Religion and Common Sense
Seventeen Religions
to Choose From
When I was a child, my teachers told me that my religion,
Catholicism, was the true religion, and all the other religions were false. My
job was to defend and promote Catholicism so I could please God and go to
Heaven after I died. The nuns, the priests, and my mother, all made it quite
clear that if I questioned the Doctrines, I could lose my immortal soul and end
up in hell. Because I was a member of the true religion, I was supposed to feel
sorry for people who were not members, and try to convert them so they could go
to Heaven like me.
As the years passed, my friendships with people
of other faiths began to outweigh my fear of losing my immortal soul and I
began to question my so-called beliefs. I knew there was something wrong with
what they were telling me but I could not figure out what it was. By the time I
was twenty, I had made up my mind to find out.
Did you know that we humans have created at least seventeen
major religious cults and hundreds of minor ones over the course of history? A
cult is a shared system of belief into which some of us are born while
others join because it satisfies a
need. In my case, I was born into a family ruled by a frightened, strict,
devout, Catholic mother. As a child I had no choice but to accept whatever she
told me; however, after twenty years of attending religious rituals and
memorizing doctrine, I was tired of the Catholic religion and wanted to try
something else.
According to Wikipedia, the largest religious cult
on this planet is Christianity - a system of belief based on the
miracles and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The New Testament describes Jesus
as a Jewish carpenter who became a rabbi, prophet and holy man. His life and
death as described in the New Testament has attracted the 2.1 billion followers
we have today.
The second largest cult on this planet is Islam, which claims
1.5 billion members that follow the teachings of the Arab prophet, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah. According to Wikipedia,
Muslims believe that Mohammed is the restorer of the original,
uncorrupted, monotheistic faith of Adam and Abraham, and the last messenger and
Prophet of God.
What is Religion?
The comedian/commentator
Bill Maher defines mainstream religion as "A neurological disorder that
prevents people from thinking rationally."
In the broadest sense, religion is a belief in a higher power, a
hierarchy of organized worship of
that higher power, and a set of myths or sacred
truths about that power.
In order to be
successful and attract followers a religious cult must have certain
characteristics.
1. It must be socially progressive.
Its leaders must create order and provide
opportunities for wealth, power and freedom for its followers.
2. It must satisfy
the human need for a higher
transcendental truth.
This would include a
belief in a supreme, parental authority that rewards good and punishes evil.
3. It must appear true to its followers, which
means other religions must appear false or
simply misguided.
The first requirement
of a true religion addresses our lower, animal nature while the second requirement
addresses our higher, spiritual nature that is independent of the body. The
third requirement protects our identity as an individual within the group.
Human beings invent religion as a shield against fear of
death. As individuals, we feel isolated in a world filled with people and
events that threaten our survival. By making up beliefs and sacred rituals that
console us, we create hope for
happiness in this life and the presumed life to come.
For twenty years, I participated in
this practice before I began to wonder what was behind it.
The more I thought about it the more I realized that religion treats existence as a problem that requires a remedy. The Original Sin of Adam and Eve is the problem and Baptism is the remedy. But what if that presumption changed from guilt and fear to entertainment and opportunity. Do I still need religion?
The Description of God
The
biblical God that Christians pray to is only a description – a sequence of
words printed on paper.
The
long-ago writers who made up this description created a superhuman character
who thinks and acts like a person but is afflicted with a mental illness called
schizophrenia (a split personality). The writers describe this Supreme Being as
an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, male
that is present everywhere. This is a good beginning but then the authors
destroy their credibility by writing stories in which this Supreme Being lacks these
qualities.
The Bible says the Christian God is a male authority,
a king, who lives in a place of everlasting
happiness called the
The Bible
writers describe God as a multiple personality called the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit who consult with one another, especially when things go wrong.
In
spite of all these deficiencies, the biblical God expects us to love and obey Him without question – or face eternal damnation.
This
was the Catholic description of the
world I learned as a child. The penalty for doubting this description was the
loss of my immortal soul, and eternal damnation in the
fires of Hell.
Years
later, when my intelligence and common sense began to recover from this assault
I realized that since I had never seen my immortal soul it was reasonable to
doubt its existence. I also began to wonder why this all-powerful
"God", who was not threatened by me in any way, would want to punish
me with eternal damnation for thinking my own thoughts. It made me wonder if
religion was just a hustle that people used to control one another.
Atheism is a Leap of Faith
Prior to the eighteenth century, most
people accepted the existence of God without question. The very idea that a person might not believe
in God was unthinkable. It was common knowledge among God-fearing Christians
that deep down inside, everyone was a believer - as if we all had a "God"
gene built into our DNA. Everyone knew that the few outspoken atheists that cropped
up now and then did it for the attention they received from the media. When the
time came to face death, they would lose their nerve, abandon their heresy, and
ask God's forgiveness.
Loosely defined,
atheism is the absence of belief in external gods, deities, or
supernatural phenomenon. This is very similar to Zen, which neither denies nor affirms the existence of God but
attributes all phenomena, high or low, to the activity of the human nervous system, primarily the
brain. According to Zen, the job of the nervous system is to convert the free
energy that surrounds us and flows through us, into sensory experience that we
call reality or "the world". We Americans have organized this transformation
into three parts called "me",
a point of reference inside the body, "the
body" and "it", the external world that surrounds the body. Practitioners
of Zen believe that this three-part arrangement is an illusion that dissolves at death.
