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- "Religion"
-
- According to the dictionary "religion is the service and worship of
- God or the supernatural."1 I challenge that definition. It is true that all
- religions do involve the worship of some supernatural force, however, it
- is also true that no religion in history has ever stopped at that. For a
- more complete definition of the word religion we also have to examine
- two other aspects. How has it affected man over the centuries? And
- what is the true motivation of its leadership? Some would have you
- believe that it has brought peace and harmony to the world and that its
- leaders are motivated by the service of their god.
-
- I suggest that a more accurate definition of word would be as
- follows. Religion, a feudal system of government which uses fear, hate and
- sometimes lies to control and manipulate people for the betterment of a
- select group
- of individuals.
-
- To better illustrate this point let's look at just three of the countless
- examples that human history has to offer. The Inquisition, "judicial
- institution, established by the papacy in the Middle Ages, charged with
- seeking out, trying, and sentencing people guilty of heresy."2 Heretics
- were considered enemies of the state. The penalty for heresy was
- torture and death. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, "Jesus was taken to
- Golgotha and nailed to a cross, the Roman punishment for political
- offenders and criminals."2 The Crusades, "The name Crusade (from
- Latin, "Cross") was also applied, to the wars against pagan peoples,
- Christian heretics, and political foes of the papacy."2 All three
- examples illustrate how man has used God to justify his greed and quest
- for power. When the leadership was challenged, it used devine decree to
- justify the murder and torture of the innocent. We are expected to
- believe that a non-physical being order the religious leadership to aquire
- riches and land, often at the demise of the poor and helpless. The
- misuse of God isn't limited to the Ancient world. Today we have people
- like Louis Farakahn and Adolph Hitler and David Koresch who use god
- to propagate racism and hate, there by giving them the power unite and
- control a given segment of the population.
-
- As you can plainly see, religion is much more than the worship of
- a supernatural force as its leaders would have us believe. It is in fact, a
- method by which a society is governed and controlled. "God created
- man, man created religion, it is therefore corrupt."