Philippine Catholic Bishops are sending Bibles and rosary beads to communities devastated by typhoon Yolanda. Yeah who needs food and shelter when you have Jesus?

Courtesy of Inquirer News: 

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is sending several copies of the Bible and rosaries to Tacloban and nearby provinces to fill the spiritual necessities of those affected by supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan). 

According to the CBCP, the Episcopal Commission for the Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) will be sending 1,000 copies of the Bible to help strengthen the faith of the typhoon victims. 

On the other hand, the prayer support network of the pro-life movement Rosary for Life donated to the CBCP an initial 3,000 rosaries for Tacloban to help uplift the spiritual morale of the devastated people in the city. 

“We know that through prayers somehow we will survive as a people and persevere in life. The primacy of the spiritual dimension in our lives must be emphasized to our people. We, of course know that the physical necessities of life are important but also important is the spiritual side of the people in this recent calamity. We are making these rosaries available to people to help them pray in this time of trial and tragedy,” said William Lorenzo, the communication officer of Rosaries for Life, in a statement. 

Lorenzo said they would visit the affected areas to help rehabilitate the Catholic spirituality of the people of Tacloban. 

He added that rosaries would also be sent to Samar, another province badly affected by the supertyphoon. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Natividad Pagadut, ECBA’s executive secretary, believes that the distribution of the Bible should be coupled with formation and counseling of the people in order to guide them on how to use it. 

“We hope that the Bible would help the victims recover from the tragedy, strengthen their faith, and improve as persons,” she said. 

“It is best to couple it with formation, counseling and to guide them on what to read in the Bible during this time. With this, they will be consoled, challenged, they will gain hope to move on, and get up from this terrible experience,” Pagadut said. 

The biblical apostolate also gave 100 copies of children’s Bible for kids to read to help them get up from the devastating experience. 

WTF? These people have lost EVERYTHING and with all of the money at their disposal the Catholic church sends them Bibles and beads?

They don't care about the well being of these people, they are just worried that they will lose members of the flock who might be questioning the wisdom of worshiping a God who either sent this typhoon on purpose who was unable or unwilling to prevent it.

These people need physical help, not more proselytizing.

I may be nothing more than a heathen but I have sent two different donations already.

Cash donations.

And I did it not to earn my way into heaven, or to buy my way out of hell, but simply because it is the right, the human, thing to do.

Your word of wisdom for the day.

Swami Muktananda:  "You mustn't believe in your own religion; I don't believe in mine. Religions are like the fences that hold young saplings erect. Without the fence the sapling could fall over. When it takes firm root and becomes a tree, the fence is no longer needed. However, most people never lose their need for the fence." (Source)

How is that for a mind blowing statement from a religious figure?

Of course like most religious figures he was not able to live up to his image.

Still I think the quote stands on its own as an obvious truth.

Spiritual people more likely to suffer from mental illness. Interesting.

Courtesy of the Telegraph:

Professor Michael King, from University College London, and his fellow researchers wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry: "Our main finding is that people who had a spiritual understanding of life had worse mental health than those with an understanding that was neither religious nor spiritual." 

The study was based on a survey of 7,403 randomly selected men and women in England who were questioned about their spiritual and religious beliefs, and mental state. 

Of the participants, 35 per cent described themselves as "religious", meaning they attended a church, mosque, synagogue or temple. Five in six of this group were Christian. 

Almost half (46 per cent) described themselves as neither religious nor spiritual, while the 19 per cent remainder said they had spiritual beliefs but did not adhere to a particular religion. 

Members of this final group were 77 per cent more likely than the others to be dependent on drugs, 72 per cent more likely to suffer from a phobia, and 50 per cent more likely to have a generalised anxiety disorder. 

They were also 40 per cent more likely to be receiving treatment with psychotropic drugs, and at a 37 per cent higher risk of neurotic disorder. 

The researchers concluded: "We conclude that there is increasing evidence that people who profess spiritual beliefs in the absence of a religious framework are more vulnerable to mental disorder.

Well of course I have  numerous opinions on this data, including why I think it might be so, but I think I will simply leave this here for all of you to discuss and then later I will revisit it and perhaps add my two cents worth.

I think one thing to keep in mind is how one defines "spirituality" and the reason WHY somebody usually joins a religious organization. I think that will help narrow the focus of the debate.

Possibly the best religious leader alive today.

Now THAT is the kind of religious figure that even nonbelievers can respect.

I have long had an issue with certain religions referring to themselves as pathways to spirituality when in fact they act as obstacles to true spirituality.

Words to live by.

“The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.” ― Carl Sagan

I could not have said it better myself.

Good night my friends, but before you sleep, do you want to see something beautiful?

View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.

Every frame in this video is a photograph taken from the International Space Station. All credit goes to the crews on board the ISS. (If video does not play click here.)

That is quite an amazing planet we live on, isn't it?


“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.” 

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark