.... and well today. It consists of many sub-divisions .These include ~Wicca ,druidism Santeria and many others. Wicca focuses on the worship of a god and goddess .In Wicca , there is a plethora of pantheon of deities that one can choose from including: Greek, Norse ,roman etc...... Focusing on a Greek Wiccan tradition ,this will be describing the pagan festival of Hectare. The Festival of Hecate The festival of Hecate is celebrated between the 3rd and 4th Saturday of August. (which ever is closest to the new moon) It is in honor of the Greek goddess Hecate. She was first worshipped in ancient Greece -called the triple goddess of magic. .....

.... grasping that is form, feeling, perception, mental formaitons, and consciousness. I don't agree with Buddha in any of this. I don't think suffering is caused by any of this. This is all life. I don't think that we are suffering all of this time. My definition of suffering would be anything that causes any pain, not anything that doesn't cause pleasure. There is a huge difference between the two. With Buddha, you are either suffering or in pleasure. I think that there is a middle ground. There are many times when people are not suffering and also not feeling pleasure. The origin of suffering, according to Buddha, is craving. Craving .....

.... of France would be stern upholders of traditional Catholic ways. Luther being German gave him immediate sympathy within the German state governments. And, with the rise of nationalism at the time helped to protect him in spreading his ideas. The Protestant League gave them a form of political power against the rest of Europe also. Until , Catholicism was a uniting force in Europe. Since all people there, other than Jews, were members of the Church, there was a sense of solidarity, which would never exist again in Europe after the Reformation. The power of the Church, then, was both religious and secular. However, after the Reformation .....

.... and reckless. Crime was widespread and grew day to day. The difference pertaining to this, is the reason the flood was sent. Noah’s story rules that the flood was sent because the earth had become corrupt and filled with violence, (Genisis, 6). The only way to destroy this violence was to drown everyone but the chosen few. These chosen few were hand-picked by God as good people to start a new, more wholesome and obedient civilization. Gilgamesh’s story says the reason for the flood was the volume the people created. The noise was intolerable and the gods insisted on ending the racket at once, (Duiker, 20). The singular rea .....

.... others of receiving this. Written October 20, 1996 NOTE: This document is quite lengthy, so it might be best to either print it or copy it to your word processor so it may be read off-line. Dear Friend, The choice of whether or not to read this message all the way through may have important consequences for you as the events of our immediate future unfold. This is being done solely for the benefit of others so that people may understand what to do about the times now approaching humanity. What I'm about to explain will strike many people as ridiculous, because this kind of thing has .....

.... He will judge every person according to his deeds. On the Last Day, all the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded with heaven or punished with hell. The life of each Muslim is always within the community of the faithful, all are declared to be "brothers to each other," with he mission to "enjoin good and forbid evil." Within the community, Muslims are expected to establish social and economic justice. They are also expected to carry their message out to the rest of the world. In the early ic community, this meant the use of force in the form of jihad, or holy war. The object of jihad was to gain political control over societies and .....

.... the same beliefs, obviously, or they would not make such statements. Another question one may ask themselves is exactly how different are the authors of the Biblical texts from ourselves. Is it their lifestyle or career that makes them so exotic in relation to us? Is it just because they spoke another language? They are children of God, just as we are. Science today is still discovering new evidence that proves the existence of a "mother of all humanity." We all share a common gene pool, we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Since the beginning of recorded history, religion has had a profound impact on the present society. Rom .....

.... (Gautama) supposedly talked and walked while lotus leafs formed in his footprints. Gautama's father was said to have been told his son's destiny for greatness, either as an emperor or as a religious leader. Therefore Gautama's father decided to isolate his son from the outside world, where he might "see how the other half lived" and maybe even be tempted to belong to a different religion. ¹pg 141 "What man Believes" Evans, Allan E., Moynes, Riley E., Martinello, Larry Since the complete seclusion as Gautama's father had wished was impossible and Gautama was a curious young man he did venture out and that is when he eventually say the four .....

.... never really understood the claims of the creation account (McLean 11). Over the past several years, a great deal of controversy surrounding the creation-evolution issue has been generated by scientists who have based their claims on the creation model and have been willing to let their reputations stand. Creationists have openly requested that when the discussion of origins occurs in the public school system, both the model of creation and evolution be presented side by side. Initially, scientists and educators who have accepted the theory of evolution without question were reluctant to pay any serious attention to creationism; however, .....

.... Koresh. The word cult has been used very loosely during the past couple of decades. It has been used recently by the media in the headlines to describe the events that took place at Ruby Ridge, and Waco. Each of these events has several things in common. In both instances, there were references to secret societies, a religious belief that deviated from the accepted norm, and a strong authority figure at the head. All this has seemed strange to some people, but this type of situation has been going on since before the inception of this country. Today's modern cults have simply borrowed some of their ideas from the past. Society has .....