₦airaland Forum

dead boy with his intestines visible. Date unspecified.

Newspaper photographer Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, examines a body stuffed into a trunk and deposited on a patch of waste ground in New York, 1945.

The dead body of Joseph Rosen, a candy shop owner who was killed by Murder Inc. leader Louis “Lepke” Buchalter in his own store in Brooklyn. 1936.

The murder scene of Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer, a powerful New York gangster in the 1920s and '30s who was ultimately killed in Newark, New jersey by an assassin hired by the Mafia Commission. The Commission had denied Schultz's request to murder the prosecutor that was targeting him. When he disobeyed and attempted the murder anyway, the Commission had him killed. 1935

The dead body of Al Capone associate Charles “Cherry Nose” Gioe, who was shot through the head by mafia hitmen hired by a Chicago mob boss whose plans Gioe had unknowingly interfered with, 1954

Scene of a murder-suicide in New York’s Central Park, 1952.

An unidentified dead man in New York City. Circa early 20th century

An unidentified murder victim, early 20th century.

Most of these victims were probably killed by serial killers as it was not a thing then....

Weegee photographs a human head at the scene of a murder. Circa 1945.

The body of Earl "Hymie" Weiss, leader of Chicago's North Side Gang. He was killed when Al Capone's men opened fire with a submachine gun on him and his associates while they were visiting a courthouse where an ally of his was on trial. 1926.

The body of Brooklyn mobster Frankie Yale. He was killed by unidentified rival gangsters following a car chase through the streets of New York, 1928.

The dead body of Homer Van Meter, an associate of John Dillinger and a notorious bank robber, who was killed after fleeing police in St. Paul, Minn, 1934.

The body of a man named Antonio Pemear, who was found murdered in his bed in Brooklyn. 1915.

The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven members of the North Side Gang were trapped in a garage, lined up against the wall, and shot to death by members of Al Capone’s rival gang during a power struggle for control of Chicago, 1929.

Murdered gangster David Beadle, also known as "David the Beetle," in front of The Spot Bar and Grill in Manhattan. 1939

Random young woman dead in her bed, 1930.

A New York police officer takes a peek at a dead body covered with newspapers. 1943.

Random New York murder scene. 1916.

Two police officers with a dead body in a New York apartment stairwell, 1957.

The bodies of two would-be thieves named Robert Green and Jacob Jagendorf after a failed robbery attempt that ended when they accidentally fell down the building's elevator shaft. New York. 1915

Forensic detectives take the fingerprints of murdered store owner Joseph Gallichio, as he lies on the roof beside his cage of racing pigeons. New York, 1941.

Mafia kingpin Joe Masseria holds the ace of spades, "the death card," in his hand following his murder on the orders of infamous gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano in a Coney Island restaurant. 1931.

The body of Earl “Hymie” Weiss, leader of Chicago’s North Side Gang. He was killed when Al Capone’s men opened fire with a submachine gun on him and his associates while they were visiting a courthouse where an ally of his was on trial, 1926.

The body of mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, who was killed by an unknown assailant who shot him through a window with an M1 Carbine while he was staying at an associate’s house in Beverly Hills, 1947.

A police officer crouches under the rear end of a taxi jacked up on a crate and garbage can as the dead body of a man who was hit by the cab lies underneath, 1943

Traditional African Religions
Countless religious traditions inform the inhabitants of the African continent, each with its own distinct practices and beliefs based on region and ethnicity. Because Africa contains diverse people groups, and their religions remain deeply tied to geography and tribal lands, the continent’s history is a tapestry of distinct spiritual traditions. Many share common threads, including the belief in spirits, respect for the dead, and the importance of the intersection between humanity and nature. Also common: many of these religions rely on oral history and tradition, rather than scriptures. Though Christianity and Islam are today the dominant religious traditions in Africa, informal estimates place the number of adherents to Traditional African Religions at 100 million. The following list — borrowed from Wikipedia — identifies some of the best known or most prominent of these religions:

