Religious Institutions and Exploitation of the Uneducated

According to religious institutions, mankind's existence is regarded as an essential step in a grand cosmic scheme. It is through the tales of the Bible, or the Koran or whatever other religious volume, that "God" created the earth. These institutions base their doctrine on this event and the subsequent creation of mankind.

As a child in a Catholic grade school, the first thing I learned was about Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. We learned that on the first day, "God" created the heaven and the earth. On the second day, "God" then created the waters and separated the earth from the heavens. On the third day, "God" then said let there be dry land, and so there was. On the fourth day, "He" said let there be light, and light was abundant in the creation of the sun, and the moon. On the fifth day, he created all the creatures of the world. On the sixth day, he created man and woman in his image. Lastly, on the seventh day, he rested. Though, I am not a perfect catholic, these images have stayed with me. It is these images that come to mind when I think of how mankind is an essential step in that grand cosmic scheme.

It is the book, Inherit the Wind, that really struck a chord on how the Church does not truly represent the cycle of evolution. Their depiction is a distorted view, that the human existence is supreme and predetermined. In only presenting certain aspects of the historical records, they are indoctrinating the uneducated public and securing a tidy income base.

Religions insist that humans are the highest living organisms and that there is nothing of evolution that is worth mentioning. In grade school I did not learn of the big bang; I did not learn of the cosmos. I learned of religious doctrine; I was indoctrinated to not believe in evolution, which we had never studied. This is because Catholic and other religious institutions need to have full control over how the earth was created so that they can qualify their way of life to the world.

Every religion has a foundation in pagan rituals; some people then found out that they could profit from the rest of the population by pretending to be a messenger from "God." They advocated that if people did not perform certain duties they would not go to a higher place. They used these religious doctrines that we are so familiar with now, to make others feel bad for their transgressions and consequently profit from them. Profits were made through collection of tithes or, in the past, selling of religious items that could "save" the soul of the purchaser.

The life of Jesus "Christ" is used in the same way. Jesus was obviously a product of the way that human existence was predisposed to culminate. