Before bitcoin forks there were many, many religion forks

In the cryptocurrency world, there is a lot of talk about soft and hard forks. Roughly speaking, a soft fork is when a cryptocurrency constructed on a blockchain splits into two branches, but the older branch is still compatible with the newer branch. It’s forward compatible. Examples of these soft forks include Bitcoin for much of its history, Ethereum, and Monero. A hard fork is when a cryptocurrency is split into two branches, but the two branches are incompatible and must develop separately. The canonical example is Bitcoin and Bitcoin Classic.

I’ve been studying religion a lot recently, and have noticed that forks are quite common in the world of religious traditions.

Just a few examples for your consideration:

Christianity hard-forked from Judaism after the death of Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t consider it a soft fork since Judaism, while sharing some views and practices with Christianity, is not forwards compatible per-se. A Jewish person wouldn’t consider herself Christian, nor vice-versa

Christianity continued to fork in the Great Schism with the development of the Eastern Orthodox branch, and then the further split between Catholicism and Protestantism as a result of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Again, these forks are probably closer to hard forks, since I don’t think Catholics consider themselves Protestant or Orthodox, although there is sometimes conversion and switching between the branches (more so, I think, between Catholicism and Protestantism due mostly to cultural and geographic differences).

Islam is somewhere between a soft fork and a hard fork of Judeo-Christianity, since Islam is a little bit backwards compatible, in the sense that Adam and Jesus among others, are seen as prophets in the Islamic tradition. But it’s also not technically a soft fork since neither Jews nor Christians consider themselves Muslims.

And Islam forked after Mohammed’s death into Sunni and Shi’a branches. And Sunni Islam went on to split further into traditions such as Sufism and Wahhabism.

Just a few more examples…

In Confucianism you have a soft fork, if you can even call it that, into differing schools of thought as best represented by Confucian disciples Mencius and Xunzi. This is probably closer to a soft fork since most Confucians probably believe, at least in part, in both schools of thought, and neither is so orthodox or exclusive as to reject the other.

And in Buddhism you have an incredible profusion of forks, from the original orthodox Theravada Buddhism into Mahayana, and then further on into Vajrayana and Zen Buddhism.

We could go on…

The Amish Church was founded by European Christians who believed only adults could freely choose Christ and the Church, and were against the baptism of babies. Mormonism is itself a branch of Restorationist Christianity, which itself is a long tradition that broke away from what was then the Catholic Church in the 15th century.

Anyway, forks are not exactly new. You could say that an even more fundamental kind of fork would be natural selection, the branching of single celled organisms into multicellular organisms, and then into plants and animals, and then into amphibians and reptiles and so on. So it’s kinda ad infinitum, but I just noticed such a fascinating parallel between the fork feuds in cryptocurrency – which has many religions undertones – and religious forks. Perhaps something to explore in a later post.

One thing we haven’t seen in cryptocurrencies, or maybe I’m unaware, are mergers. In religion, mergers – whether more formal mergers such as Zen Buddhism which fused elements of Buddhism and Daoism within a Japanese cultural context, or informal mergers, such as how most Americans today are culturally Protestant but increasingly believe or practice secularized aspects of Hinduism (yoga) and Buddhism (meditation) or merge religions in personal practices, such as Jewish Buddhists (JuBu’s for short).

Just food for thought. Both spaces – religion and crypto – are fascinating. Reach out if you have anything to add, edit, or discuss!

The rise of secular religion


In a recent podcast interview, Senator Elizabeth Warren said: “Education is our new secular religion.” It may have been the NYT Book Review podcast, I can’t find the source.

It’s a powerful sentiment – one that she expressed in a matter of fact, almost bored, way. And it’s true not just in America – where college admissions is an intense battleground from the minute kids begin to earn grades – but also around the world. Look at how obsessively Chinese students prepare for the 高考: the test is a rite of passage, and being accepted into one of China’s top universities is no less than a religious conversion for the lucky ones.

In his speech to Maharishi University, Jim Carrey asked the graduating students, “What is your ministry?” At a young age, he decided that his ministry was to free people from concern, and he evangelized his beliefs through comedy and entertainment. He urged the students to find and express theirs.

Secular religion. Your ministry. All religious things, but all spoken of in the context of secular, non-religious activities.

What’s going on?

For starters, what is religion? Definitions are as plentiful as denominations. But a simple and powerful definition, and one that works well for our purposes, is the 3 B’s: Believing, Belonging, and Behaving. You believe in a story or set of propositions. You belong to a community that shares these beliefs. You behave in ways that act upon your beliefs, and often with your community.

Seen this way, a whole lot of “religions” qualify. Hence Senator Warren’s belief about modern education. And Carrey’s mission to free people from concern.

The convenient and widespread narrative in most developed countries, particularly in America and across Western Europe, is that religion is dying. The narrative goes something like: With the rise of science and technology and liberal education, religion is increasingly outdated and out of touch. Fewer and fewer people go to Church, or pray, or study the Bible. More and more people are identifying as atheist, agnostic, or simply “none”. Eventually, religion will become a quaint, niche practice, and one that will slowly fade into irrelevance.

But this simply isn’t true. Globally, religion is growing. Even in America, religious belief is stronger than ever. Religion – as we can see using one definition of the 3 B’s framework – is simply shifting. We might believe less in God, but we believe more than ever in free markets and capitalism. We may not belong to churches and monasteries, but we belong, obsessively, to sports teams and corporations and even to cryptocurrencies. And the way we behave? Well, just look at Apple fanboys and Star Wars fanatics. Religion is alive and well.

I am beginning to think that for all the religions of the world, however they may differ from one another, the religion of The Market has become the most formidable rival, the more so because it is rarely recognized as a religion – Harvey Cox

This realization is important for many reasons, only a few of which I can articulate below.

It means that most people who say they’re not religious are actually very much so. Salman Rushdie says “atheists are obsessed with god.” But it goes beyond atheists. I think it’s more like “non-believers are actually believers in denial.” Hundreds of years ago, if you knew a person was Roman Catholic, you’d have a reasonable starter’s grasp on their animating values and personality traits. Today, we need to look more deeply to identify a person’s “religion”.

A more or less similar point is made by Yuval Harari says in his book Sapiens: Institutions upon which we build civilization are just a bunch of agreed upon fictions. Religion is one such fiction. So are “free” markets. So is celebrity-dom. And so on.

We need to better identify these fictions in others, and more importantly, in ourselves. Which brings me to my last point: You.

You should think deeply about what beliefs animate you. What is your ministry? What is your secular religion? Because if your life is not guided by Buddhism or Islam, then it’s guided by something else. And this something else is often worse. David Foster Wallace expressed the thought beautifully:

Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. – DFW

Thanks for reading. I’m spending a lot of time lately reading and writing about religion. It’s been satisfying as a personal endeavor, and I hope to create some project (like a website, or a book) out of it eventually. If you can help, or simply want to chat more about it, please message me.

Confucius says, in Chinese and Korean


I recently stumbled on this blog post and was stunned to see one of my favorite Confucius quotes, not only translated into Korean, but adapted and localized too! So below is a comparison of the Chinese version as I understand it, alongside the Korean version as the author conveys it.

The Korean version (along with its translated English and commentary) is copied verbatim from the above blog.

It’s interesting to see the differences. Korean seems to have more names for the older decades (eg, 80, 90) and also a name for when you reach 20 and “become a man.” Also interesting to see the different interpretations for each decade, in particular for reaching the age of 60.

Confucius says…

Korean: 15 Age where one recognizes the value of education | Ge Hak 지학
Chinese: At 15 my heart was set on learning | 吾十有五而志于学

Korean: 20 Age when a boy becomes a man (Sorry. No equivalent for women) | Yak Kwan 약 관
Chinese: None

Korean: 30 Age to begin your life’s planning | I Lib 이 립
Chinese: At 30 I stood firm | 三十而立

Korean: 40 Age when you have enough experience not to be fooled by others | Pul Hok 불혹
Chinese: At 40 I had no more doubts | 四十而不惑

