The Devil in Religion

I'll start off this blog by saying I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic school for some of middle school and all of high school. I wont lie, the high school was a great experience and helped me grow into who I am today. I'd have very little bad to say about the teachers or priests there, because most of them, if not all, were good men and women. In fact, many could be considered great. They were a second family to everyone at the school.

This upbringing, despite being beneficial to me, gave me a unique look at the world. I was never bible beating (thank God), but I used to be religious. Atheists and agnostics confused me. Why not just believe, just in case there is a God and a Hell? You know, as a contingency plan of sorts. I honestly told that to an agnostic I met. Like so many "religious" people in this world, I didn't realize how misguided I was.

It was in middle school I started to question my religion. Sure, good people followed religion, but they were just a minority; the shadow to the physical form I could see every day. While I saw the good side, the people who truly believed, yet still remained open minded and followed their religion's teaching to their fullest abilities, the bad side was so much more prevalent. Almost like a cancer that had spread like wildfire. You can't see it unless you look, but it's always there and always will be.

Having been born and raised in Texas, I saw the waste. Religions built huge buildings for no reason at all, denying no excess. Tributes they claimed were for their God, but in reality were just to themselves. Marble everywhere? Yes. Gold plating? Sure. A giant, hand-carved statue of Jesus and expensive fabrics? Definitely. A 150 foot cross constructed for no reason other than blatant hypocrisy? You bet your ass.

One of the worst examples I saw of this was a religion building what I can only describe as a lavish super-church to loom over a low-income community. I went inside the Church many times when it had services, and I can only say that it was never anywhere near full. Such a waste.

All the building projects were ridiculous. In a religion that teaches people to share, care, and love one another, here were all the major and minor denominations I saw building monoliths and pyramids to profess their faith to the world. Yet only to the ignorant man would they be seen as a profession of faith. To anyone who could truly see, anyone with a brain, it was disgusting. The great works stood against everything the religion stood for.

These things are nothing new. Religions have been engaged in a dick measuring contest since religions started. They profess one thing but just pick and choose what they desire. To anyone who could think for themselves, it's sickening. It's repulsive. It's outrageous. It's criminal. They're wasting billions while those they've sworn to serve are starving in the streets. It's the putrid stench left by lies, deceit, and hypocrisy.

But in the end, it's just human.

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."
-Susan B. Anthony 

Think about it for a moment. Religion is human. In fact, it might as well be the very definition of what the majority of humanity is. It isn't selfless. It's in the business of survival. Not yours, not mine, but its survival. It's constantly after power and uses the majority of its money to benefit itself. Yes, religions have aid organizations, go on mission trips, and help the poor. But that's not where the majority of the money goes.

It goes to the silver-tongued pastor that preaches against excess and the evil of money, yet garbs his family in the most expensive of clothes so they can look their very best when spoon-feeding bullshit to the uneducated and weak-willed masses. He attacks selfishness and lying, yet claims that the omnipotent, all powerful God needs more money. Little do they know that he is the god. He is getting the money. The money that pays for his private jet, his multimillion-dollar pulpit, the supercar in his garage.

And the poorest of the poor; those he claims to serve. They paid for it.

Take a moment to digest that. A man who claims to serve makes those he serves pay for everything while giving little in return (in this case, little is actually a lot. A lot of never-ending bullshit.). Oh, I almost forgot. He also flies around in a private jet that his religiously-slaved masses paid for. But remember, he serves you!

I'm impressed. This man has created the most impressive criminal scheme in existence and it's perfectly legal and tax-exempt. He is above suspicion and has a legion of almost-slaves willingly keeping him on his platinum throne.

People fall for this.

That Modern Day Religion

What's the problem with living in a country whose citizens buy into more religious bullshit than a cult? There's no shortage of people willing to believe anything. Hell, they believe that the church that constantly needs their money has their best intentions in mind (as opposed to the church's best intentions, i.e.: survival and the accumulation of wealth and power).

All of these people firmly believe in changing the world for what their religion/pastor deems the better, yet when the time comes they get on their $1000+ mac, log on Facebook, and cry about injustice, poverty, and sinning while the rest of the world goes to shit around them. But it's ok, they're whining will some day make a difference to the starving child in Africa. Oh wait, it wont. While they could be donating to the starving child in Africa, or actually following what their faith tells them, they're too busy buying the latest and greatest crap they don't need at prices only someone who buys into outright bullshit would pay.

Don't get me wrong, as an American I'm all for buying stuff, but the outright hypocrisy these people commit on a daily basis, yet fail to see it, is astounding.

The only thing I've seen most members of religion (mainly Christianity) do with the majority of their actions is trample over everyone else in a game of "who's the better Christian".

Welcome to religion, leave your brain at the door.