This description differs from Christian doctrine, which claims that an all-powerful male God created the universe long ago and remains separate from it.
Thus, we have the first description in which God exists in space, in a higher realm beyond our senses. From this higher state, He creates the universe but remains separate from it. The second description says that God is both space and form (solid and not solid) with no separation between the two – just different degrees of speed and density. The word "separation" is the key word in all religious arguments.
For an atheist, the worship of "a"
God or gods in any form is idolatry because "God" is a product of our
own imagination. Anyone who assigns a high value to this mental projection and
all the baggage that goes with it is choosing the first description.
Note:
In the Roman Era, loyal citizens of the empire labeled Christians atheists
because they did not believe in Zeus.
Why We Exist
Over the centuries,
people with a gift for storytelling have tried to explain how we came to exist.
The most popular story among bible reading Christians is the tale of Adam and
Eve and the apple tree, which many believe is true. Fortunately, we have other
writers such as Carlos Castaneda and Ram Dass who say that we have formed the
body/world out of eternal energy for our own entertainment. Comedian and social
commentator, George Carlin, says humanity exists to create plastic. Spiritual
Master Adi Da says that the brain is like a step-down transformer that converts
energy into matter to give us something to look at.
I like to think that
we were bored with nothingness, so we dreamed up the Genesis Project. It began
as a contraction of space that ultimately exploded into a big bang - the expanding
universe we see today. This self-contained process of contraction and expansion
of space/energy/matter continues to
create and dissolve all things in a never-ending process.
Make Me Believe
My formal training to become a human being began with my
indoctrination into the Catholic religion. The program taught me the rules of
the game, but failed to make me a true Catholic. At such an early age, I lacked
the ability to accept or reject religious doctrine; instead, I simply obeyed my
mother, a woman of great faith, who made certain that I adopted her beliefs.
It was not until much later, when I began to think on my own that I discovered that
my mother's beliefs were not mine. With that in mind, I decided to start over
and find out what I truly believed.
Who Creates God?
Conservative Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God - God being the all-powerful,
male creator of all things. Anything you want to know about God is contained in
this collection of human thought, which is the foundation of the Christian
belief system. As a Catholic, all I had to do was look in the Bible to find the
answers to all my questions. With the Bible as my authority, I did not have to
figure things out for myself.
During my teen years, I tried to
read and understand the Bible but in the end, I gave up. I could not accept the
contradictions or get past the awkward translation. The Biblical description of
the world was so different from the world I lived in, that except for portions
of the Jesus story, it was useless to me as a spiritual guide.
I finally decided
that the Holy Bible was an overrated, outdated, record of human thought and
experience and that modern books on religion and philosophy were much
easier to read and understand. The Church scholars and historians that discovered
these ancient writings and translated them into English failed to distinguish
between fact and fiction. Instead, they published them as a holy document known
to all as The Word of God. It was this lack of background information on the
authors’ source material that made it impossible for me to take the book
seriously.
Who Controls God?
Devout Catholics place their trust in God's
representative, the Pope, who is infallible - meaning he cannot make a mistake in matters of religious doctrine.
Those who doubt this claim know from personal experience that all human beings make mistakes. The world is a complex pattern of
events, which no single person can understand or control. The infallibility
doctrine was an effective way to end the arguments regarding salvation. It was
better all around if everybody stopped arguing and simply accepted the Pope's
decision.
Unfortunately
for the Church, a quick examination of the long line of popes reveals a history
of corruption. During the periods of
greatest power, the pope could order the arrest and torture of anyone who
openly criticized the Church for wrongdoing. This begs the question, to whom
did the faithful turn to for spiritual guidance if the Holy Father was a
sinner?
Tyrants throughout history know
that putting the fear of God into illiterate, superstitious people is an
effective way to control them. The warnings of hellfire and damnation delivered
by an angry God are still popular in the evangelical movement.
This is the right time to mention
that I was not born with a belief in God. I
received my belief in God from the nuns at a Catholic school that pounded
questions and answers from the Catechism into my brain each morning. This training
program began just before I reached the age of reason, which made it difficult
for me to think in a logical manner. My teachers convinced me that God was an all-powerful, invisible man up in the sky that
watches over all and knows all.
As
the years passed, I began to wonder why God, who was supposed to be present
everywhere, never appeared or spoke to me - even though I prayed to Him every
night throughout my childhood.
When
I finished Catholic school, I had received Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation.
I had read some of the Bible and gone to church. I had done everything they
told me to do but nothing unusual happened. I began to worry that the
ceremonies, rituals and prayers in which I had invested so much of my life were
a waste of time. Perhaps only the people who were natural-born Catholics such
as my mother, the priests and the nuns got something out of it. Otherwise why
go through all that trouble?
The Two Great Commandments
Devout Christians believe that the
Ten Commandments God presented to Moses on
The First Great Commandment, states, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind and thy whole
strength."
This commandment is impossible to obey because love is a feeling that arises spontaneously. How can I command myself
to love someone that exists in my own imagination?
The second
half of this commandment says, "and thy neighbor as thyself."
Again, love
is a spontaneous feeling that cannot be coerced. Jesus cannot order me to love my neighbor any more
than I can order you to love your neighbor. It does not work that way. The
person who wrote these words should have said, "Treat your neighbor with
respect".
The Failure of Bible and Catechism Classes.
