“Truth? You can't handle the truth!”

[Grugz]

ni.



   

[Hawkmumbler]

Aren't ducks the greatest?! Deliberately startling psuedo-zoologists like this, oh deary me you little necrophiliac bird devils you!

Seriously though, that's a duck. Not Champ. It's a bloody duck.

[Grugz]

that's what champ wants you to think...

[Jim_Campbell]

oh deary me you little necrophiliac bird devils you!

What are they doing at night in the park...?

[Hawkmumbler]

Well over the last month i've had to knock back more climate change deniers than in the last few year combined. I'm sure elevating an oil tycoon to the pedastle of president has nothing to do with these roaches creeping out from under their internet rock.

[GordonR]

Well over the last month i've had to knock back more climate change deniers than in the last few year combined. I'm sure elevating an oil tycoon to the pedastle of president has nothing to do with these roaches creeping out from under their internet rock.

Trump may be many things, but oil tycoon isn't one of them.  While he holds stocks in the oil industry, the main source of his wealth - and chief personal interest - remains real estate, hotels and leisure facilities.

If you want presidents deeply tied up with the oil industry then look no further than the Bush dynasty or Lyndon B Johnson.

[Hawkmumbler]

Ah, apologies, it seems my understand of just how large a role Drumpf plays in the fossil fuel industry is somewhat distorted, but I do still find it an interesting correlation how many out Trump supporters are materialising as open climate change deniers all of a sudden.

[The Legendary Shark]

The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it.

[The Legendary Shark]

I've noticed something that's probably a coincidence but nevertheless intriguing. The symbol for Christianity, the cross, is an ancient symbol for the sun, Islam's symbol is the moon and Judaism's symbol is a star. These three religions hail from the same part of the world - is it possible, I wonder, that these three religions were once a single "sky cult" that split into three a few centuries ago?

[TordelBack]

That they all share the same origin story, right up to Genesis Ch 22, and in many details thereafter, rather suggests that is the case.  But rather more than a few centuries ago.

Also, the split was not exclusive: you can fire a whole of other religions into the sky cult grab-bag too, as they borrow and lend elements to each other.

[The Legendary Shark]

Thanks, Tordels - I guess lots of people have investigated this already. Are there any books on the subject that you know of?

[I, Cosh]

Lots of incidental stuff wrapped up in the same stories. Moses secret origin bears more than a paint resemblance to Karna in the Mahabharata.

I couldn't give you any succinct, modern treatment but The Golden Bough is surely the classic starting point. And out of copyright.

[TordelBack]

I couldn't give you any succinct, modern treatment but The Golden Bough is surely the classic starting point. And out of copyright.

Was going to suggest that very book, Frazer a heavy presence on my bookshelf since I was a teen.  But I'd also be wary of the kind of easy conflation Golden Bough is full of - and in general things like Graves' wonderfully entertaining schema for the Greek Myths, for example - if it looks too neat to be true, it probably is.

The common root of the Abrahamic religions though, that's in indisputable territory.

[The Legendary Shark]

Thanks, chaps. I'm becoming quite intrigued by the base similarities between the different religions - one of the most striking similarities to me is the different versions of The Golden Rule, which seems all but forgotten in these materialistic times but would surely help the world achieve a better state if brought more to the fore.

[TordelBack]

...the different versions of The Golden Rule, which seems all but forgotten in these materialistic times but would surely help the world achieve a better state if brought more to the fore.

Testify.  I won't bore you with my personal belief system ("like arseholes..."), but that same process is how I came by it.