I find it amusing that so many people who belong to major religious organisations look upon the horrible practices of the fringe cults without any sense of irony.
The predatory practices of many fringe cults, not only in regard to abuse cover-ups, but also in their recruitment practices, their methods of keeping members locked in, and their viscious silencing of dissenters, does not really differ from many major religions.
I constantly hear people ridiculing the beliefs of destructive fringe cults, while simultaneously ignoring the lunacy of their own chosen faith. Major Christian outlets, like Catholicism and Protestantism, have equally mad beliefs, and have demonstrated their own abilities when it comes to a good cover-up. They have employed all manner of physical and psychological torture in propagating their religions. They have asked for donations, they have excommunicated people, the have swept sexual abuse scandals under the rug, they have infiltrated and medaled in the affairs of government, and still do, the list goes on.
I think anybody reading this blog who is alligned to an organised religion needs to take the shock and disgust they feel when they read about horrible institutions like the Jehovahs Witnesses, Scientology, or even Jones Town, and then apply the same framework for judgement and analysis of practices to their chosen religion. Where do you think these cults learned how to play the game?
I'd like to believe that members of all religions would be able to see a group like the Jehovah's, or the Church of Scientology, or the Moonies, or whoever as a wake-up call, a heads up to the way religious organisations brainwash and bully people. I keep waiting for the penny to drop, but it saddens me that most members of these religions are objective only when it comes to disecting their market rivals, but continue deluding themselves that their religion is unique and not based around manipulative and agressively persuasive tactics.
Cults, religions, whatever you want to call them, are based around persuasive technique of the most agressive and sneaky variety. This persuasion operates on threats that are impossible for objectors to 100% conclusively disprove. They hinge on fear, and cunningly disguise that fact with constant PR talk about love. Love in many religious organisations is only a means of keeping their dupe locked into the sense of belonging any community can create when it apparently loves everybody in that community 'unconditionally'. But there is often nothing unconditional about this love. It is a bonus you are afforded as part of the religion, and something which can be stripped from the member for non-compliance, to devastating effect. You never miss what you never had, and if it is given to you, and then somebody threatens to take it away, it can form the basis for a very strong control mechanism, which is reinforced through mental conditioning. This becomes compounded when you are dealing with somebody who has been born into a faith, because they will definitely miss something which they have always had. People have no problem looking at the childhood of cronically anti-social individuals, who murder, steal, lie, abuse etc, and identifying the fact that he was raised in such a hostile and fucked up environment that he 'never had a chance'. Well the same goes for people raised in strict religious households. They often don't have a chance to break out of their mental conditioning, even when they reach adulthood. To further this, religions allign scepticism with weakness, and query with arrogance.
In constructing a framework for mental conditioning, which is passed to susceptible adult initiates, and then in turn introduced to their children at birth, religious organisations ensure that resistence to their persuasive technique is minimized within one generation. It is hard for adults raised under such constant persuasive manipulation since infancy to realistically question all that they have ever known. This is something which they pass down to their kids, and onto potential adult converts. But why do lowly members do this, and not just the master manipulators at the top? A big reason for this, is because the more people the initiate can convince, the more reaffirmation they reap for themselves in their beliefs. If enough people believe in something far fetched it starts to look less foolish, largely because a greater number have been fooled. Strength in numbers.
Many devoutly religious people tend to fall back on the idea that some very intelligent individuals are devout members of religious organisations, so if they see it as the truth, then it must hold weight. This is a fallacy, being intelligent alone will not protect you from persuasive technique and mental conditioning. Not one intellectual has managed to date to establish conclusively the existence or non-existence of God, Hell or Heaven. Those clever clever people who offer others reassurance in regard to another persons chosen faith, simply by being a member of the same church, are merely guessing and keeping their fingers crossed just like the others. This is where the simian and the genius are one in their lack of conclusive knowledge.