The
endless stories, psalms, and parables in Bible class are like painted cakes at
a birthday party. The cakes appear real but they are fakes and they do not
satisfy the living spirit inside each person. The memorizing of Catechism questions and answers is not the same as asking your own question and finding
your own answers. Memorizing the words of the Bible is not self-realization.
Stories that encourage freedom and responsibility are curiously absent from the
Bible; instead, it is full of threatening messages telling you to obey God and
fear the Devil – or face eternal damnation.
The First Law of Thermodynamics
The first law of
thermodynamics states: Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only
change from one form into another. The word "energy" is by far a
better choice than the word "God" to describe the process of creation
and destruction. Energy is present everywhere; it is all-powerful and it is not
owned or controlled by any person or group of persons. It is indestructible,
gender free and flows freely everywhere. If the word "energy is too
impersonal then use the word "Nature."
Jesus
Jesus gained most of his fame through the performance of
miracles. Miracle are events that ordinary humans cannot perform or explain,
therefore we look to Jesus to acquire this skill.
I find it curious that none of Jesus' miracles lasted very
long. Everyone he cured ended up dead. According to the narrative, even Lazarus
whom Jesus restored to life from a rotting corpse, died again. It appears that Jesus
cannot stop the ongoing process of aging and death.
This makes
me wonder about the authenticity of Jesus rising from the dead. Was Jesus in
fact, really dead? If the Roman soldiers had dismembered Jesus' body, would
he have reassembled his body parts?
I sometimes wonder
about the interpretation the faithful placed on the Crucifixion. The popular
notion is that Jesus died because of our sins - as if the
human race collectively murdered Jesus. Please remember that Jesus was a threat
to the authorities because of his popularity as a gifted speaker and
performer of miracles. He publicly criticized the high priests and government
officials. He created a mood of messianic excitement among young Jews who
wanted to free themselves from the authority of
The nuns and priests in charge of my religious education never mentioned the danger Jesus faced
when he chose to publicly criticized those in power. Under Roman rule, political
agitators accused of stirring up trouble, faced dire consequences, and crowds
of people poured into town to watch them suffer the consequences. The penalty
was crucifixion, carried out by a crucifixion team hired by the Romans to get
the job done.
Because of a
deep-rooted fascination with suffering, the followers of Jesus have decided
that crucifixion is a ticket to Heaven. They believe the more pain you endure
on Earth the greater will be your pleasure in Heaven. In a northern Philippine
village, this belief is so strong that a small group performs an annual
Crucifixion on Good Friday with real nails and live participants in order to
experience firsthand the agony of Christ, fortunately not to the point of
death.
The
Christian preoccupation with suffering is in stark contrast with Buddhism, a
much wiser and older system of knowledge that teaches followers to understand
the cause of human suffering and to get rid of it instead of adapting to it.
According to the four evangelists, who wrote
the story of Jesus a century and a half after the event, the Savior of Mankind
finished his task and at this very moment sits at the right hand of the Father
in Heaven.
If Catholic parents truly believe this, why
force innocent children to participate in the Way of the Cross ritual
on Good Friday afternoons? To add more guilt?
What Did Jesus Look Like?
Artists who make a
living creating religious paraphernalia for the faithful, like to depict the
Boss's Son as a six-foot tall, young, white American male with long brown
slightly bobbed hair parted in the middle - and a beard. We have all seen pictures
of Jesus at different stages of his life and despite the popularity and wide
distribution of these images, not a single one of them is Jesus.
The Shroud of Turin
is the only evidence we have that such a person as Jesus of Nazareth actually
existed. Unfortunately, we have no way to prove or disprove its authenticity.
So what are we left
with – a make -believe character we invent through our collective imagination?
The truth is - knowing or not
knowing what Jesus looked like makes no difference.
***
Based on the number of wars it does not appear
that the teachings of Jesus the Jewish rabbi penetrates very deeply into the
human psyche; yet much of what Jesus preached reveals astute observation of human
behavior. Anyone with average intelligence, who takes the time to observe and reflect on the cause of human
suffering, could make the same discoveries.
Despite the unquestioned wisdom of His teachings here are some quotes
attributed to Jesus that could prove difficult if taken literally.
"If thy right eye offends thee, pluck it out and cast
it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell; and if thy right
hand offend thee, cut it off…"
If you were a person who believed in the literal interpretation of
scripture, should you not be plucking out your right eye, and chopping off your
right hand?
"But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other
also."
Will this work with the Nazis?
"Therefore
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on."
If I took
this literally, I would become a homeless person wandering the streets - or
better yet, sick or dead.
"He
that is not with me is against me.
It’s "my way or the
highway" time. Do as I say or burn in the flames of Hell. This is the kind
of ultimatum that drives me away.
And
whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him neither
in this world, neither in the world to come."
I have never seen
the "Son of Man" or the "Holy Ghost" so I cannot speak words
against either one, and neither can anyone else.
"Every
idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of
judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned."
When I read this, I
think of all the thoughtless remarks I have spoken throughout my life and regretted
later. Too late - my words have already condemned me. That is why we have freedom of speech and church/state
separation.
"The
This famous quote has puzzled me all my life. The word "kingdom" is a medieval term and is therefore meaningless in a democratic society. I believe the author of this quote intended it to mean a state of happiness.
"Judge not that ye not be
judged."
