TonioTimeDaily

"Halloween is on its way and feeble horror tales are being dished out left, right and center. The following true stories, however, are not only filled with death and gore; they actually happened. Though often brutal and nonsensical, ritual suicide is real and has occurred throughout history. The motives behind mass suicide are varied. In ancient times and during the Dark Ages it was common for entire groups of people to commit suicide to avoid subjugation to enemy invaders, whilst in the past few centuries ritual suicide has been seen within religious offshoots and collectives who follow cults of the occult."

Description: "It’s one thing to say, “I am creative”. But how did you get there? Every creative has a journey and that story needs to be heard. I created this platform as a safe space for entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators to connect, encourage, and share their journeys, transparently and without judgment. On each episode, I sit down with the next generation of leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, & innovators to discuss topics that impact our communities and shifting the culture.   Outside of podcasting & content creation, I enjoy traveling, writing, home essentials, & interior design. In between branding & refreshing my space, I love creating looks that bring style & comfort to my home. I am currently in the process of refreshing my space, a journey I would love to share with you. I believe that you style your space without breaking the bank.   ☕️ Buy me a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/speakherpodcast  

A simple and honest study of our world’s theocracies (and countries such as America where those issues are being debated) reveals how our holy texts are used to discriminate against women, LGBTs, and foreigners. Our top three world religions’ texts are full of discrimination against these groups. In fact, it is openly used as justification for that discrimination.

Religion facilitates erroneous rationalization of the attempts to remove basic rights from others. It prevents people from living in peace as a community and within their own lives. It forces entire groups of people to work tirelessly to create and preserve rights that should be available to them already.

Many of our religions treat women as subhuman property rather than the part of the human species that gives life to every one of us – a position that deserves respect. Many of our world’s countries have so drastically restricted the rights of women that they are not allowed to attend school to earn an education, drive a car, be seen in public without a male family member, hold a career, or even speak their own thoughts. In each instance where this gender based bigotry is enforced, it is always attached to a religiously based belief system.

Religion also treats the LGBT community with disdain, even to the point where some countries prescribe death as a punishment for not following that religion’s definition of what sex should look like. This is also how religion is destroying humanity. The problem with this is that homosexuality can be found in many species, not just amongst humanity. Anyone who has done their research knows this. Unfortunately, religion has not caught up to this reality. Although homosexuality has existed for millennia, religion still persists in fighting what comes natural to much of nature. Is it a god that gave us permission to interrogate and murder people based on sexual orientation, or is it the people who wrote our religious texts and simply did not understand or agree with that part of nature?

Sadly, our religious texts have been used to discriminate against a vast assortment of people, including, tribes, minorities and foreigners. People outside of a religion’s belief structure or cultural background have been tortured, enslaved and stripped of their human rights – all in the name of a god and the religion that god represents. This is also the reason for how religion is destroying humanity.

Religion gives followers justification for treating others who are not like them in inhumane ways. It enables our world to perpetuate the cycles of hatred towards others and justify our efforts in restricting the happiness of our fellow human beings."

"For the following three reasons I lay out and explore below, leaving one’s faith or religion is fraught with potential peril and difficulties.

1. The trauma caused by deconstructing, and finally making the difficult decision to leave your former faith behind, can be traumatic and psychologically debilitating. Psychologist and author Dr Marlene Winell is an expert on religious trauma syndrome (RTS). In an article on the subject, she maintains that RTS “is a function of both the chronic abuses of harmful religion and the impact of severing one’s connection with one’s faith and faith community.” She points out that not only can religion be the source of much trauma, in addition it is all-pervasive, affecting literally every aspect and area of our lives.

In the case of evangelical Christianity, for example, it affected our relationships with others who were non-Christians, since we tended to view them as potential converts. We couldn’t just have a “normal” relationship with no strings attached; there was always an agenda — and it wasn’t always hidden. Every non-believer we came into contact with represented a chance for proselytization, and oftentimes, if they didn’t want to hear about the gospel, the relationship was terminated. Either that, or we drove them away with our constant referrals to the Bible, the gospel message, or with repeated invitations to church or Christian events. Some Christians have even lost their jobs, or co-workers have severed relationships with them, because they wouldn’t stop proselytizing at work.

Religion can also affect many people’s sex lives; as an example, the evangelical purity culture can have a potentially crippling effect on one’s self-image, sexuality, marriage, and relationships with sexual partners. As a young person raised in this context, in an effort to avoid falling into “sexual sin” before marriage, the herculean effort of suppressing one’s normal and natural sex drive can do incredible damage. And if one does fall into sexual sin and loses their virginity prior to marriage, there is oftentimes a tremendous amount of shame and guilt attached to that act."

Adopted in 1960, the Principles, Purposes and Sources are incorporated in the Bylaws of the Unitarian Universalist Association:[50]

Unitarian Universalists emphasize the responsibility of the individual as well as the community for achieving spiritual growth and development. The complete statement of the Unitarian Universalist covenant describes the Six Sources upon which current practice is based:

Side note: Again, I'm a figuratist, not a literalist!