Imagine if George W. Bush starting making claims that if you didn't vote for him, you would be a step closer to a place where pain never loses it's novelty and lasts for an eternity. Imagine if this was surrounded by a campaign which claimed that every vote for him and act of support demonstrated towards him, was in fact a good deed in the eyes of a supreme being who's existence was impossible to disprove and would actually GUARANTEE you a place in an afterlife paradise if you followed George without question. Imagine if George told us all that he was in direct correspondence with this supreme being, and that everything he said was directed by divinity and infallible. Now imagine you were raised from infancy, as were your parents, and their parents, to believe this as bond. Now just remove Georgie boy's name from it and replace it with the appropriate bullshitter of your choice. Bingo. Hopefully you get the picture.
Great post with vital information I applaud your blog!
http://www.progressiveu.org/044355-jehovah-s-witnesses-lose-freedom-of-speech mine up today on Jehovah's Witnesses
-tell the truth don't be afraid-Danny Haszard
In all fairness most cults are based around a single person and religions are based around books or philosophies...
Okay, I am going to leave that sentence as a badge of dishonor. Apparently my brain ceased to function. Jesus-person, Buddha-person, Mohammed-person. At least cults follow people who are still alive. At least at Jonestown people were dying for a guy they had actually talked to.
I am sooo tired.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memor mori, mahalo.
I sound like Weezy from Dragon Tales (don't even ask...) but looooove it!
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
Thanks Fallon. Glad you like it.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
I love what you're saying here. We're actually learning about sects in my sociology class and it doesn't take a genious to connect the dots between so-called "cults" and major religions such as Christianity or Islam.
I love what you're saying here. We're actually learning about sects in my sociology class and it doesn't take a genious to connect the dots between so-called "cults" and major religions such as Christianity or Islam.
That's the thing, it really doesn't take a genius, it just takes freedom of mind.
But even a genius will not see it without freedom of mind. That is the truly frightening thing about persuasion and mental conditioning.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
Very interesting piece. keep it up.
I think the major difference is that major religions (i.e. Christianity, Buhdism) are centuries older than most major cults and although the major religions are based around a person their holy books have been debated, shaped, and written over a pretty long period of time. Holy books of cults have usually been written (or 'discovered') by one single person or groups of person (L. Ron Hubbard, The Watchtower, etc.)
I think you have valid points about many major religions, however - what's the alternative? The thing that keeps people in religions is the fact that - if there's no God, no Nirvana, no higher plan - what keeps life from being meaningless? Although there are abuses of religion by many people - I think it's kind of extreme to completley dismiss all religous people as being "mentally conditioned."
What's the alternative? How about a religion where no human claims to speak for God? Maybe a religion that does not bully and threaten it's devout.
God can exist without a manipulative organised religion. It is only manipulative religions that need to threaten people by telling them if they turn their back on religion God will be angry. Which is something they clearly can't prove. Turninmg your back on organized religion is not turning your back on God, merely turning your back on a group of men and their speculative beliefs.
People need to remember that life without these religions does not have to mean Atheism. It can mean Deism, Panentheism, Neo-Paganism, Agnosticism...etc.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
in your alternative religion, does God simply speak to each individual person? because many say that's a symptom of schizophrenia.
if someone truly believes that following a set of rules will bring them closer to God, it is understandable that they would believe that not following those rules might anger God. turning your back on organised religion may be turning your back on a group of men with speculative beliefs, but you are doing so for your own speculative beliefs. it does not make you any more right than they are.
and yes, there are other religions. but they also have some basic guidlines (maybe not as strict) that define them as religions. and many of them are made up of believers who are equally as manipulative and organised, such as Wicca.
"turning your back on organised religion may be turning your back on a group of men with speculative beliefs, but you are doing so for your own speculative beliefs. it does not make you any more right than they are."
I'm not talking about right here. I am merely pointing out wrong. I'm Agnostic, I don't believe without proof. The only belief I hold is that no man knows enough to decide definitively whether or not there is a God, let alone what that God's personal preferences and character might be. Since none of these holymen has even managed to produce a shred of truth beyond telling people to make believe, I would conclude that my beliefs are more right than theirs. But this is a moot point. The real issue here is about manipulation and persuasion. I have nothing to gain by convincing people to adopt my views. In fact if they do, they will be a lot harder to dupe in future. All I have to gain is the satisfaction gleaned from the knowledge that there are a few more people asking why? instead of how high?