I tried to practice this but finally gave up
and went back to judging people.
The Second Coming of Jesus
Ever since
the death and resurrection of The Boss's Son 2000 years ago, Christians have
enthusiastically waited for Jesus to return one day to rescue them and take
them to Heaven. It sounds like a wonderful idea but it contradicts the promise
that Jesus made to his disciples when he said, "I am with you always,
even to the end of the world."
How can
Jesus return if he never left?
According to
believers, Jesus is supposed to come back and rescue them from a life of
suffering; however, the last time I checked, nobody really knew for sure what
Jesus looked like. He would have to arrive on a cloud so we would recognize Him.
These "second coming" groups
come and go with regularity, organized by people blessed with leadership
abilities but cursed with a craving for power. A critical moment for the group
arrives when the leaders make the mistake of naming the exact time the Messiah
will appear. Sometimes it is not their fault. Sometimes anxious members put
pressure on the leader to "name the hour" when the Redeemer will come.
Once that date is set, the deadly countdown begins.
When the deadline passes and Jesus
fails to appear as expected, the cult leader must decide how to maintain his
authority over the group. The wisest choice is to admit he or she misread the
clues and quickly choose a different date. A second choice is to grab the
group's money and flee the country. The third choice is the one chosen by the
doomsday cult members who are in too deep– which is to kill one another, or commit
suicide, or both. The astonishing part of this drama is that rich, educated,
highly intelligent people whom we sometimes elect to public office join these doomsday
cults, which proves that beneath the surface of civilized people lies a black
hole of primitive fear and superstition.
Religious Programming Begins with the
Genesis Myth
Me and God
Catholic Theology starts
with the story of Genesis and the presumption
of a male, Creator God that rules over the Earth from a place called the
The confusion over who is in charge
can be resolved to some degree by asking the following questions.
Who is digesting my food, circulating my blood, replacing
my cells and fabricating dreams? Is it I or is it God? If God is everywhere
then where do I fit in?
It seems to me the more I take
responsibility for my own actions, the less I need to depend on God. Better
still, why not leave God alone altogether and see what happens?
The fact that I do not know how I digest food, circulate blood, form new cells and create dreams does not mean I am not doing it. It simply means that my attention lies elsewhere so I do not notice what I (the body) am doing. If I took the time to focus my attention, I would see a miracle in progress. It would make me wonder if perhaps the totality of my self extends beyond my physical body into higher realms while my attention remains here, in this world.
During a sudden deadly attack of swine flu (H1N1), viral pneumonia, bacteremia, mrsa and dvt, I was isolated in a private room in a cardiac unit where I experienced a strange phenomenon. With my eyes open, I had a normal sensation of being in the middle of the room. When I closed my eyes, however, I found myself in a different location that was just as real. I examined both but I could not see any difference between the two images. This happened repeatedly during the day while I was awake and lucid.
The Origin of Humanity
"In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And God
said let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
The word "us"
is an unfortunate choice of words
to describe a God that sounds like a multiple personality that talks to Himself. Multiple personalities and
talking snakes are not characters to which I would offer my allegiance. Perhaps this description was a compromise
between monotheists (single God) and polytheists (many gods). In any case, this
multiple personality God will go ahead and create Adam and Eve, the first
humans.
"And
the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his
ribs, and closed up the flesh... and the rib which the Lord God had taken from
man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man….. "And on the
seventh day God ended his work… and he rested…"
This magical story might fascinate a
three-year-old but may disappoint an intelligent adult with a college
education. Even if you concede that the seven days could mean seven millennium,
or even seven million years, the fact remains that time is a human invention that does not apply to God because God
lives in eternity. It is useless to argue this point with true believers
who fear that if you change even one word of scripture, it could throw the
entire Bible into doubt.
After the seven days of creation, all-powerful God became tired and needed to rest.
This cannot be true because an all-powerful God does not need
to rest. This is an example of a contradiction, (an error in thinking) in which
the author loses credibility and the story is now fiction.
As the narrative continues, God
creates the
Eventually Eve grows tired of perfect
happiness and becomes curious about the tree. Her interest is helped along by
the appearance of the talking snake, who urges her to try one of the apples. The
talking snake, it turns out, is Satan, the rebellious angel whom God cast into
Hell, but who mysteriously shows up to promise Eve that if she eats the apple
she will become as wise and powerful as God. With such a persuasive argument
from the exquisite talking serpent, Eve gives in to her desire for power and
knowledge. When Adam shows up, she persuades him to have a taste of power and
knowledge, also. By eating the apple and disobeying God, they have now lost
their innocence. They have also become aware of their naked bodies and decide
to cover their private parts with fig leaves. Before long, God, Who is
everywhere and knows everything, "discovers" them hiding and covering
their nakedness. He listens to their story of guilt before He orders them out
of the Garden and into a primitive world of suffering and struggle. This
explains how we ended up in our present situation
As I read this
story, I cannot help but wonder: Why would God put the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil in the garden in the first place if did not want them to eat the fruit? Moreover, why does God need to test
them if He already knew the outcome? Further,
why put Satan in the garden to trap Eve?
This
story is not about choice - this is a tale of entrapment by a God who knew
exactly what He was doing.