Korean: 50 Age when you begin to understand the Gods’ thinking (Note: Not religious Gods but forces of nature.) | Ji Yung 지영
Chinese: At 50 I knew the Mandate of Heaven | 五十而知天命

Korean: 60 Age where you have the experience to take in the thoughts of others and determine the best and worst | I Soon 이 순
Chinese: At 60 my ear was obedient | 六十而耳顺

Korean: 61 Notable age as you have now lived through one full cycle of the 12 annual symbols (i.e. Year of the Dragon ) | Hwan Gap 환 갑
Chinese: None

Korean: 70 Age where you are filled with happiness (Because you are not dead, I guess.) | Ko He 고희
Chinese: At 70 I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm | 其实而从心所欲,不逾矩

Korean: 80 Meaning for this age and age 90 and 100 is as a title only to signify you have reached this age. | San Su 신수
Chinese: None

Korean: 90 See 80. | Chol Su 졸수
Chinese: None

Korean: 100 See 80, and with additional meaning of exceptionally long life. | Sang Su 상 수
Chinese: None

12 profound excerpts from The Dhammapada: “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart. A half-hearted ascetic covers himself with more and more dust.”


I just finished reading the Dhammapada as translated by Eknath Easwaran [Amazon]. The book is a very very small part of the Pali Canon, a canonical collection of the Buddha’s teachings.

I’d also read Easwaran’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita. Both are quick reads, and his translation style is literary and powerful. Highly recommended if you’re hungry for soul food.

Below are some of my favorite excerpts.

**

For hatred can never put an end to hatred; love alone can. This is an unalterable law.

More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm. 43 More than your mother, more than your father, more than all your family, a well-disciplined mind does greater good.

The immature go after false prestige –precedence of fellow monks, power in the monasteries, and praise from all. “Listen, monks and householders, I can do this; I can do that. I am right and you are wrong.” Thus their pride and passion increase.

Better than a speech of a thousand vain words is one thoughtful word which brings peace to the mind. Better than a poem of a thousand vain verses is one thoughtful line which brings peace to the mind.

If you do what is evil, do not repeat it or take pleasure in making it a habit. An evil habit will cause nothing but suffering. If you do what is good, keep repeating it and take pleasure in making it a habit. A good habit will cause nothing but joy.

I have gone through many rounds of birth and death, looking in vain for the builder of this body. Heavy indeed is birth and death again and again! But now I have seen you, housebuilder; you shall not build this house again. Its beams are broken; its dome is shattered: self-will is extinguished; nirvana is attained.

The mantram is weak when not repeated; a house falls into ruin when not repaired; the body loses health when it is not exercised; the watchman fails when vigilance is lost.

Take refuge in the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha and you will grasp the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path that takes you beyond suffering.

There is no fire like lust, no sickness like hatred, no sorrow like separateness, no joy like peace. No disease is worse than greed, no suffering worse than selfish passion. Know this, and seek nirvana as the highest joy.

Gray hair does not make an elder; one can grow old and still be immature. A true elder is truthful, virtuous, gentle, self-controlled, and pure in mind.

“I will make this my winter home, have another house for the monsoon, and dwell in a third during the summer.” Lost in such fancies, one forgets his final destination.

An act performed carelessly, a vow not kept, a code of chastity not strictly observed: these things bring little reward. If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart. A half-hearted ascetic covers himself with more and more dust.

**

The benefits of being religious: a collection of studies and findings

Religious people often take for granted all the benefits that come with such a practice, from a sturdy belief system to a tight knit community. Of course there are many costs too, but in this post, I wanted to share a collection of what I’ve gathered from books, videos, papers, and podcasts that explain the benefits practicing a religion. Here’s a prior post where I shared some useful definitions of religion.

A fairly comprehensive and concise summary, from Elephant in the Brain (a fantastic book which I recently finished and will share insights from shortly):

Compared to their secular counterparts, religious people tend to smoke less, donate and volunteer more, have more social connections, get and stay married more, and have more kids. They also live longer, earn more money, experience less depression, and report greater happiness and fulfillment in their lives.

More findings and excerpts follow…

From the NIH:

Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide.