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
Do you mean religions with an organized structure - i.e. the Catholic Church, Watchtower society, the various Muslim schools of thought (forget what they're called, but where they have a leader telling them what to think, etc.) or are you talking mainstream religions in general - all Christianity, all Islam, etc.
I'd agree with you about religions of an organized structure - any group of people claiming to have a certain "list of rules" that you must follow to get to heaven are human and the organizations that claim to be have the "stamp of approval" do some pretty ugly things trying to cover their humanity up.
JESSAMINE Q.
Jesus was not a person. He was God's son who materialized into a person. So therefore people who follow Christ are not Sect's they are followers of God and God's son, Christians. And I think it is funny that people would say something about a religions or religions they don't even know about......................
I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. And I must say that I am appalled by the horrible lies and the small amount of truths that have been spread about Witnesses. First, I would like to thank scottcauthorn for standing up and saying something.
Like he said, we do not pass around a collection plate in the Kingdom Hall (it isn't a church, shows how much you guys know). All the members donate voluntarily and with no force. Other religions do force their members to donate and then use the money for something else entirely. Jehovah's Witnesses use the money for our literature and encouraging products. One aspect of these encouragement products is lawyers. Why? Well, Jesus said go preach door to door. It is a huge commandment. The bible says be no part of the world (which is why we do not publicly seek publicity like other religions do. In fact, the Watchtower society has helped in every major disaster, recently Katrina and the Tsunami, but they have not come out trying to shove that fact in everyones face like some other religions) and do not go to war. These commandments go against what most governments want their citizens to be doing, so as CHRISTIANS who first follow God before the Government, we must have these lawyers to protect our basic rights. The congregation as a whole is a very supportive, loving and beautiful organization that is really whole-heartedly trying to do everything they can to serve Jehovah and His son Jesus Christ the right way.
Now this is not to say that they are perfect. Yes I am sure some of the things above have taken place. Jesus said that false prophets would arise among his true followers in Matthew 24. So I am not surprised to find out that these things happen. Judas Iscariot was Jesus' apostle, but he ended up betraying Jesus in the end resulting in Christ's death. But that is why we disfellowship people who are doing those horrible things. Disfellowshipping is also a commandment in the bible. We have to keep the congregation clean and sometimes mistakes are made, but when disfellowshipping is done it is for the health of the congregation. People who have been disfellowshipped usually are angry and spiteful at the congregation and will try to spread false lies in order to hurt Jesus' precious flock. And as Jesus said, they are successful at this because as I read through these post, not are you only accusing the molesters as bad horrible people but also the witnesses who aren't molesters. There will always be a goat among sheep, we can't help that, but that does not mean just because one goat is a herd of sheep that all the sheep are goats as well.
I also wanted to bring out that we are not a Sect or a CULT. We are Christians. We follow Jehovah God and His son Jesus Christ. We follow commandments in the bible, old testament and new testament. We do not participate in wars that would kill our fellow neighbor like every other religion does which goes against bible commandment. We have died for our beliefs not by persuasion, but because of the profound belief of what we have learned in the bible truthfully. We use God's name, Jehovah, unlike most other religions. And we preach, the commandment Jesus gave.
We do believe and know that we will grow old and die. We believe that when we die...well.... we die. You don't go to heaven or hell. But we have hope in the resurrection which is promised in the bible to those who are righteous and unrighteous. We do not know the day and the hour in which Armaggedon will come, but we know that we are in last days as brought in the whole prophecy of Jesus and in the book of Revelation which many religions choose to ignore this chapter of the Bible. We know that we are in the last days because of the signs. I think most have to admit that if God doesn't come soon, an asteroid, nuclear bomb, or global warming will surely do the dirty work. So no matter how you choose to look at it, we are in the last days of this earth. I just choose to hope that the end will come by a loving God then a hopeless end by the above mentioned.
DannyHaszard, you accuse Scott of being a liar without even knowing him just like you have the witnesses. Hmmm.. this says soemthing about your character and credibility. It could very well be that scott goes to the meetings but has not chosen to get baptized yet, which means he is not witness. I was once unbaptized and not yet considered a witness. There are many in my congregation who are just learning and not yet chosen to get baptized. So Scott, could in fact be telling the truth. The way you responded to scott shows me that you are person who likes to hurt and falsely accuse other people, therefore I do not pay much serious attention to the things you will have to say.