Cain and Abel
After God evicted Adam and Eve from
the Garden of Eden, they began a life of struggle and suffering, as solid
organisms. They became sexually active and Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel, a
farmer and a herdsman. Apparently, God preferred slaughtered sheep to
vegetables and favored Abel over Cain. This seemed unfair to Cain who settled
the score by killing his brother, Abel. For unknown reasons, God was not around when the first murder took
place or He could have prevented it. Again, we have a contradiction from the
author. Later, when God "discovers" what happened He becomes
angry, places a mark on Cain and banishes him to the
Noah
and the Flood
"And it repented the Lord that
He had made man on the earth and it grieved Him at his heart. And the Lord said
I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and
beast; and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air; for it repented me that
I have made them."
Instead of a Divine Plan with a successful
conclusion, one might expect from a Supreme Being, Genesis has now become God's
personal nightmare. First the angels in Heaven and now this. In His own words, God
is not perfect; instead, He makes
mistakes and suffers from His mistakes. He becomes angry and destructive over His mistakes. God behaves
like a child who cannot control his emotions.
God now decides to destroy all life on
the planet except for a man named Noah and his family whom he orders to build a
large seagoing vessel called the Ark and …
"every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou
bring into the ark, and keep them alive with thee. Of every clean beast thou
shalt take to thee by seven, the male and female; and of the beast that are not
clean by two, the male and the female."
God's
new plan is to re-seed the earth with a mated pair of every living thing by
storing them aboard the
Why would an all-powerful God go to this much trouble to wipe out the human race?
The
"and the whole earth was of
one language and of one speech. And they said, let us build us a city and a
tower, whose top may reach unto heaven… and the Lord came down to see the city
and the tower… and the Lord said… go to, let us go down, and there confound
their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord
scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left
off to build the city."
The author of this tale
tried to explain why we have a variety of languages. The plot centers on a
group of people who are trying to reach Heaven by building a tower.
This
time, God, who is "up there" in Heaven has to come "down"
to Earth to find out what kind of mischief human beings are up to this time. Instead
of laughing at their folly, the three Persons in one God have an angry reaction
among themselves and decide to alter the language of the builders so they
cannot finish the project. Thus, the variety of languages we have developed is
a punishment from God.
The
Bible Bangers
I am beginning to believe that genetic
engineering plays a major role in how people think and act. Apparently, some of
us cannot follow a single idea to its logical conclusion and must rely on
others to do our thinking for us. This happened to me in parochial school where
I memorized a great deal of information long before I understood its meaning.
In 1980, Conservative
Christians began to regroup from the shock of the hippie drug culture and
losing the Vietnam War. Concerned parents and shrewd politicians joined forces
against the Gurus, the reality-altering chemicals, and the Eastern religions
that had shaken traditional family values.
Evangelical Christians appeared on
television, speaking in tongues, performing faith healing and swooning in the
spirit. They broadcast the Word of God,
direct from the Bible across
TV viewers desperate to reach the highly
touted "
In the beginning, I
was curious about this emerging media phenomenon and wondered how long it would
last but I had no idea how powerful it would become and how quickly it would
spread. One by one, ministers for God began to appear in the news on charges of
tax evasion, misappropriation of funds, statutory rape, prostitution, and
homosexual activity. Later, the Catholic Clergy made headlines with charges of
sexual abuse of children and cover-ups.
Apparently, anyone can become a spokesperson for the Boss, from a preacher to a President. All you have to do is graduate from a seminary or appear in public with a microphone and start broadcasting scripture to a gullible audience. If you wish to attract a global following and collect enormous amounts of tax-free cash, just carry on conversations with God right in front of the networks camera! No one will know the difference!
Talking
to God is a euphemism for talking to yourself, once considered an indicator
of a mental disturbance. Zen masters practice inner silence to quiet the internal
dialogue - not engage it in conversation.
The
Partnership of the Corporate Church and State
Over the last thirty years, a
groundswell of Christian activism has moved traditional values of God, country
and family to the top of the political agenda. Church supported politicians
began to win elections by promising to get rid of drugs, pornography,
homosexuality, abortion, gay marriage, alternative lifestyles and non-Christian
religions.
Evangelical ministers delivered angry sermons to arouse congregations to donate money and volunteer their services to help turn faith-based doctrine into government policy. The ultimate goal of the movement was to gain control of congress and the white house by electing candidates that promoted Christian values. The fact that this violates the constitutional separation of church and state did not matter. Under the growing pressure from the Christian Right, God was more important than the Constitution.
One way to assist this process was to
force tax-supported public schools
to include Creationism in their science courses. Creationism is a religious
doctrine that presumes the existence of a Creator God. Because Creationism is a
familiar religious term, the promoters of this plan changed the word "Creationism" to
"Intelligent Design."
Intelligent Design
says, "Certain features of the universe and of living things are best
explained by an "intelligent cause", not an "undirected
process" such as natural selection." On the surface, this appears to be splitting hairs but if you examine it
closely, it presumes the universe lacks intelligence and needs someone or
something to be in charge. Since Fundamentalist Christians have a deep
seated fear of a life without purpose or meaning they invented a Creator God
and put Him in charge. This Creator God is none other than the biblical
God in Genesis.
Intelligent Design
lost its bid to enter public high school
science courses in the 1990 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case
when U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled that intelligent design is not
science and "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist
antecedents."
Using different strategies, right wing
political Christians continue to push their religious agenda. The founding
fathers made it clear that tax-supported
public schools that educate children from different religious backgrounds
should not teach religion in their classrooms. Religious instruction can be
taught at home or in privately funded
schools and churches. These institutions are already tax exempt and perfectly
free to carry on these activities with their own money.
