By William Walter Kay BA JD JEREMY Bentham was born in 1748 unto a line of London lawyers. His father amassed a fortune flipping real estate. England’s youngest university grad at 18, Jeremy joined the Bar at 24. His inheritance excusing him from practicing, Bentham wrote legal texts which were well-received in America and France. Jefferson praised Bentham. The French awarded Bentham citizenship and assembled his manuscripts into a comprehensive, readily adopted, national legal code. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Virginia borrowed from this code. Bentham’s five-volume Rationale for Judicial Evidence earned marquis shelf-space in judges’ chambers and lawyers’ libraries across French and English speaking worlds. George III disliked Bentham thus thwarted his substantial efforts toward prison reform. Bentham’s overarching goal was a society based upon the principle of “ the greatest good to the greatest number, and subordinate the whole to rational calculations of utility. ” He c...

I n every Charismatic or Pentecostal congregation I’ve attended, worship was thunderous, prophecy flowed freely, and spiritual experiences were the proof of a “vibrant faith.” These practices were presented as evidence of the ultimate truth. But for some believers, the same practices became fertile ground for religious psychosis—more accurately, psychosis with religious content—where hallucinations and delusions were shaped by faith itself. Psychosis is a medical condition involving a break from reality: hallucinations (such as voices), delusions (fixed false beliefs), and loss of insight. Religion doesn’t directly cause psychosis, but emotionally charged preaching and environments that encourage believers to hear God’s voice or fight unseen demons can worsen vulnerability and delay treatment ( Lloyd, Reid & Kotera, 2021 ). Psychosis with religious themes is not rare. Studies across cultures and diagnoses show that anywhere from 20-60% of deluded patients report religious content ...

I n his article " There's No Such Thing As An Ex-Christian ," Pastor Ed Collins of the North Christian Church in  North Dighton, Massachusetts,  asserts that individuals who claim to have left the Christian faith were never truly Christians to begin with. He mocks those who claim to be ex-christian, apparently basing his opinion on the doctrine of eternal security, which suggests that once someone is genuinely "born again," they remain a child of God forever, no matter what. Therefore, according to Collins, anyone who departs from the faith was never "authentically" saved. While his perspective may align with some theological interpretations, the "You were never truly a Christian™" message fails to recognize that the broader Christian tradition encompasses a wide diversity of views on salvation, apostasy, and the nature of faith.  The concept of eternal security, usually associated with Reformed Theolog y (ex: Reformed Baptists,   Luthe...

By Webmdave ~ I n this "Enlightened Age" of grandiose megachurches, faith healers, flat earthers, laughing revivalists and campaigners for creationism, one paradox remains as alive as ever: folks who are absolutely convinced they possess a direct line to the Divine still manage to consider everyone else’s beliefs as wacky fanfiction. Yet, while demanding unflinching reverence for their own God—who coincidentally shares their political views, national identity, and taste in flags—they dismiss others' deities as silly, quaint or downright dangerous. It’s not just ethnocentrism—it’s a full-blown tribal loyalty test, where the entry fee is suspension of disbelief (for your own ancient myths) and gleeful derision (for everyone else's). “The oddity of other people’s religion is always more apparent than that of one’s own.” This quote, attributed to Anthropologist Pascal Boyer , can be found in summaries and paraphrased interpretations of his book Religion Explained...