A random thought on religion

[valarltd]

Today someone on my flist was speaking of a holy site that was once used for an indigenous goddess and co-opted by the Virgin Mary. She said something about the first being a false religion preparing the way. (I refrained from saying in her journal that Mother is always worshiped on the high places, regardless of what name she's called. Mary, Ashteroth, etc. It's all Mother)

But that got me thinking...
I say there is no such thing as a false religion.
All religions serve the purpose they were meant to, or they die.

Religion serves several purposes.
The mythology explains the world to humans.
The ritual allows humans some control over their world.
The religious laws allows the priest class control over people.

Any religion that stops serving one of these purposes tends to get replaced with a newer and more vibrant religion.

Comments

[a-j-mirag.livejournal.com]

I've logged in (which I seldom do) just to say that I agree with you :)

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

I remember reading on one of those waller-n-holler religious blogs that a bunch of these TrueBelievers™ went to Ephisus, Turkey and 'tore down a demonic stronghold' at the Temple of Diana/Artemis- they claimed to directly challenge and 'take out' the Queen of Heaven.

Yeah, right.

[kaethe.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting thought. I like it :-)

[(Anonymous)]

The D-Man Checks In: As for me... You've always known my bit on religion being just a fabrication by adults to recapture the lost comfort of having parents when they out-grow their real ones. The especially clever ones then go on to fabricate the relative mythology, rituals, and clerical social/power class to explain & control things (as best mortals can).

Religious people have always amused me:
So desperate to prove that what they do not & cannot know is actually so.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

That's because you're stuck in an adolescent rebellion mindset and don't understand that some people never outgrow parents.

[(Anonymous)]

Being as I'm not religious... Don't you have that reversed? I understood quite well my need for parents as an adolescent. Once I grew up however, I became self-sufficient & able to think for myself, thus I saw no need to replace my real parents with a divine figment somebody else made up for me; complete with rules, rituals, mythology nobody is permitted to question, a conveniently selective memory on historical facts, factional in-fighting, and a clerical elite social class I wouldn't fit in with.

I've said for a long time: "I have no problem with the Christian God (or any other Deity for that matter); only those who would presume to speak for Him (Her, Them)."