Our founding
fathers knew that religion was a powerful form of indoctrination that had caused
untold human suffering throughout history. During the time of the Catholic
Inquisition, and the Star Chamber, the Church Government could have burned
Corporate Religion, Politics and the Media
When I was a child, I remember how
boring it was to watch Catholic Mass on our 12" black and white TV. On
Saturday, my mother would iron clothes and watch Bishop Fulton J. Sheen give
his weekly sermon called "Life is Worth Living." He was a strikingly
handsome man in his red robe and cap. He was also a brilliant speaker who was
so deeply committed to his beliefs that millions of Catholic viewers viewed him
as a living saint.
However, things have changed since
then. Religion has become a billion dollar media circus that broadcasts Bible
quotations over worldwide networks. The Word of God does not have to make sense
as long as the size of the audience, the charisma of the preacher and the
special effects delivered by the television crew motivates viewers to send in
their pledges. The money the cult receives finances the building of churches and
Christian universities, where each new generation of students learns to replace
thinking and direct observation with memorized scripture.
The Conservative Christian movement began to gain momentum around 1980 and within ten years, it had become a powerful political/corporate force that could elect officials to public office and introduce legislation that favored faith-based initiatives. The founders of these new religious corporations hired experts to study and learn how to control thinking. They discovered that frightened, lonely people respond well to singing, talking, and consoling messages from Jesus, in exchange for contributions. That is exactly what they received – nothing more.
How Religion Began
Becoming human is a slow and difficult process
that requires effort, intelligence and guidance.
Just as a child playing in a sandbox will create imaginary playmates, so will adults create imaginary characters that will console and guide them through difficult times. The founders of ancient civilizations understood the need to invent external deities to whom they assigned tasks that were beyond the reach of human beings. What began as products of the imagination became temples, statues, paintings and other "holy" objects. The intent of the worshippers turned these imaginary entities into powerful beings that could influence human affairs. Through repeated rituals, what was once inside the human brain now appeared outside, in the external world.
***
.
Religion arises in response to not knowing who I am, where I came from or where I am going.
Religious authorities promote the
idea that they have the answer to this mystery. The indoctrination begins when the
seeker wants to know the answer. When you make inquiries into a
Christian group, they will offer you religious literature, which contains all
the answers you seek. You may talk for a while before you take the material
home and begin reading. If you read with an open mind you will notice the
narrative contains troubling passages called contradictions. If you
are an intelligent and logical person, you may think to yourself, "This
makes no sense." Now you must decide to dismiss the stories as fiction or, accept
them on faith. This is where your desire to know may overcome reason
– reason being a progression of thought based on common sense, intelligence and
prior experience - whereas faith is based solely on blind trust. If you decide
to accept Genesis on faith alone, your imagination and
desire will make these stories appear true!
The Bible has a large following because it is easy for symbol-minded folks to believe in Bible stories than to question them. After all, the Bible is the product of centuries of research by professional historians and religious scholars. Who am I to question the experts?
The men and women of long ago who wrote the manuscripts that scholars assembled to create the Bible, based their work on a simple premise – that a white, super-human, male monarch called God created us and that we had rebelled (or at least the first human prototypes – Adam and Eve) had rebelled. So here we are, stuck on this backwater world carrying on with our sinful ways. As a consequence of A&E's bad decision, we must suffer and die until we learn to obey the biblical God's instructions and ask His forgiveness.
Religion and Entheogens
Freedom is my right to explore the
mystery of my body in a way that does not endangers others. This includes the
right to alter my consciousness. Consciousness altering is not a crime but a normal
and healthy activity practiced by people in all cultures to escape the stress of
daily life. Unfortunately, there is also a percentage of society that fears this
activity and tries to prohibit it. Mind-altering substances such as cannabis
(pot), magic mushrooms and peyote (mescaline) can change human perception to
such a degree that after the experience the user may have a new outlook on life.
Devout Catholics condemn the use of power plants and insists that swallowing a round white wafer and pretending it is Jesus, God, or the Holy Ghost is the path to salvation. Based on personal experience, I see no benefit from this practice.
Entheogens change the
way the brain converts energy into sensory data. Entheogens release huge
amounts of energy that can trigger profound changes in thinking and behavior
especially in people with a strong desire to explore the limits of human
experience and knowledge (the Zeitgeist). Traditionally, shamans used
Entheogens to induce visions in themselves and in their clients – to transcend
normal awareness and reaffirm the presence of "God within".
It is the endless
prayers, sermons, Bible classes and belief in a God who is not there, that
often leads spiritual seekers to search for truth elsewhere. By chemically
stimulating the upper cortex to produce changes in perception, a new direction
to explore opens up. Remember how Adam and Eve disobeyed the biblical God and
sampled the forbidden fruit from the
tree of knowledge of good and evil?
For those willing to risk arrest and a possible prison term under puritanical
drug laws, Entheogens offer an experience far beyond anything offered by the
Church.
Despite their
differences, Entheogens and esoteric religion share a common goal - to reveal
the true wonder and mystery of existence. A carefully planned episode can
shatter long-standing beliefs and alter forever the course of one's life. Of
course, anyone can alter reality by getting drunk on legal alcohol but there is
no comparison between losing muscular coordination, slurring speech and passing
out - and witnessing the innermost structure of the world. In fact, many people
give up drinking for good after such an experience.