Bushongo mythology (Congo)
Lugbara mythology (Congo)
Baluba mythology (Congo)
Mbuti mythology (Congo)
Akamba mythology (Kenya)
Lozi mythology (Zambia)
Tumbuka mythology (Malawi)
Zulu mythology (South Africa)
Dinka religion (South Sudan)
Hausa animism (Chad,Nigeria, Gabon)
Lotuko mythology (South Sudan)
Maasai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania, Ouebian)
Kalenjin religion(Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania)
Dini Ya Msambwa (Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kenya)
San religion (South Africa)
Traditional healers of South Africa
Manjonjo Healers of Chitungwiza of Zimbabwe
Akan religion (Ghana, Ivory Coast)
Dahomean religion (Benin, Togo)
The Great Efik mythology (Nigeria)
Edo religion (Benin kingdom, Nigeria)
Hausa animism (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo)
Odinani (Igbo people, Nigeria)
Serer religion (Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania)
Ifa religion (Nigeria, Benin, Togo)
West African Vodun (Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria)
Dogon religion (Mali)
Juju (Nigeria)
Vodun (Benin)

Zoroastrianism


Zoroastrianism is considered one of the world’s oldest religions, and some of its earliest ideas — messianism, posthumous judgment, and the duality of heaven and hell — are believed to have informed the evolution of Judaism, as well as Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam. Its founding figure, Zoroaster, was an innovative religious thinker and teacher who is believed to have lived between 700 BCE and 500 BCE in Persia (modern-day Iran). Its primary text, the Avesta, combines the Gathas (Zoroaster’s writings) with the Yasna (the scriptural basis of Zoroastrianism). Zoroaster’s influence loomed large in his time and place. In fact, Zoroastrianism was soon adopted as the official state religion of the Persian Empire and remained so for nearly a thousand years.

Zoroaster’s ideas finally fell out of authority after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century CE. What followed was centuries of persecution and suppression by Muslim conquerors, to the point of almost entirely snuffing out Zoroastrian teachings and practices in the Arabic-speaking world. These practices have seen a small resurgence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with some Iranians and Iraqi Kurdish populations adopting Zoroastrianism as a mode of resistance to theocratic governance.

Today, there are roughly 190,000 Zoroastrians, mostly concentrated in Iran, Iraq, and India

Sikhism


Sikhism is a monotheistic faith emerging from and remaining concentrated in the Punjabi region that traverses Northern India and Eastern Pakistan. The Sikh religion came into focus during the late 15th century and draws its tenets of faith, meditation, social justice, and human equality from a scripture called the Guru Granth Sahib.

The first spiritual leader of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, lived from 1469 to 1539 and taught that a good, spiritual life must be intertwined with a secular life well-lived. He called for activity, creativity, fidelity, self-control, and purity. More important than the metaphysical, Guru Nanak argued, is a life in which one enacts the will of God. Guru Nanak was succeeded by a subsequent line of nine gurus, who served as spiritual leaders. The tenth in this line of successors, Guru Gobind Singh, named the scriptures as his successor. This was the end of human authority in the Sikh faith and the emergence of the scriptures as a singular spiritual guide.

Today, the more than 28 million estimated adherents of Sikhism are largely concentrated in India, making it the seventh largest religion in the world.

Shinto


Shinto is religious tradition native to Japan. Initially an informal collection of beliefs and mythologies, Shinto was less a religion than a distinctly Japanese form of cultural observance. The first recorded use of the term Shinto can be traced to the sixth century CE and is essentially the connective tissue between ancient Japanese customs and modern Japanese life. The primary focus of Shinto is the native belief in kami (spirits) and interaction with them through public shrines.

These shrines are an essential artifact of — and channel for — Shinto observation. More than 80,000 Shinto shrines dot Japan. Traditional Japanese styles of dress, dance, and ritual are also rooted in Shinto customs.

Roughly 3–4% of the Japanese population identifies as being part of a Shinto sect or congregation. By contrast, in a 2008 survey, roughly 26% of Japanese citizens reported visiting Shinto shrines.




Shinto is unique among religions. As a reflection of Japanese identity, Shinto observance is not necessarily limited to those who view themselves as religious adherents. Roughly 3–4% of the Japanese population identifies as being part of a Shinto sect or congregation. By contrast, in a 2008 survey, roughly 26% of Japanese citizens reported visiting Shinto shrines.