People who post on here and say that they were overseers and elders and were disfellowshipped. They are now angry because they didn't get to do what they wanted so they talk badly against the congregation. They wanted to have immoral sex, against God, they wanted to smoke cigarettes and destroy their body, against God. So they were disfellowshipped. In other words, we freed them and let them go do the things they wanted to do, but not in our atmosphere in which we are trying to serve God correctly. Quite frankly, if you don't want to serve God the right way, why belong to a religious organization? Just go and do your own thing. Don't corrupt those that are trying to serve God. In the 70's, we were still learning the bible prophecies and interpreting them so I am sure that there were some mistakes that the brothers and sisters made. But as the bible states, keep searching for truths as for hidden treasures, we have kept searching and the organization is very organized today. I have had family members who have had the privilege of working at Bethel and the atmosphere is wonderful according to them. I also hope to one day be able to work among those brothers and sisters who are slaving away for Jehovah and on our behalf.
Children aren't at the Watchtower society, you have to be 19 or older. So I don't understand the comment above that said children need to be helped in the watchtower. But besides that, yes children are molested everyday througout the whole world by all types of people. We shoudl stop them as well. The children who get molested in the organization are not because they are Jehovah's Witnesses it is because they happened to be born into a family where a pedophile is pretending to be a good person. My mom was one of these people who happened to be molested by her stepfather who was a Jehovah's Witness. But likelihood is that she would have been molested by him if he were a Jehovah's Witness or not. He is a hypocrite in God's eyes who will not only receive punishment by the law but also punishment by Jehovah God in the end. And my mom will have the justice that she deserves that which no government can give her. Meanwhile the society has been very supportive and very helpful. They are loving and have taken my family in. Jehovah has rewarded us for our endurance tenfold just like Job was after his test.
The reason we are advised not to talk to disfellowshipped ones is because guess what, that is also in the bible. :) Just like the people above who are posting hurtful posts against all witnesses, these disfellowshipped witnesses hurt their families and friends by saying hurtful things against them, so in order not to be discouraged and turn our backs on Jehovah the apostle Paul said that the Disfellowshipped one must be put out of the congregation and left in isolation. But if the disfellowshipped person is repentant and wishes to serve God with us again then we except him or her back into the congregation with open arms.
WWJD- Yes Jesus did go door to door. And some of the people he came across were nice enough to offer him all sorts of things including money. But we do not ask for donations, we accpet donations, big difference. Some witnesses are more zealous than others and will ask but we are not admonished to be so eager about money, our first and foremost reason for being at the door is to preach the good news of God's Kingdom. If a person accepts one of our magazines or bible, we would appreciate a donation as it does cost a lot to manufacture these books for free.
DannyHaszard-It is true that some witnesses have still let go of their worldy personalties. They say curse words still and say things they shouldn't. It is a hard process to begin to live a Godly life, especially if you have lived another way for so long. Once again we all make mistakes. And we are not bullies. We come to your door because we believe we have the truth and we wish to share to you the relief and beauty that comes with having this knowledge. Therefore we don't come to your door to annoy you. We come to the door out of heartfelt love for our neighbors. We believe that we will save your life. We could be selfish and keep this to ourselves, but that would not be Christlike and it would be showing love for your neighbor. We get up wee hours in the mornings and on weekends and preach door-to-door for free, because we love you. Also, most molestation cases and pedophiles get off easy, not just pedophiles who happen to be false witnesses. You'd be surprised to see have many pedophiles live next door to you, and guess what they aren't witnesses.
Mark Smith- Like I said above, the world is most definitely coming to an end soon whether it be by God or Global Warming, the earth is on its way out. Not all the ones from 1914 will live to see it but some will. In my congregation, there is this 102 year old woman who still comes to meetings strong. So they are still out there. Also Matthew 24:14, says the Good news would preached througout the entire earth and then the end will come. So we still have to preach throughout the entire earth. But we still don;t know the exact day or hour. Only God knows.
