I am actually a believer in most of the conspiracy theories listed in the first post. The only one I can think that annoys me ( I don't know if it could be technically called a conspiracy theory) is the idea of religion. In our societies history religion has never been responsible for anything good in fact you could say just the reverse that religion as been responsible for most of the foul ups in history ( the crusades, the dark ages, the inquisition, child molestation, misuse of money) just to name a few. So I guess you could say that organized religion no matter the denomination or creed annoys me and I wish it would just go away.
now, just a goldarned minute here. Religion was used as an excuse to expropriate lands and money and other assets during the Inquisition. Isabella and Ferdinand wanted to get rid of Jews, Muslims, and other citizens of their country that were not Catholic, and therefore, not easily controlled. Catholicism was the Crown's chosen religion, and the Inquisition could only legitimately "investigate" those of the Catholic faith who were heretics or secretly observing their original religion, such as Islam, or Judaism. Many horrible things were done in the name of religion, but none any worse than other atrocities committed as punishment for treason, theft, witchcraft, etc. Keep the Inquisition's barbarism in context with the times.
Molestation of children does not need religion to promote it. It is promoted quite well on the Internet these days, so by your argument, the Internet should also just go away. Also, travel to Thailand needs to just go away, as that is one of the favoured places for pedophiles to travel for sex with young boys. Vietnam apparently is a great place for young girls. So airlines and the other means of international travel, too, should just go away, as they have as much to do with facilitating the molestation of children as religion ever did. And just as much effort is made to cover up these countries' lack of success in preventing molestation as was made by the Catholic Church, our local schools, orphanages, etcetera, etcetera.
People who prey on children naturally gravitate towards those organizations and jobs which put them in proximity to their targets, and allow them trusted access. Religion is but one of
many avenues towards their victims. Including parenthood, step-parenthood, brotherhood, sisterhood, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Should all those just go away, too?
Misuse of money, well have you checked out the banks in the US lately? what about the massive printing press known as the US Treasury? What is going to back that dollar now? The elite have control of that printing press, not you, not religion. And what about the Stock Exchange's most trusted economic adviser, charged with defrauding somewhere in the amount of $50 billion from investors in a Ponzi scheme? That's a lot of cash. And no church in sight telling him to do it.
Crusade... again, religion used as a reason to motivate the masses to benefit the ruling class. It was easy to get the peasants to sign on to fight if it was done in the name of God. The ones who benefitted were the crowns of Europe, who amassed wealth and lands beyond what was available to them in their own back yards. If religion had not been available to use as a carrot in front of those who hoped for everlasting Paradise as their reward for fighting the good fight, then perhaps the crown heads of Europe would have used, lets say, witchery, cannibalism, whatever would have worked to get the masses fired up and willing to die so the kings and queens and lords and ladies could have more...
Dark ages. Superstition seems to be the ruler of that age. Fear of losing control of the masses if they were educated? Again, using the masses beliefs against them to keep them under control so the ruling class could keep what they had.
But what about countries other than Europe during the Dark Ages? There are other religions that flourished during that time, and the advances in the sciences and technology in Asia and Africa are ignored? The Arabic countries such as Persia were enlightened at that time. Arabs invented our number system, for crying out loud. And they had religion.
So, I don't buy the argument that religion is to blame for all of our ills. The driving force under each and every dark time in our history is greed.
Religion is just a tool used to hit the masses over the head with.
Nowadays, the tool being used is fear of terrorism. Not terrorism itself, but the fear of terrorism.
Next thing you know, the government is going to ask us to spy on our neighbours and report suspicious activity as it might be terror-related, just like the Inquisition searched for informers, and the Nazis searched for Jews...
Find something other than religion to hang all the world's ills on. Start with our own greed.
That's my two cents. And no, I don't particulary believe in "religion", but I do believe in God.
