6 Interesting Facts About Religious Beliefs and Spirituality You Were Wrong About

Whether you're a member of a debate team, a hopeful game show contestant, or you like to argue for the sake of arguing to show off your knowledge of all material useful and useless alike (any sophists in the house?), this is the spot for you.

Many commonly held beliefs are misinterpreted or misunderstood. Many of those cocktail party conversation starters that you thought you were so special and brilliant for being able to spew out of your mouth, are untrue. Worse yet, much of the religious dogma and wisdom you cite as a measure of your faith and intelligence may be rooted in misconception, half-truths and factual incorrectness. Here, I'll look at the 6 most interesting things I found were untrue or misinterpreted about religious beliefs, spirituality and more.

1. 666 The Mark Of The... - ...Stuck key on your keyboard? Whatever it's the mark of, it is not the mark of the beast. That would be 616. At least that's what new translations of the earliest copies of the Book of Revelation reveal. It's not an entirely new movement either; Friedrich Engles found the number to be 616 and there were copies of the Bible in circulation with 616 as the number almost 2,000 years ago. The number is also said to not literally represent the devil but to actually represent either Caligula or Nero, oppressors of the early Christians.

2. The Voodoo Doll - The voodoo doll does not even exist. The majority of voodoo practices are focused on healing somebody, not harming somebody. While voodoo rituals did have a small wooden figure that would have twigs inserted into it, called a "bocheo", those twigs were said to channel healing energy. The figure that most closely resembles an actual voodoo doll is of European design and ancient Greek origins. Anything done to these poppet dolls were said to, with the help of the devil, happen to the subject. Early colonists and explorers assigned these more malicious practices to voodoo, which was then popularized in literature, theatre and lore, giving voodoo an undeserved evil and dark reputation.

3. The Twenty Wise Men - In the original Gospel of St. Mathew there were no three wise men. In fact there was no specific mention of how many wise men there were visiting Jesus at all. (Jesus is also said to be a young child and not a baby). The number varied from two to twenty and three wasn't chosen as the standard until the sixth century. In the last few years, sentiments have even included that it couldn't be ruled out that some or all of the visitors were actually women. While this may seem more unlikely, there is no specific mention of gender in the original doctrine either.

4. Save Some Money on Your Front Yard Manger - While St. Luke's Gospel states that Jesus was "laid in a manger" it is an assumption that Jesus was born in a stable. There is also no evidence of there being any animals, whatsoever. The familiar Nativity scene wasn't invented until the 13th century. That version included a baby Jesus, some hay, an ox and a donkey. Everything and everybody else was then added on as time went on and tradition spread.

5. Count Your Sheep - Make sure you get all of them, there was said to be at least seven sheep on Noah's Ark. While all unclean animals were taken aboard in a pairing of one male and one female, all clean animals were taken aboard with at least seven in total. Interpretations vary that this could mean seven males and seven females or seven altogether. Sheep, one of the clean animals, therefore came aboard in a group large enough for an automatic gratuity to already be added onto their bill.

6. Jesus and the Immaculate Conception - The problem with this is that the majority of people associate the birth of Jesus as the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception actually refers to the birth of Mary. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (which wasn't adopted by the Catholic Church until 1854, by the way) states that Mary was granted immunity from sin and suspicion of sin as soon as she was conceived. It is the doctrine of the Virgin Birth that refers to Jesus' birth. The virgin birth of Jesus was also said to be a late addition to the religion, which started incorporating a broader spectrum of pagan ideas (the virgin birth idea had been used in Greek, Egyptian and Persian religion and mythology; but never Jewish) to appeal to the masses. Don't worry though, Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception remain bound in fact.

Sources: John Lloyd and John Mitchinson, The Book of General Ignorance. Harmony Books, 2006.