My last thing to say- Danny, yeah your an expert alright on witnesses. You got our beliefs wrong in your first post. It is kind of funny that a so-called expert doesn't even know the basics of beliefs.
P.S. If anyone has any questions about our beliefs please feel free to ask. And if you have been hurt by ANYONE, remember that God will bring you Justice in due time.
JESSAMINE Q.
That last post was from the Jehovah's Witnesses blog.
I also wanted to state that unlike other religions, Jehovah's Witnesses do not look down on people for asking questions but instead encourage question asking. Jehovah's dedicate hours of serious study to answer our own and other people's questions. We also are very big on freewill. If our children want to go off and do other things then they can. We don't love them any less for not wanting to get baptized. We are sad, but not loveless. Usually when a baptized witness is disfellowshipped that is when a person is not talked to or associated with and this is because the person is causing serious problems because they didn't get their way. We treat our enemies and unbelieving neighbors with kindness. We don't pass up a person in need just because they aren't Witnesses.
I was once not a witness, but now I am. This is years after asking questions and learning bible truths. I wasn't forced and I wasn't hit over the head because I asked a question. A couple of months ago, a man just walked into the Kingdom Hall during a meeting and started yelling out questions. And he wasn't treated badly at all. We answered his questions and invited him to come back again if he had more questions. The man was so surprised that he was curious to see what else we were going to say that he now attends meetings regularly. He is not pressured to get Baptized or start a bible study. We are just happy to have him there learning about the God we think is so great.
JESSAMINE Q.
I think it is just as bad to talk about someone else's religion as it is someone else's race or culture. I am saddened to see that people use horrible names so freely to express their concern with religion.
Someone's race is something they have no control over. Please don't compare that to religion or culture.
It is perfectly reasonable to criticize a culture or religion if you disagree with their principles and practices. That is how progress is made. Because these things can be changed for the better.
Race can not be changed, so racially motivated criticism is only demonstrated by people who don't understand what cultures are or how they operate. To dwell on race is regressive, it only distracts from social, cultural and religious factors which contribute to a certain ethnic groups behaviour in a certain place or places.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
Some cults don't bully people because I used to belong to a cult called the University Bible Fellowship (UBF) and they never bullied me except my bible study teacher wouldn't take no for an answer when I couldn't have bible study for a day.
I agree with most of what you say about the destructive potential of cults and religions, first of all cults are defined as having a person who benefits from it. if there is a mandatory membership fee to a religion than its not a religion its a cult. a religion is something that is open to everyone.
with that in mind all cults are messed up because all the members are being taken advantage of to some degree. now that leaves religions.
Religions are also known as faiths for a reason there is a degree of faith. Religion can be a very positive force in many peoples lives. it can bring a sense of hope and stability to the instable world we live in. many ideas in major religions are good ones. don't kill, don't steal, don't be a false witness (speaking of bush, i think a one Skooter libby should have been a little more religious). i think that if you look at the nature of some of the major religions. people are what is the problem. people hijack the relgions and their messages and try use it to their own benefit. but this idea that people who associate themselves with one religion or another even if they are clergy, represent the entire religion is insane. if a priest molests a child, the church is not a bunch of child molesters, if a reverent steals money, the church is not a group of thieves nor is the religion it represents.
if a religion as a whole says he go steal, or hey go kill, or hey go molest then you can blame the religion. people screw up and you cant hold it against their associations.
i also want to address that part of your post that denounces the fantastical stories of religions like returning from the dead. i think that if a religion relies upon its stories as a basis for believing its message it is week. nobody is has ever been convinced by miracles, not if the children of israel in the bible who witnessed them. the question is what does the religions stand for, and what are its practices. and i think that being a skeptic is healthy to a point. but to be angry at cults and parts of religions and then cover them under a single umbrella is unfair. this post is just a piece of what world religion is especially the major religions refered to in the title. it seems that most of this post aimed at christianity and fringe cults
I've got to take you up on your cult defintion. Do you honestly mean to tell me that there are not people at the core of the major religions who do not benefit, whether it's financially or through acquired power and influence? Would the Vatican or the host of lavish churches built on key real estate around the globe maybe not hint at some group of people making out like bandits? Would the fact that Islamic clerics can dictate the law of the land in many countries not point at a core of people benefitting?