"According to Action 5 News in Memphis, TN, Parishioners at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church watched as a brawl broke out right in the middle of service and now the police have launched an investigation.

A fight between two women near the church’s choir section turned into a brawl between the two families, according to a police report. When officers arrived, only three people from the brawl were left and they’re all listed as both suspects and victims.

The police report tells two versions of what happened Sunday.

Police took photos of three church members’ injuries, but the photos haven’t been released.

At the center of the altercation are Beverly Milam, her nemesis Terry Bell, and Bell’s daughter Charra Lumpkin.

Bell and Milam agree on one thing: the fight began with a verbal confrontation at Bible study last Wednesday.

Milam said she told Bell to “stop sleeping with somebody” and then she said Bell got in her face.

Fast forward to first Sunday at New Salem.

Bell said she was walking from the choir stand during service around 1 p.m. when Milam approached her and said “Are you going to do something today?”

Bell said she replied she was “not going to get involved in something at the church.”

At that point, Bell’s daughter, Lumpkin, got between the two women.

But a Communion Day cat fight still followed.

The two women at the center of the fight have different versions of how the blows began.

Bell claims Milam struck her daughter.

Milam claims Bell’s friend “Angel” struck her in the face with an umbrella.

At that point, family members jumped in.

Milam said someone “grabbed her by the back of her hair” and “threw her to the ground.”

When officers arrived, they had to separate the women.

The police report says Bell suffered scratch marks to her neck and upper chest and her daughter had scratch marks to the neck, upper chest and left side.

Milam has a slightly swollen and bloodshot right eye.

Paramedics treated Milam at the church while Bell and Lumpkin refused medical attention

All parties involved said this has been an ongoing problem for several years and they all want to prosecute and Memphis police say charges could follow.

The church declined to comment on the matter and neither Milan and Lumpkin wanted to talk about what happened.

Bell has not returned Action News 5’s call.

And despite rumors, no one in church leadership threw any punches on first Sunday."

Being single provides freedom which is one of the four single life values. The single life allows you to live your life exactly how you want without having to worry about a spouse or children. Singles have the freedom to do as they please without worrying about caring for a spouse or children. This gives you the freedom to travel, see the world, pursue your own interests, develop your skills, discover yourself, and live your best life.

No matter why you are childfree, there is nothing wrong with making the personal decision not to have children. Some of your friends or family may think that it is a wrong choice for whatever reasons they may give, but they are not in charge of your life. You are the one in control of your life."

"18. The Bible is not a reliable guide to Christ's teachings. Mark, the oldest of the Gospels, was written at least 30 years after Christ's death, and the newest of them might have been written more than 200 years after his death. These texts have been amended, translated, and re-translated so often that it's extremely difficult to gauge the accuracy of current editions—even aside from the matter of the accuracy of texts written decades or centuries after the death of their subject. This is such a problem that the Jesus Seminar, a colloquium of over 200 Protestant Gospel scholars mostly employed at religious colleges and seminaries, undertook in 1985 a multi-year investigation into the historicity of the statements and deeds attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. They concluded that only 18% of the statements and 16% of the deeds attributed to Jesus had a high likelihood of being historically accurate. So, in a very real sense fundamentalists—who claim to believe in the literal truth of the Bible—are not followers of Jesus Christ; rather, they are followers of those who, decades or centuries later, put words in his mouth.

19. The Bible, Christianity's basic text, is riddled with contradictions. There are a number of glaring contradictions in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, and including some within the same books. A few examples:

". . . God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."

". . . for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever."

"If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true."

and last but not least:

"I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

Christian apologists typically attempt to explain away such contradictions by claiming that the fault lies in the translation, and that there were no contradictions in the original text. It's difficult to see how this could be so, given how direct many biblical contradictions are; but even if these Christian apologetics held water, it would follow that every part of the Bible should be as suspect as the contradictory sections, thus reinforcing the previous point: that the Bible is not a reliable guide to Christ's words."

"After picking my jaw up off the floor, I got up and left and never looked back."

—samk35

"I was 15. That was the moment that I realized I will never believe in God or any organized religion again."

—cracklinrosie

—kayblu02

"The second was when they organized a church get-together which involved a two-hour 'motivational talk' from a 'reformed homosexual' who basically told everyone that being gay is a death sentence. That killed it for me because there could have been kids there looking for guidance and acceptance being in that situation and you've just told them they should die."

—Anonymous

"I’ve now been married for over 20 years to my husband (the father of my child), with two adult children who are amazing. I’ve exposed them to multiple religions and allowed them to make their own decisions, with neither opting to join any organized religion. Both are amazing, kind, and caring and I have no regrets."

—Anonymous

—Anonymous

—Anonymous

—juliel4e89ecc7d"