... someone pronounced a well-wishing formula while others responded. The exchanges seemed to be made up of just clichés, but had the solemnity of religion or magic. I was partaking in a rite that was just ...
It was another night train, my seventh and last such trip, that took me to Yaroslavl. I was back on the Volga, but an autumnal coolness had swept over the limitless expanses of Russia. The shorts and t-shirts ...
... Lady of Kazan's icon. Religion came in to sanction and sanctify the military feat: the sacred image, not a mere pictorial representation anymore, but endowed with own divine life, was promoted to the rank ...
Kłodzko was formerly called Glatz – and this is not just a learned detail, because this German name gives evidence to the region's history. The town, together with swathes of Silesia, was a dominion of ...
... of stelae of different shapes and decorative patterns, it marks a stage in the country's history approximately 700 years ago when Christianity had not yet taken over pagan religions in the south. I had ...
... he asked me personal questions about religion. I was pretty sure he was Muslim, given that his name was Hussayn, so had a guess with the certainty of hitting the mark, but he smiled and said he used to ...
... focused on the contradictions that religions bring about in the world. They may well preach love and understanding, but too many of their followers hate and harm those who stick to a different credo. At ...
... by an old man with a white beard and lively eyes who is eager to instruct me about his religion, thinking probably that this is my first encounter with his strange world. He speaks Mandarin, but at least ...
... a piece of ourselves from its onslaught.
The changing of the seasons falls conspicuously under everybody’s eyes as an example of recurrent cycle. It’s not by chance that religions have chosen astronomically ...
... privileges from being maintained or indeed sanctioned, sometimes entrusting their continuance to the sacred sphere of religion.
Thus, things become more complicated when we attempt at establishing shared ...
... context is: God ordered it – or so clerics will say and believers chime in. But if we take a secular approach to the issue and from this angle try to explain religion itself, there are interesting lessons ...
... of the supernatural are not lacking in any world religion, here they literally abound. But what can you do, wherever you go, they are the average worshipper’s daily bread, the stuff that takes his mind ...
... and less filtered though the rose-tinged glasses of religion have produced a reasoning that was borne out by personal observations. I call it a rational approach, and it’s probably nothing but a cynical ...
... there is another religion in the world which does not strive to achieve the goals of peace and tolerance. I can feel there are bridges between us when I recognise the values that were also part of my education. ...
... one that’s already spinning it takes just a flick of your hand to keep it going round for a long time still. How well this represents religion: praying by oneself is not very engaging, but when a ceremony ...
... orange-throwing festival in Italy, human creativity has found a rich seam to mine. Carnival in the Christian world and Aashura’ in Shiite countries are other examples of festivals where religion intermingles ...
... We are back to an era when many western people have turned away from mainstream religions to unquestionably embrace New Age nonsense. In present-day psychic and occult faires, people consult clairvoyants, ...
... dalle male lingue. La componente mistica sufistica che smussa le rigidità dell'Islam più intransigente ha integrato elementi magici nella religione e tra le altre cose permette una convivenza pacifica ...
... troneggiano due donne velate che discutono di religione in una lingua che neanche lei capisce. Cerco di reagire parlando un po', raccontando qualcosa, ma quando gli argomenti sono esauriti, non rimane ...
... religione, mentre io sono disperatamente proteso alla ricerca delle preziose testimonianze di cultura e di storia dell'umanità. Non può quindi nemmeno capire perché abbia viaggiato notti intere sui treni ...