You can have a cult with no mandatory fee, and most cults are as open to anybody as a religion is. Why would they be less open, they need to recruit same as the majors. Maybe you meant that cults are more secretive and clandestine than the mojors. Try gaining unrestrained access to the Vatican archives sometime.
"with that in mind all cults are messed up because all the members are being taken advantage of to some degree. now that leaves religions." - So you don't think major religions take advantage of people to some degree? Do you not read the blog? Try reading a book called 'The Worlds Wasted Wealth'. There's a whole section on how the ruling classes employed religion, to mobilize the devout masses into supporting economic and trade wars in Gods name. Look to politics and see how religion is employed to win favour from voting populations. Do you really believe that Major religions don't have political aspirations?
People will argue that this is an exploitation of religion and not the standard by which they should be measured. Not true, religion from day one was constructed to control people. It's so effective in it's mechanics that it even manages to convince the controlled that they are exercising true free will. The fact is that good people do good things, if you can gather as many good people as possible into your organisation it will make the religion look good and benevolant. The same way corporations do their utmost to appear good, they hire nice people, they get them to do community work and help out in the community etc. But it doesn't change the fact that these good people are working as PR lemmings for a core of people who are only interested in making money. It's not the religious people who are the problem, it's their masters.
You also say that religions are based on faith to some degree. They are entirely faith based, just because some people have deluded themselves into thinking their beliefs are fact without proof or evidence of any tangible nature, that does not make it so.
Religions are based upon good rules like not killing, robbing etc. because these things are common sense. These all exist without religion. I am not religious, I know these things. I don't kill or rob people because i believe it to be wrong, not because it says so in some book.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" - The Wizard of Oz.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
I just touched on this in a very less detailed fashion in a blog.
I like your approach to this topic though. Well done.
people who say particularly nasty things about other people's religions generally don't understand them. religions have rules. they have guidelines for people to live by. they also have consequences for people's actions, heaven and hell as common ones. true muslims do not believe in murder. true christians do not believe in demanding money or hating non-believers. you need to realize that you are talking about people who are not truly following the religions they claim to. a true christian follow's christ's teachings, yes. but because they believe they are the right way to live their lives, not to avoid hell. and christ's teachings are of love. and that does exist for many believers. i am not a christian because i do not believe in christ's divinity and i do not follow all the teachings of the christian church. but in recent years, extremists or people misinterpreting their religions have, to some people, become the face of the church, and that bothers me. i would not want to be represented by someone i disagree with, and neither do most true believers. not all christians condone sexual abuse, or even tithing, and yes, they reject people they feel do not truly believe. yes, religions "indoctrinate" others, but so do most people who strongly believe in something. you are trying to indoctrinate your readers into believing that organised religions are cults, and claim you are enlightening them. you suggest christians look in the mirror, but you need to as well.
Jessamine Q.
I am glad I am not the only one who finds the way these people are talking about different religions is just a tad bit disrespectful and prejudiced.
Jassamine Q
Who said that any religion deserves respect? If I believed that weekly human sacrifice and sex with children were the key-stones of a religion that would bring people closer to God, does that mean you have to be respectful of my beliefs? No of course it doesn't.
This is exactly the kind of thing which gets right on my tits. People think that they can slap a big ol 'RELIGION: HANDLE WITH CARE' sticker on their mad beliefs and the rest of the world has to shut-the-fuck-up and bow down respectfully. I don't expect anybody to kid glove me and offer some kind of PC respect my way, if they genuinely don't respect my views. I believe people should be entitled to practice their religions, but automatic respect is asking a little much. Religion is opinion based and thus no different to opinion; people are entitled to one, but respect is something the opinion will either earn or not as the case may be. Stop looking for special priviledges.