For centuries, religious institutions have condemned and persecuted those who used Entheogens, and with good reason. Once you sense the underlying unity of all things, you are more likely to view the world as an extension of yourself. A dramatic shift in perception is therefore a huge threat to the socially constructed ego, which dissolves at death.
***
Catholic theologians argue that prayer and the
Eucharist (the body of Jesus taken symbolically at Communion in the form of a
round, flat, white wafer) and not drugs, is the correct way Jesus taught his
disciples to communicate with God.
As a former Catholic and participant in the
Sacrament of Holy Communion for twenty years, I can assure you this is not quite
true. Swallowing a compressed wafer of white flour produced in
It is true that
Entheogens are dangerous if taken in an unsupported environment by people who
are not prepared. Most of us have no understanding of the mechanism we call consciousness
thanks to our cultural education. We learn about particle theory in physics and
chemistry, yet we never include ourselves as an arrangement of these same
particles. In my case, I was willing to experiment with chemicals to find out
if science was telling the truth. When I discovered my nervous system was a mass of electronic biocircuits, I
could not believe it. It left me to wonder, what exactly am I, anyway?
In my opinion, those most likely to have a bad
reaction to heightened awareness are people who value the material world of
separate objects above all else. The underlying unity and transparency of all
things may come as a shock. For such people, the torrent of energy released
from the mitochondria of each cell is like plugging a 110-volt toaster into a
220-volt outlet. It lights up dormant areas of the brain.
The casual and irresponsible mixing of entheogenic
compounds with alcohol or other drugs has caused deaths and injuries through
preventable accidents. Recently the Justice Minister of Amsterdam, a city well
known for its liberal drug policy, called for an end to the commercial sale of
fresh magic mushrooms - after reports of over one hundred mushroom related
trips to the emergency room and one death (from a fall) in one year. Most of
these panic attacks happened to British tourists.
Lawmakers sometimes ban a substance from the legal market when a bereaved parent launches a national campaign after losing a son or daughter to an overdose. (Notice that pharmaceuticals kills thousands but remain legal - with warnings.) Banning a popular substance without removing the demand immediately shifts production and sales to the black market where entrepreneurs reap the profits. The demand for a commodity does not go away because lawmakers in Congress pass a law to ban it. People who are making millions of tax-free dollars on prohibition don't give a damn about the law and law enforcement knows they can never enforce it.
The
The hostile attitude of international lawmakers toward mood-altering
drugs is largely the result of decades of
Freedom of Choice
During my years as a heavily programmed Catholic, it was impossible for me to imagine a life outside the Church because every avenue of escape was guarded by threats of punishment. During this period, it never occurred to me that freedom was as much mental as physical and it was not available to me until I changed my thinking. That change took place when I smoked the leaves and blossoms of the cannabis sativa plant and my brain transformed the world into a magnificent sensory experience. For the first time in my life, I chose to disregard the authorities and taste the forbidden fruit.
Years later, after a great deal of research and deliberation I understood that thought control operates on a program of indoctrination, fear, punishment and reward. The federal government had launched a massive propaganda campaign against entheogens with a mixture of lies and scare tactics. The Catholic Church used the same tactics with a description of a jealous, angry, loving God that instills fear of punishment for disobedience and hope of an eternal reward for submission. I realized that if I found out how the government and religion designed and ran these programs, then I was free of them.
It is only natural to explore the mystery of one's
own body/mind, which makes threat of punishment from an angry God, corrupt
Church and bankrupt Government for doing so, an abuse of power. A common weakness
in our species is to try to suppress, control and manipulate others. In almost
every instance where crime and violence explode, people in power tried to
eliminate some aspect of human nature they found threatening. The policy
changed only when lawmakers became the target of their own laws.
Accepting Responsibility
The only way to free yourself from religious indoctrination is to assume responsibility for your own existence. The process begins with a desire for greater freedom and a willingness to do whatever it takes to acquire that freedom.
Requirements
for freedom from religious doctrine
1. Practice a healthy lifestyle to build strength. Higher consciousness requires more energy.
2. Trust in reason to answer tough questions. The answers provided by religion offer little or no evidence to support its claims. Instead, much of it, though not all of it, depends on blind faith in someone you have never met and most likely never will meet.
3. Study the origin of all religions to see how they came to be what they are today. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia is a great source for quick answers.
4. Develop calmness of body/mind through daily meditation. An agitated body/mind cannot hold the attention steady long enough to acquire a thorough understanding of complex issues. Memorized information is only a precursor to understanding.
5. Let go of God and Jesus and think for yourself. If you lack intelligence, common sense or a conscience, then you have no choice but to depend on God and Jesus for guidance. Just remember - you create them inside your head.
6. Develop a sense of humor about everything, especially religion. The most common mistake religious seekers make is to go overboard in their zeal to attain holiness. In extreme cases, individuals become insane and engage in holy wars, church bombings and persecutions in the name of a god who said "Love your enemies" and "Though shalt not kill." The best way to prevent violence is to take time out for a good laugh.
7. Stop expecting a reward for doing the right thing. Mature men and women do the right thing because they want to. The reward is in doing it.
