When humans interact with each other and engage in everyday activities, they typically follow various undefined rules, also known as social norms: the way we greet people, waiting in line, and countless other behaviors. These social norms can differ significantly across different cultures and geographical regions. Read more from phys.org:
The ruby-throated wars continue... in the last few minutes i've seen up to 4 hummers contending for the rights to my 2 little feeders... this branch is attached to one of the feeders so the most aggressive hummingbird stays perched there... until she is knocked off...
A plain hummingbird (happens to be an adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird) is sitting near the tippy-top end of a short lichen-covered branch. Her wings are spread wide in as if to offer a hug but since she is a hummingbird, she is not offering a hug but offering to peck the heck out of that other hummingbird out of the frame who has been fighting with her. She's trying to say she's bigger... Sept. 30, 2025. Southeast Louisiana. Photo by Peachfront
Pink Flamingos Reveal Their Secret To Aging | study out of
Tour du Valat, published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
"Migration has critical impacts on life trajectories by shaping mortality and reproductive outcomes. These findings are important for our knowledge on the biology of aging."
Elon Musk’s incendiary comments in recent months have alarmed other fellows of the Royal Society. Photograph: Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
I'm happy to explain, although it's a like drinking from a high-pressure firehose. So much of this isn't going to make sense to anyone that wasn't raised Mormon. There's so much cultural garbage going on in Mormonism that people outside of it simply don't have a frame of reference for to make sense of it. If you really want to get an idea, I'd suggest the Mormon Stories podcast, by Dr. John Dehlin, which is currently clocking in at 1951 (!!!) episodes, averaging a little over two hours each.
I'm not going to deal with their Truth (capitalization intentional) claims in depth; those have already been adequately covered by Jeremy Runnels, among many, many others. It's very, very clear, once you start digging, that all of the Mormon church cult Truth claims are complete hogwash, and rely on feelings rather than any factual basis at all.
Okay, but, lots of religions make bullshit claims, right? That, by itself, shouldn't necessarily make a religion awful, right?
Fair enough. So lets move on to the meat and potatoes of what really makes the Mormon church cult bad; they exert undue authoritarian control over their members. I'm going to use Steven Hassan's BITE model here, and go through each salient point. Again, this is a lot, so buckle up, buttercup. Keep in mind that a lot of this isn't doctrine, but it is dogmatic practice, and is supported and encouraged by leadership at the highest levels.
Preface all of this with the understanding that the Mormon church cult believes that attending Mormon temples is a requirement for salvation.
This is going to take me a few hours to get through, so I'm going to come back to it when I have time.
Opinion: I'm a Republican who can't support Trump. I'm voting for Cornel West instead. ( www.usatoday.com )