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Acknowledgement - This treatise on religion covers an extremely wide range of materials both original and from other sources. The copyright owner has no desire to pose as an author of writings and ideas of which he is only a compiler, interpreter and synthesizer. This website is a synthesis and compilation of thousands of sources such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica - 2005 - Ultimate Reference Suite CD. I have avoided a discursive parade of well-known sources because I took from one or another main source and made a hybrid of the various texts along with my original writings. We have tried to present college-level texts with a flow that will hold the attention of the serious reader.

EXTRACT FROM Wikipedia: Text of the Documentation License

0. PREAMBLE

The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or non-commercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
This License means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same limited sense. License is it can be used for any textual work or Graphics regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is educational and for instruction or reference.

1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

This License applies to websites, graphics and other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". YOU ACCEPT THE LICENSE IF YOU COPY, MODIFY OR DISTRIBUTE THE WORK IN A WAY REQUIRING PERMISSION UNDER COPYRIGHT LAW. A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing this Document. This Document includes Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

2. VERBATIM COPYING

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, non-commercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

3. COPYING IN QUANTITY

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 5. Front-Cover Texts on the front cover and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers. You must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of any quantity, to ensure that this copy will remain accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents.

4. MODIFICATIONS

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

A-D. Preserve all the copyright notices of this Document.
E-K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
L-O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS and or Web-Sites

6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License. You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

8. TRANSLATION

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of this copyright notice. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail. If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

9. TERMINATION

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The copyright holder may publish new, revised versions of the Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See the entirety of this copyright notice. How to use this License for your documents: To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:

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