturgical calendar, first surfacing in the tenth century according to accounts written in the ...
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