Abattoir: The World as Religion's Slaughterhouse

I long ago stopped arguing religion.  I put it into my personal dustbin and decided that debating the merits of organized religion was up there with debating the reality of Stephen King's Christine.  In other words: utterly pointless.  Fact won't change fate, and after a while I had no interest in trying.  I actually don't care about people's faith or lack of it.  Religion bothers me, however, when it starts to become policy.  When laws are made around religion, and groups are ostracized (or worse), is right when religion needs to be debated and dragged kicking and screaming into the era of rational thought and logical laws and policies.

Recently, some geriatric preacher predicted the end of the world in a proclamation that was like porno for believers.  He had predicted it something like four times before, and the last time the prediction didn't come true he claimed he had messed up the dates.  When the world didn't end on 5/21/11 he rationalized it away with the same lack of logic.  All well and good, except people slashed their kids throats, jumped from buildings and quit jobs and left families because some AARP reject said the end was here.

It's a claim that's been made time and time again.  The end is nigh.  On X date the world will end.  A book tells us so.  A vision tells us so.  Some guy in a bad suit said it, so it must be true.  Honestly, I don't care if people believe this crap.  Some guy jumps off a building because of the random mumblings of someone he doesn't even know, well, the world is probably better off without him.  Kids getting their throats slit is horrible and tragic, but since we, as a society, has agreed that such a strong faith is a reasonable thing .... How can you expect any less?

When people have faith (a belief) in something they can't prove exists, you run into these situations.  I think faith can be a powerful thing.  It does lead to good sometimes.  It gets people through hard times.  It also makes them susceptible to behavior that is utterly insane to the rational-minded.  You believe one crazy thing, you'll easily fall for another, and once you are lock-step in the psychotic swirl, you accept the values of that swirl all the more readily.  You believe in God, you start to believe you can be punished for certain thoughts or behavior.  You start to believe that, you start to believe a society can be punished.  You start to believe that, and then you start to believe you don't want to be around for that punishment.  You start to believe that, and slitting your kid's throat so that they won't have to around for it, either, seems humane.  That is logical, and it makes perfect sense ... if you follow a flawed path.  It won't happen to everyone (not everyone is a leader, but the majority of the population are followers and even apologists), but it happens to enough people.  Faith leaves the door open, and anything can get in.  Just ask the followers of Charles Manson.  They were nuts, right?  How does that differ from any other religion?  The amount of bloodshed?  Check your history.  The fact that they were hippies?  Check your idols.  The fact that Manson said the end was coming and tried to hasten it along?  Yeah, religion never did that.

Again, I avoid arguing religion.  I don't care that people have faith.  I'm actually happy that a lot of people do.  It keeps some of the rabble under control.  If the faith turns their lives into their own personal abattoir, then that's fine with me, too.  If it allows them to build houses in Mexico, that's just as good.  Once it starts to invade my life, though, I start to take it a little personally.

Come October, the new end of the world, we'll probably see much the same thing.  The creepy old preacher from Poltergeist 2 will be spouting his nonsense.  The people who fell for it last time will fall for it again.  More people will quit their jobs.  More people will deplete their savings.  And more moms will slit the throats of their young.  It's all pretty harmless, right?  Yeah.  Until they get their hands on some nerve gas and decide to speed things along ...


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The Herd

I've never been big on religion or even spirituality, though I believe spirituality is more effective than religion. I just find the belief in a higher power or powers to be an easy way to shrug off responsibility for your actions and feelings. Some people find comfort in such beliefs, and that is fine, but overall I think the concept of a higher power is far too often used as a tool of control over people who have a hard time thinking for themselves (and thankfully something is keeping those people in check) and as a scapegoat for when a person's bad choices come back to bite them in the ass ("Oh well. God has a plan."). I have plenty of religious friends and spiritual friends, and sometimes we talk about these things. I tend to avoid the conversation, though, as I know it is most likely going to go nowhere for either side.

One thing that really bothers me about the idea of other beings that somehow have influence over our actions, thoughts and destiny, or are even there as creators, is that if you start to have so much belief in something you can't see or prove (and the reason it is faith and not science is because there is no proof), then it sets you up to believe anything. Blacks, women and homosexuals are inferior to you; karma; and so on. You can start to justify just about everything, and that control issue ends up going both ways.

