Did you read in the paper about Army Specialist Jeremy Hall, who’d been ostracized by his staff sergeant and some of the other troops and made to sit apart at Thanksgiving dinner for declining to participate in a Christian prayer?

It amazes me how obsessed and obnoxious people have been about religion throughout history, and many continue to be to this day. It just gets my knickers in a twist how some have zero tolerance for others that don’t believe as they do. The religiously obsessed seem to think that their way is the only way and non-believers are doomed to live a heathen existence of which “God’s children” want no part. What a bunch of daft bastards.

                Religious fanatics of all colors

People have believed in all sorts of different Gods throughout history as well as some pretty far-fetched stories. Many have committed absolute atrocities in the name of their Gods. Bloody fanatics have been around since the beginning of time, and it seems no amount of time will ever change those that are a bit “rationally challenged” as far as religious belief is concerned.

The ancient Mayan priests performed human sacrifices to their Gods. Burning people to death, including children. People were beheaded, hearts were cut out, and people were carved up and skinned alive. All of this was done in an attempt to gain favor from their Gods. A bunch of sadistic nutters if you ask me!

The ancient Egyptians believed in the God Osiris. There is documentation of his story that dates back to around 2400 BC. That story goes that Osiris married his sister, Isis and was then murdered by his brother Seth. Isis then combed the desert until she found the body of her husband/brother and used a spell to resurrect him so he could impregnate her. Which he supposedly did, then she hid his body and later gave birth to a son.

Then the evil brother Seth found where she’d hidden Osiris’s body, took it and tore it into 14 pieces and spread them throughout the land. Isis finally found all the pieces, except the phallus, which had been eaten by a fish, (I guess Seth wanted to be sure she couldn’t resurrect that thing again!) and Osiris was resurrected into a new existence as God of the underworld. Which is where all the Egyptians hoped to go the same way Christians hope to get to heaven.

Many people have wholeheartedly believed all sorts of nonsense as well as in many Gods. There were Gods of the earth, sky, oceans, fire, wind, and fertility, just an endless list of deities that spans history. No one would have dared only worshiped one God. That would have angered the other Gods and brought all manor of famine and pestilence down on everyone.

Then came Amenhotep IV, tenth pharaoh of the 18^th dynasty in ancient Egypt. He was called a heretic because he declared that indeed there was only one true God, Aten- the Sun God, and he created the first monotheistic cult of sun worship. Amenhotep, who was married to the beautiful Queen Nefertiti, changed his name to Akhenaten, which meant, “He Who is of Service to Aten”. Boy, he really pissed off a lot of people, and after his death the great city of Amarna he’d built to honor his God was abandoned, as were his beliefs, and everyone went back to worshiping his or her many different Gods.

Eventually Christianity was born, and people thought, “Well, maybe there is really only one true God”. Just as it was believed that Isis had posthumously begotten a son with Osiris in ancient Egypt, Mary came along and was impregnated by God through Immaculate Conception, and gave birth to the baby Jesus. And as Osiris had been resurrected and became God of the underworld, Jesus was resurected and accended into heaven. Sound a bit similar?

Religons exploded, Judisim, Buddhisim, Hinduism, Taoism, there were more “isim’s” out there than you could shake an alter at.There have been countless profits, saints, and holy men, many of which had visions and heard the very voice of God speaking to them. Of course now if you have visions or hear voices, you get an MRI, or you’re locked up somewhere and put on lots of medication.

In 16^th century England, King Edward the VI forced everyone to be Protestants. Then Mary Tudor (a.k.a. Bloody Mary) became Queen and forced everyone to be Catholic. If they refused she executed them, it would be her way, or no way. (Hmm… let me think about that one. Okay, I’d love to be Catholic!)

What about those that believe the Bible is the actual word of God verbatim? Yet most have different interpretations of exactly what it says. The original books of the bible were written in many different languages and have been translated many times. I don’t know of any two languages that have translations verbatim, or any two translators who would interpret any one passage exactly the same way. Not that any of those original books were actually written by the hand of God himself. Mortal men wrote those books, documenting their interpretations of what the voices said. (They didn’t have MRI’s in those days; they just went with the visions and voices.)

Yet many believe without question that the bible is the very word of God, and they know that he is the almighty creator, because it says so right in the bible! (Think about that one for a minute) Personally I’m a “show me” kind of person.  I’ve seen the scientific evidence for evolution, so I can believe that. But I’ve never seen any evidence that a spirit hovered over the world and said “Poof” It’s a man! Now lets yank out a rib and make him a woman so they can populate the whole world. To me, that’s about as daft as believing that Isis actually resurrected her dead husband/brother so he could impregnate her. Yet the Christians still believe in Adam and Eve just as the Egyptians believed in Osiris. (Does any of this sound the least bit rational?)

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with believing in a higher power. Everyone has a right to believe or not believe what ever they want. But, just because someone does not believe as you do, does not give you the right to ostracize or belittle them for it. After all, they may think that your beliefs are just as daft as you think they are for not believing at all. Religion is nothing that can be proven one way or the other. It’s merely a personal “opinion” concerning the existence of divine involvement in the universe. Well, you know what they say about opinions. Right?

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