Portal:Religion
The Religion Portal
Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith, and a supernatural being or beings. (Full article...)
Vital article
Laozi (/ˈlaʊdzə/, Chinese: 老子), also romanized as Lao Tzu and various other ways, is a semi-legendary ancient Chinese philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching (Laozi), the foundational text of Taoism along with the Zhuangzi. A Chinese honorific typically translated as "the Old Master (zi)", the name and text were likely intended to portray an archaic anonymity that could converse with Confucianism. Modern scholarship generally regards his biographical details as later inventions, and his opus a collaboration. Traditional accounts addend him as Li Er, born in the 6th century BC state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period. Serving as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng (in modern Luoyang), he met and impressed Confucius on one occasion, composing the Tao Te Ching in a single session before retiring into the western wilderness. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that fictional religions, often described in speculative fiction, have in some cases inspired real religious movements?
- ... that a religious community is a group of people who practice the same religion, but do not have to live together?
- ... that Gherardo Gambelli, the incoming archbishop of Florence, served as a prison chaplain in Chad for over a decade?
- ... that in her 2021 book White Evangelical Racism, professor of religion Anthea Butler called American evangelicalism a pro-Trump, "nationalistic political movement"?
- ... that Catherine de Parthenay, a 16th-century Huguenot leader, was a member of "a highly successful network of information" during the French Wars of Religion?
- ... that Freedom of Religion South Africa filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to keep child spanking legal?
"Lisa the Skeptic" is the ninth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on November 23, 1997. On an archaeological dig with her class, Lisa discovers a skeleton that resembles an angel. All of the townspeople believe that the skeleton actually came from an angel, but skeptical Lisa attempts to persuade them that there must be a rational scientific explanation. The episode's writer, David X. Cohen, developed the idea after visiting the American Museum of Natural History, and decided to loosely parallel themes from the Scopes Monkey Trial. The episode also makes allusions to actual hoaxes, such as the Cardiff Giant. (Full article...)