*"Weird Beliefs"

There is an article on Alternet.org about "weird beliefs"

What makes this so interesting is that the term belief portrays these things as if they are firmly embodied into the minds of those who are religious. Something that was motivated in history or something that has become myth or an explanatory feature has come to be equated as 'beliefs' that are internally held with some degree of conviction. However, this can be questioned. Do they really believe these things as "truth" and that these are the facts of the superplausibility theory they hold. That is, their understanding of "the way things really are" underlying the appearance of things.

The website lists the following:

1.      The foreskin of [a holy one] may lie safeguarded in reliquaries made of gold and crystal and inlayed with gems--or it may have ascended into the heavens all by itself. (2)

2.      A race of giants once roamed the earth, the result of women and demi-gods interbreeding. (1, 6). They lived at the same time as fire breathing dragons. (1)

3.      Evil spirits can take control of pigs. (1)

4.      A talking donkey scolded a prophet. (1, 3)

5.      A righteous man can control his wife’s access to eternal paradise. (6)

6.      Brown skin is a punishment for disobeying God. (6)

7.      A prophet once traveled between two cities on a miniature flying horse with the face of a woman and the tail of a peacock. (4)

8.      [The Holy One] forbids a cat or dog receiving a blood transfusion and forbids blood meal being used as garden fertilizer. (7)

9.      Sacred underwear protects believers from spiritual contamination and, according to some adherents, from fire and speeding bullets (6)

10.  When certain rites are performed beforehand, bread turns into human flesh after it is chewed and swallowed. (2)

11.  Invisible supernatural beings reveal themselves in mundane objects like oozing paint or cooking food. (2)

12.  In the end times, [the Holy One’s] chosen people will be gathered together in Jackson County, Missouri. (6)

13.  Believers can drink poison or get bit by snakes without being harmed. (1)

14.  Sprinkling water on a newborn, if done correctly, can keep the baby from eons of suffering should he or she die prematurely. (2)

15.  Waving a chicken over your head can take away your sins. (3)

16.  [A holy one] climbed a mountain and could see the whole earth from the mountain peak. (1, 2)

17.  Putting a dirty milk glass and a plate from a roast beef sandwich in the same dishwasher can contaminate your soul. (3)

18.  There will be an afterlife in which exactly 144,000 people get to live eternally in Paradise. (8)

19.  Each human being contains many alien spirits that were trapped in volcanos by hydrogen bombs. (5)

20.  [A supernatural being] cares tremendously what you do with your penis. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8.


Key:  1-Evangelical or “Bible Believing” Christianity, 2-Catholic Christianity, 3-Judaism, 4-Islam, 5-Scientology, 6-Mormonism 7-Christian Science 8-Jehovah’s Witness

http://www.alternet.org/belief/20-weirdest-religious-beliefs?paging=off


Now within this list, there are a few things about Mormonism and one of the references is this blog:
http://awaypoint.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/the-same-god-twelve-beliefs-mormons-might-not-want-you-to-know-about/

But as one who has many Mormon friends, I am sure they would contend that there is a distinction between what has been told as belief and myth around the ideas of Mormonism and what it is that they actually believe. The citation of history and the progression of ideas in the church have changed and so have the people. Many will say that the Church is not what all Mormons believe and that because the Church is composed of fallible persons the Church is fallible as well. There becomes a distinction between Church and gospel as well as distinctions of gospel v. people and people v. Church.

In a way, to discuss beliefs in this manner is quite misleading and distinctions need to be made between what is stated as belief, represented as such, the historical changes, and the current status of tenets that believers of various religious traditions actually hold onto such that it warrants their own intentions to label themselves as a member of a particular religious group.