Rastafarianism


Rastafarianism is a newer religious movement that follows in the Abrahamic tradition of monotheism, referring to the singular deity as Jah. Rastafari hold the Christian Bible as their primary scripture but offer an interpretation highly connected to their own political and geographical realities. Centered around early 20th century Jamaica, Rastafarianism emerged as a ethnocultural reaction to British occupation and oppression. This oppression would play a major role in the Afrocentric interpretation of the Bible favored by Rastafari.

In the early 1930s, a movement of Rastafarians espoused that the faithful were living in an African diaspora, scattered from their homelands by colonization and slavery. To be freed from oppression in Western society (or Babylon), many Rastafari believe it necessary to resettle adherents in the African homelands. A figure of central importance in the Rastafarian faith, Haile Selassie rose to the rank of Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. This was considered the germinal moment in the emergence of the modern religious tradition. Selassie was viewed by Rastafari as the Second Coming, a direct descendant of Christ, and the Messiah foretold in the Book of Revelation.

Selassie was seen as the man who would lead the people of Africa, and those living in the diaspora, to freedom and liberation. His 1966 visit to Jamaica would become the pivotal moment in the spread of Rastafari ideas and the resultant political movement for liberation within Jamaica. This visit led to the eventual conversion of Rastafari’s most famous adherent, singer Bob Marley. Marley would help to spread the popular visibility of the faith, as well as its practices of communal gathering, musical expression, preservation of the natural world, and the use of cannabis as a spiritual sacrament. Today, between 700,000 and one million adherents practice Rastafarianism, the majority of them concentrated in Jamaica.

Judaism
Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic world religions, among the first ethnoreligious groups to move away from idolatry or paganism and toward the recognition of a single deity. Judaism is said to have begun with the figure of Abraham, a man living in the Land of Canaan — a geographical expanse likely encompassing portions of Phoenicia, Philistia, and Israel. In the Tanakh — the body of Jewish scripture which includes a foundational text called The Torah, and later supplemental texts call the Midrash and the Talmud — it is said that God spoke to Abraham and commanded him to recognize the singularity and omnipotence of God. Abraham accepted, becoming the father not just of Judaism but of the various monotheistic (or Abrahamic) religions that followed.

Thus, Abraham is seen not just as the first prophet of Judaism, but also of the Christian and Islamic faiths that sprung from the Judaic tradition. The Jewish faith is based upon a covenant between Abraham and God in which the former renounced idolatry and accepted the latter as the only divine authority. In exchange, God promised to make Abraham’s offspring a “Chosen People.” This Chosen People would become the Children of Israel, and eventually, the Jewish faith. To seal the covenant, Abraham became the first recipient of the ritualistic circumcision. This circumcision is still performed today on every newborn Jewish male as a symbol of that covenant.

With roughly 14.3 million adherents, practitioners of Judaism comprise about 0.2% of the world’s population.

Historians observe that while Abraham almost certainly lived more than 3,000 years ago, literary liberties taken with the scriptures make it impossible to ascertain exactly when he lived. But his influence would loom large in the ancient world, with the rabbinic moral codes of Judaism and its model of ethical monotheism both significantly informing the formulation of law and religion in western civilization. With roughly 14.3 million adherents, practitioners of Judaism comprise about 0.2% of the world’s population.

Jainism


Jainism is an ancient Indian religion that — according to its adherents — can be traced through a succession of 24 sagely teachers. The first of these teachers is thought to have been Rishabhanatha, who lived millions of years ago. Jainism’s primary tenets are ahiṃsā (nonviolence), anekāntavāda (many-sidedness), aparigraha (nonattachment) and asceticism (abstinence from pleasure). These and other concepts are outlined in the Acaranga Sutra, the oldest of the Jainist scriptures.

As one of the earliest extant religious traditions to emerge from the spiritually fertile Indian subcontinent, Jainism both shares with and diverges from features of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions that also emerged there. Like Hindu and Buddhism, Jainism teaches the doctrines of karma, rebirth, and monastic (as opposed to theistic) spiritual practices.

Jainists believe the soul is an ever-changing thing, bound to the body only for a lifetime, which differs from Hindu or Buddhist ideas about the soul as part of an infinite and constant universe. This focus on the corporeal also extends to the Jainist caste system, which, not unlike Hinduism, requires adherents eschew social liberation in favor of spiritual liberation. Today, most of the world’s four to five million Jains reside in India.