8. Treat death as an ordinary and natural event. Death is our best adviser because it reduces all of us to nothingness.
Requirements
for dependency on religious doctrine
1. Join a religious group and believe everything they tell you.
2. Do not trust your own thoughts if they conflict with dogma.
3. Denounce other religions.
4. Ignore contradictions - just keep plowing ahead.
5. Pray constantly to God and Jesus for guidance.
6. Never joke about religion.
7. Expect a reward for obedience.
8. Regard death as an enemy. Seek eternal life in Heaven.
Sin
Webster’s Dictionary defines sin as "an offense against God, religion or good morals." This also includes "an offense against any law, standard, code, etc. including a sin against good taste."
Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has compiled a list of offenses that cover nearly all human impulses including those that are natural and pleasurable if properly managed.
One of the first written references to offensive human behavior appeared in the Book of Proverbs called "seven things the Lord hated." Other spokespersons for the Lord modified the list until the 4th century when the monk Evagrius Ponticus detailed them in his writings as the eight evil thoughts.
The list reads as follows. Gluttony, lust, greed, sorrow, anger, despair, envy and pride.
I have indulged all of these impulses at one time or another in my life so I know that they do. They cut off the flow of energy - a condition I call "sin".
The term "deadly" is a term used by writers in a culture trapped in fear and superstition.
Gluttony is eating more food than you can digest. It creates toxic waste, which weakens the body, and creates its own misery. You do not need to be punished by God for engaging in this activity.
Lust is a normal expression of sexual energy in a heterosexual marriage to create children - or simply for pleasure. For those who have no interest in marriage or children, consensual safe sex between unmarried adults or guilt-free masturbation is neither a crime nor a sin. Overpopulating this planet with human beings is a sin.
Greed is the driving force behind our economic system of wealth and power, which we call Capitalism. However, unrestrained greed is dangerous and can destroy an individual or the economy of nation.
Sorrow is a normal reaction to pain or loss. No one can eliminate sorrow or suffering but those who practice the art of detachment can reduce it to a minimum. Struggling to survive in a world of violence, hunger and disease is painful. Even love is a cause for sorrow when the loved one dies or leaves. Learning to let go of the world is essential to happiness.
Anger is a normal response when faced with loss of control or self-esteem. A short burst of anger when it is appropriate relieves stress but prolonged anger damages the nervous system and destroys any chance of enjoying happiness.
Envy is the driving force behind consumerism. Example: Your neighbor shows you her new big screen HD TV, so you want one too. What is wrong with that?
Despair is a desperate reaction to a life-threatening event. It is not an offense against God.
Pride in one's achievement is normal and healthy. Arrogance is pride taken to excess.
None of these feelings are bad provided you apply wisdom when expressing them. The danger lies in trying to suppress them completely. Trying to crush impulses that arise spontaneously can lead to depression. Moderation is the safest course to follow.
Sin is built into the game of life if only to increase its entertainment value. Without it there would be no victories or defeats and the news media would have no crime stories to report to its enthusiastic audience. We need sin. Even so, avoiding sin increases peace and happiness.
My definition of sin does not involve guilt or punishment. Sin is a failure to conduct and store the energy that forms the body and sustains it. Therefore, any action or inaction that depletes or obstructs the flow of life through the body is sin.
There are no universal rules in this game that apply to everyone. Action that weakens the life force in one body may not affect another. Everyone is unique and must determine through trial and error what constitutes depletion or obstruction. This is why I do not follow a fixed set of rules.
Out of the Jungle
One of my favorite pastimes is to read crime stories posted on crimelibrary.com especially those in which human beings kidnap, torture and kill other human beings. I have always wondered how this fits the description of a Creator God that cannot make a mistake. It seems that God gave us the means to kill one another while forbidding us at the same time. It makes no sense to me.
The most gruesome stories leave the reader to wonder what drives people to commit such heinous acts. I believe they begin as a thought that arises spontaneously inside a person's head and then fades away unless it receives the energy/attention it requires to turn it into action. The author's who posed this question got me thinking about the difference between the religious and scientific description of a human being. The Bible maintains a strict separation between the animal and human world, which helps to explain why our animal behavior presents such a mystery to crime investigators. When I was a child in Catholic school, the nuns made it clear to us that we are not animals. I now know that we are animals. We are part of a food chain that involves slaughtering and eating other animals - a process that differs from the jungle environment only in its automation of food delivery systems. We no longer snap the chicken's neck, chop off the goats head or electrocute a cow. This separation from the killing process makes it easier to believe that God created us special and independent of the animal kingdom.
Devoutly religious people have a hard time accepting the reality of serial killers, human sacrifice, child molesters, and the government sanctioned mass murder we call war. It is only when I accept my status as an animal in the human form that everything begins to make sense. My fascination with people who resort to violence is evidence of an animal gene in my DNA. As a person who wishes to get along with my fellow men and women I have built mental barriers (filters) against certain impulses that I know would damage my reputation as a “good” person. A small percentage of people in a civilized society breach these barriers we refer to as a conscience. In the process of enjoying the thrill of power and control over their victims, they have to destroy the conscience and become con artists in order to hide their true nature.
As an individual develops more awareness the lower reptilian brain plays a diminishing role in making decisions and the upper mammalian brain becomes dominant. The desire to experience pleasure by inflicting suffering and death on others becomes a desire to share happiness with others.
This is just a theory but I believe
that a lifetime of conscious action changes
the structure of DNA
which affects the entire gene pool. In other words, we are both slaves and
masters of our own nature.