Tuesday, January 09, 2007

How to control and influence people for fun and profit AKA Religion 101

It is often joked that the two oldest professions in the world is that of the prostituted and priest. In reality the oldest profession would most likely be hunter-gatherer. But why let reality spoil a joke, I mean Bush never has.

However the two above mentioned professions are both startlingly alike. How can I be so cruel to relate the two to each other. I mean the one is done by the “immoral” and the other by the “moral.” Well both rely on a certain suspension of disbelief. The person paying for sex and the person tithing to the church are not very different from each other in their unquestioning assumptions. In the lies the consumers tell themselves. The man being serviced by the prostitute believes himself to be a marvellous lover, and the man praying believes himself in communion with god.

Indeed at some points in history the two have been combined, the practise of temple prostitution was quite common in the land of the sandy dreams where the minds of men and women are broiled by the sun into baking up new gods by the dozen.

I will not condemn prostitutes, their lives are already bad and dangerous enough. In a society where the worth of a human is most commonly associated with their earning potential and their worldly possessions is it any wonder that everything, even intimacy is for sale. Most also sell themselves to support others, and that is dedication. One could even call it noble.

But priests? I am sure that there are some who a worthwhile true believers (and I have met some of them) but on the whole they are rather frightening. Think but of Phelps, Fallwell, Dobson and until recently Ted Haggard. If one is to see god through the deeds of his believers then we are all unfortunate, for we all going to hell. Theirs is a vengeful and capricious god who rewards the wicked.

I can see how religion arose, I mean people want explanations about the world around them. Lets face it, if your significant tools are some sharpened sticks and your most significant technology is fire making you are a long way from discerning the true explanations for the world around you. How much easier is it to imagine that lightning is but a weapon hurled by an angry god (who quite co-incidentally looks just like a scaled up version of a human) than it is to understand that it is a byproduct

I think today I shocked someone with my casual dismissal of the people. It is hardly surprising that people would be shocked. After all we all heard how good, wonderful and true the bible is. Sadly, No! The thing that I find most ironic is that I could probably find four or five things for which the bible commands all believers to kill her. The bible is of course quite notably and significantly anti-women.

Actually that brings up one of the good things I can say about the bible, is that very few people ever truly follow it. If more people followed it, the world would very much be a more evil place.

Daily Tally
Weight = 100kg +/-
M = 2

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is great info to know.