Faltering beliefs

Anyone who has seen the Wizard of Oz , would remember the scene near the end of the movie where there’s a little man sitting behind the curtains at the controls bellowing into the sound system: “THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ HAS SPOKEN!….”

Sort of reminds you of some religious institutions, doesn’t it? Short, little, insecure men hiding behind big names and fancy titles, sending their followers on Mission Impossible while they themselves live in the lap of luxury , indulge in (secret) sin and political mind games.

These are the kind of people that brain wash you into making large “donations”. These guile “leaders” use words that make the gullible play right into their hands. What is even stranger, is that a majority of their naïve followers comes from a section of, what we call, the well educated classes. If the so-called educated masses buy their humbug of :

“If you live a moral life, deny yourself of pleasures, follow the rituals we prescribe and give us enough money, you’ll have a decent shot at being accepted by god” then its education gone to waste. They shouldn’t be called educated, they are only just literate.

What God would want you to labor, struggle and live in pain or tell you “if you don’t go by MY book, you will rot in hell”. The religious ‘middle men’ have portrayed God as being an unapproachable entity. Don’t get me wrong. I am not a believer, neither am I an atheist. I’m still finding my ground, so until then, I’m happy being an agnostic. But I’m not going to have some long haired, middle aged man tell me that I’m not smart enough to think for myself and he will do the thinking for me.

What do you think was the most important invention in the history of inventions? No it wasn’t electricity, computers or even the internet. It was the printing press. Even the mighty internet is just an extension of Gutenburg ‘s original machine. The first book he printed was the bible. After which, it was translated from Latin to people’s language. Suddenly, everyone could afford a copy. The common man could read and understand it rather than get some guy’s self serving interpretation. The ordinary folks who read it argued that God didn’t need a middleman, or an agent, or a distributor. People could directly go to the source. But the religious institution could not stand the opposition and everyone who raised a voice against it was eliminated.

If a religion puts down women, doesn’t give them enough rights or considers that women are spiritually inferior and must bow down to the authority of men, then it’s very foundations are biased and hollow. The religious bureaucracy of the ancient time (and unbelievably, in the modern time aswell), women were treated as property. If she failed to provide a meal on time, that was reason enough to divorce her (mental note to self: next blog would be on the institution of marriage). If she witnessed a crime, her testimony would not be considered as valid in court. this was because women weren’t considered smart enough to recount what really happened! They have to be wrapped from head to toe in meters of cloth. If they’re found unaccompanied by a male relative, they’re (still) shot on the spot! It was so convenient for selfish men to shove women around in the name of religion. Need I say more?

The religious leaders preach truth, equality among all,and love for all living things. Yet we find that now a days that religion is a mere tool for political propaganda. Religions have run amok in the interests of either Money, Sex or Power. How can you bring your conscious to accept and follow such doctrines?!

I think I believe in spirituality, that isn’t used as a tool to means to control people. I also think I’ve strayed from the topic many times now. I just want to put across that I believe religion is now merely used as a weapon, a tool to rake in money, power and influence. I wanted to blog about this because discussions about religion are not considered ‘polite conversation’. You can’t tell your friends or family about your thoughts. It’s still considered taboo. Why live in fear and isolation when you have the Internet ;)