Various religions have used faith as a means of controlling everything from education to birth control. (And while spirituality in its pure form doesn't subject you to the same kind of control, it does still work to absolve people of responsibility.) This control can also be used against you from people who don't share your faith. My use of the "Satanic" image will bother some of my friends. It was meant to. I did it to prove a point. To me it's a picture (though I find Satanism as presented by the capitalistic Church of Satan to be purer and more honest than other religions). To others it is a symbol of evil. The only use it has to me is to bother those who make Satan their Joker to their Batman god.

I don't mind that people are religious and spiritual. In fact, I believe most people need that for comfort, guidance and a sense of self-worth. I think that many (not all) of these people have some real issues that they need to be worked out, and religion or faith or spirituality helps them do that. I'm not some guy who wants to see religion abolished, either. I wish people had the strength to break their chains from false beliefs (and all the control those beliefs exert over them both overtly and subconsciously), but most people don't. Because of that I am thankful there is something there to keep them in line, to keep them acting straight because they are afraid of what will happen if they don't, to keep them from overbreeding. But there is a problem with all that, too: Those who have faith and all the morals that go with it don't often act that way.

Morals and values are matters of convenience for most people. They refer to them when they judge other people. They utilize them when it won't affect their lives. As soon morals and values create an obstacle to what a person wants to do, they ignore them. Some will beg for forgiveness for their trangressions ... and receive it. Others will be racked with guilt. So, as a control mechanism it doesn't always work, but it's better than nothing. It's when it starts to infringe on the rights of non-believers that I have a problem with it (such as when religion is used as an argument to curtail women's reproductive rights).

As much as I value freedom and responsibility, I understand that there are those among us that can't handle it or don't want it. I find that odd, but so be it. I'm glad that many of those people have some imaginary thing being to look to for the answers to all their little problems. I don't even care if it tells them crazy things like women are property ... as long as they don't try to enforce those oddities on others.

I'll leave things on this note because I must get going. Years ago, when I worked in a factory, a female supervisor had me fill out a medical emergency contact sheet. She knew about my "lack of faith" and asked me who I called on when I was hurt and in trouble. "The ambulance," I replied. She told me she called on Jesus. I wished her luck with that. I was sure that if she fell down at that moment and broke her arm, it wouldn't be Jesus fixing it. (This was the same factory where people used to ride me about my lack of belief in God. I would tell them I needed proof, and if there was a God he would strike one of them down on the spot to give me that proof I needed. Boy, would they flip out.)

Foolish notions and control. Byproducts of a flawed believe system.

Do They Owe Us A Living?

Those with a history in punk may recognize the title of this blog post. It's from Crass, one of the great anarchist bands. It's message is: If you go to the schools they tell you to, do the work demanded of you, shouldn't you be owed a living? After all, the powers that be, whether it is the government or teachers, tell you that if you go to school and work hard you'll live the dream.

I imagine the masses who are without jobs at this very moment are asking the same thing? There are, of course, different answers.

Working people, people with more old-fashioned values, those who have faith in the government will all say you are owed nothing.

People who feel that if they follow the rules they should reap the rewards may think you are owed a living.

The answer is, you should be rewarded for listening, but you won't be, so why listen? Why pay attention to what they say? Why follow their rules? There is no redeemable outcome. There is no promise of a silver lining. The biggest promise they can keep (most likely) is that if you follow the rules you won't go to jail. Fact is, people break those rules every day and don't go to jail. What is the reward?

Homes are being lost. Retirement is being sacked. College funds are dwindling. Jobs are disappearing. Companies are shutting down. What is the reward? Stress. Alcoholism. Debt. Homelessness. Thank you for your time. Please continue to believe in us. We have your best interests in mind.

Fuck that.

The rules are meant to keep the rabble in line. They don't apply to those in power. By the time someone realizes that it is usually too late.

Here are a few basic truths that get me through the day.

Government rules by force. Any authority that keeps its position by threat of or use of force is an illegitimate authority. It needs to be questioned and dismantled.

School primes you for work and does not teach you how to ask the important questions. If you love school, you'll like work.

The hardest work should be done for yourself. If you devote your time to your job, it will suck it up and ultimately won't reward you well enough for what you've done.

Religion, government, and learning institutions do their best to keep people in line. They work in tandem to keep people uneducated and ignorant. The best education is the one you give yourself. Take what they teach, learn to read between its lines, and you will see what those institutions have in store for you.

You should never get your news from one source.

And last, but not least, one person can make a difference. Just look at the guy who shot Reagan. Not only did he change lives, but he had Republicans facing a moral crisis in gun control vs. personal freedom.

Do they owe us a living? No. And we don't owe them our lives, either.