Right on the button!

Submitted by TripleAAA (Japan), Feb 13, 2011 at 02:26

Don't know what naughty words were censored, but I can guess. You've hit the nail on the head!

In the very beginning, religion probably started as a benign ritual of obeisance to the unknown entity in the skies who manifested him/her/itself via the elements, that is, thunder, lightning, violent storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc., etc., which must have been terrifying to early man. It was a spirit that had to, somehow, be appeased.

It started as a simple gesture, but as with all human endeavor, along comes a tribal rogue who hijacked it to his own advantage, just as criminals today see ways to exploit the innocent, playing on their ignorance and fears.

Who were these prehistoric rogues and exploiters? They were the witchdoctors, the medicine-men, the shamans, the sorcerers, who saw ways to ply their trade by exploiting the fears of the tribe -- for a price. They fortified their positions by validating the authority of their leaders, claiming divine right, so that each one became dependent on the other, guaranteeing a continuum of their mutual privileges.

Today, we call them ministers of religion, rabbis, priests, bishops, archbishops, popes, mullahs, imams, reverends, vicars, curates, many of whom live a life of indolence, spending the whole week thinking up sermons to lull their congregants into a false sense of well-being, larded with promises of eternal life if they toe the line and store their treasures in heaven (the local church), and eternal damnation if they should think of straying.

I do not deny that many today do good works across the globe, but their history proves beyond doubt that they rely on donations and then take sole credit for their benevolence.

I do my good works without any thought of a reward!

Religion? We don't need it!.

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