From Wiley:

We also find that religious attendance at baseline reduces the odds of illicit drug use at follow‐up. Respondents who increased their level of religious attendance over the study period also tended to exhibit a concurrent reduction in the odds of illicit drug use.

More Wiley:

It finds that religious people, members of minority religions, and people in religiously diverse countries were more likely to help a stranger. Individuals living in devout countries were more likely to help strangers even if they themselves were not religious. The results suggest that religion plays a particularly important role in promoting the prosocial norms and values that motivate helping strangers

From Wikipedia:

What Andrew B. Newberg and others “discovered is that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads one to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid, tangible reality. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call oneness with the universe.”

From the great book Blue Zones.

Healthy centenarians everywhere have faith. The Sardinians and Nicoyans are mostly Catholic. Okinawans have a blended religion that stresses ancestor worship. Loma Linda centenarians are Seventh-day Adventists. Ikarians have traditionally been Greek Orthodox. All belong to strong religious communities. The simple act of worship is one of those subtly powerful habits that seems to improve your chances of having more good years. It doesn’t matter if you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or Hindu.

From the podcast, Research on Religion:

My notes: Religion offers an extra layer of protection from PTSD for soldiers returning from the battlefield; Why? Possibly, if you’re strongly religious going into war, your community, practice, and faith can be protective and supportive; BUT if you’re only weakly religious, war can shatter those beliefs, and shock you out of faith. You may come back atheist, which is a double whammy where you lose your faith and suffer from this traumatic battlefield experience. The latter happened after WWI in Britain, where many returning soldiers faced nihilism, depression, and suicide

From Harvard epidemiology professor Tyler VanderWeele’s Reddit AMA:

A recent study I led found that women who attended religious services more than once per week were more than 30% less likely to die during a 16-year-follow-up than women who never attended. We found that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life.

My speculation, though we do not yet have data on this, would be that groups that not only have social gatherings, but also have a shared sense of meaning, healthy behavioral norms, and a common vision for life would have a larger effect on mortality in follow-up than, say, merely showing up for a regular card game. Religious service attendance likely affects health not simply because of social support, but also because it potentially shapes so much of one’s outlook, behavior, beliefs, and one’s sense of life’s meaning and purpose.

In our study on depression, the associations between religious service attendance and subsequent depression were likewise pretty similar for Catholics and Protestants. The one outcome where we found a difference was suicide. The association between religious service attendance and suicide was protective for both Catholics and Protestants but the association was stronger for Catholics. For Protestants those who attended services were about 3-fold less likely to commit suicide; for Catholics, those who attended services were about 20-fold less likely to commit suicide. My guess is that this is the outcome which will vary the most across religious groups.

Interestingly enough, diet quality does seem to be one outcome where religious service attendance is associated with poorer health behavior. Perhaps the church potluck is indeed the culprit. Fried chicken, anyone? ;)

But, yes, with smoking and excessive drinking, religious service attendance is associated with greater likelihood of ceasing these behaviors. I do think people sometimes turn to religion when they are in particularly difficult circumstances.

There have been studies, even randomized trials, of what is sometimes called “intercessory praying” or praying for others. The standard design of these trials is that patients are randomized to receive prayer from someone else; patients themselves, however, are often “blinded” in the sense that they don’t know whether or not they are being prayed for. Some of these randomized trials have suggested an effect of prayer; other studies have suggested no effect; and the research remains controversial. Two reviews that I am aware of have attempted to synthesize all available evidence but they themselves are divided.

From the Journal of Evolutionary Economics.

It is frequently suggested that religion and particularly values associated with religion provide circumstances conducive to entrepreneurial activity (Dodd and Seaman 1998; Henley 2014; Parboteeah et al. 2015). In particular, the work of Weber (1930) is repeatedly cited in this line of reasoning. According to Weber, Protestant Christian values such as ambition, perseverance, and wealth accumulation serve as important motivators for the economic behavior of religious individuals

This is just what I’ve gathered to date. There will be lots more. I’ll probably also do a post on the known / quantified / accepted costs of being religious, too. Stay tuned.