As far as prejudiced goes; to be prejudiced a person needs to hold an unreasonably biased view on something they know nothing about. I've written a thesis on persuasion, I've belonged to two organised religions, I have friends from a variety of religious faiths, I read. My disdain is not based on prejudice, it is based on observation.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
Csander1
I don't need to fully understand a religion's intricacies to write what I have written here. This piece is largely dedicated to persuasive technique. I have a good understanding of persuasive technique, I wrote my thesis on it in regard to advertising and maketing to children. I noticed that religious persuasion correlated directly with the same techniques modern advertisers use today. Methods which incidently are being banned and regulated across the globe for being exploitative and underhand.
In fact the methods employed by advertisers are actually less sinister because they don't bring peoples souls or exclusive ties to God into the equation. If they did they would be in very deep legal shit. I merely want to highlight how a group of men who call themselves a religion can get away with agressively persuading people into following their commands, yet if a group of men calling themselves an advertising agency pulled the same stunt, they would not be tolerated.
If I had dedicated this blog solely to dealing with the agressively persuasive tactics of advertising companies I seriously doubt I'd have people making comments like 'I don't work in advertising but I'm offended'.
You speak of true Christians; how many of these true Christians are maning the helm at the core of the Vatican? You don't perhaps think that maybe at the core of the Catholic hierarchy there lies a group of men with a less than holy agenda. Say one that centres around mass influence, political might, mind control? No? You wouldn't perhaps entertain the idea that religion is a power game? How many wars have been waged in the name of God, and how many of them coincidently ended in economic gains for one side?
You see, if people were told that their rulers wanted them to go to war so they could rob another country blind and slaughter it's peoples in the name of cold hard currency, many people would not be comfortable with this blood thirsty greed. But if you bring God into the picture, it over-rides the logic of the religious masses. Why? Because much of the religious masses have been raised from birth to believe, not to question, not to know, but to BELIEVE. That belief hinges on faith, which is a product of not knowing. This fear of the unknown is what is exploited by a few clever men who reaslise that they can claim that they DO KNOW. They know that they can't be disproved and invent terms like heresy, blasphemy or today's favourite, intolerant, to shut up anybody who tries to blow the whistle.
You say I'm trying indoctrinate people into believing religions are cults; I am asking people to use the same kind of judgement they often employ when accessing cult practices when accessing other religions. A cult is merely a small or fledgling religion. Cult is only seen as a dirty word, because people suspend proper critical evaluation of 'religions' for fear somebody calls them intolerant, gasp. But if you call something a cult, oh boy, it's open season.
The Church of Scientology understood this. That is why they worked their manipulative little asses off to blackmail the IRS into recognizing them officially as a religion. They saw how people use one set of rules when accessing 'cults' and a far fluffier set when dealing with major religions. It's the 'better the devil you know' technique. All the major religions started out at somepoint as cults. The thing is that the majors propogated themselves at a time of far greater ignorance, and so had thousands of years to ingrain their lies as fact. If Christianity never existed and Islam was the dominant world religion, how well do you think Christianity would be recieved today? It would be a cult and treated no differently to the Branch Davidians, the Moonies, or the People's Temple.
You say I should look in the mirror, that's how I got to where I am. I was born and raised in a mixed Christian family. I used to believe that Catholicism was infallible and that all other religions were mad. That is a Catholic upbringing; sure there's all this bullshit about respecting other's beliefs, but that's a new fangled approach and at the end of the day most Christians are raised to believe that they are right, and other faiths are wrong. I read more and more on religion, asked more and more questions, and one day I just stood back and realised it is all the same game. Men want people to do something, so they find the most effective way they can to control said people.
My agenda is to indoctrinate people into thinking freely. This differs considerably from most religions which dictate that people think their way. I'm not asking people to adopt my beliefs, I don't really have any. I don't want people to follow me, I want people to lead themselves. I am asking people to look around properly and draw their own conclusions. Something which too many people clearly don't do. This is evidenced by the fact that most people who rally to the defence of their religions only cite their own church's writings when defending their views. Endless Bible quotes only underline the fact that these people are not capable of looking beyond their blinkered belief system and thinking for themselves.
In short I have looked in the mirror, what I saw was a dupe, a conman's mark, a sucker. Luckily, once I saw the truth, I wasn't afraid to call bullshit on 'the one truth' that every religion claims to hold exclusive rights to. The only truth is that none of these people know anything for certain, beyond how to convince millions of others that they do.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
Some religions like to scare you. Some like to pretend that all is love and peace.
Actually, Catholicism (and some other mainstream Christian groups) says it's a misconception if someone believes, as a Christian, that all non-believers are hated and doomed to hell. It's just that many Catholics don't know this themselves. The hatred and fear is perpetuated by people's ignorance, not by the faith itself.
If a sex scandal broke out in your family, you'd be the last one wanting to let people know. It's an instinct. You might be taken to court, but you'll keep it hush-hush. And it's not as if believing members and leaders of a faith are going to just ignore what's going on. They'll try to remove the problem and see what they can do to fix it. There's a difference between covering something up and denying that it happened. One of them is instinct (Adam and Eve hid their guilt, if you remember your Biblical references), and the other one is just plain wrong (denial).
I'd have to say that sex scandals are actually handled better in authoritarian organizations than they are by individuals or small groups--compare the handling of the Catholic scandals to the new rising Protestant scandals, for example; the Baptists don't have a central authority to judge matters.
Unfortunately, it seems that so many people fall prey not only to misconceptions of their own faith, but misconceptions of other people's beliefs as well. It's perpetuating. Please do a little more research and look at both sides of the argument before blasting religion.
Until the big media blow up Catholics "handled the problem" by moving the priests to another diocese and hushing the parishoners. Some of these priests being accused have been moved 3,4,5 times from one church to another. They weren't removed. THey were reprimanded for being dumb enough to get caught and handed a new congregation of plump trusting little boys to stroke.
THe sexual repression espoused by Cotholicism leads directly to the kinds of sexual deviancy we have seen and instead of bringing the attention of the proper authorities they simply moved the problem to another area and endangered a whole other area. They didn't even convene on the issue until the media started calling epidemic, and for once it turns out they were right(the media, not the Catholics.) That's just flat out acceptance on the part of the Catholic church. They can't afford to lose priests so they keep them around as long as the cops don't get involved.
They aren't denying or covering up. They are choosing to place known child molesters in churches rather than deal with a shortage of priests. A shortage of priests that could be alleviated by allowing them to have normal grown up relations with another human being. Not only do their oppressive sexual policies with priests create the problem in the first place, but they don't care until it starts hitting headlines.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memor mori, mahalo.
If my brother was molesting children, I'd want him removed from the company of children, permanently. I'd want him to recieve the therapy and rehabilitation he needed to prevent it ever happening again. If permanent institutionalisation was the only answer to him leading a life that would prevent him molesting children again, I would advocate it.
I would definitely not 'keep it hush hush', nor would I want to. I think that's actually pretty sick. It would also further destroy the life of my brother, risk the lives of still more children, and represent an act of extreme selfishness on my part.
Church leaders knew well what was going on. They actively covered it up and facilitated the molestation of many more children not to mention leaving the sickness in their clergy untreated and festering. If somebody in my business is guilty of molesting children and I know about it, I am a criminal if I don't report it. It is a matter for the law of the land. The religious leaders involved in the Catholic and JW scandals operated like they were above the law, they should be punished accordingly. Calling yourslef a religion should not afford you any more grace or respect than is extended to any secular institution.
I also take exception to your request that I do a little more research and look at both sides.... Do you really think I was raised with my current set of views? I was raised Catholic and also attended Methodist and Protestant Church regularly growing up. I have Muslim friends, I have ex-JW friends, Hindu friends, atheists, and others. I would actually pass your request right back at you. Have you ever truly walked in the shoes of an Agnostic? Because I used to believe without doubt in Catholicism, but then again I was a child at the time. I've since looked at more than one side of the divine equation, and there is more than two.
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I am the people my mother warned me about.
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what a nice article, tuffgong. Spot on and vociferating all the way through.
If you haven't heard of them, The Flying Spaghetti Monster and the youtube short Kissing Hank's Ass are wonderful, hilarious jabs at religion.
FSM - http://venganza.org/
Hank - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05-hpdULWb8
Michael Allen Yarbrough (PBUH)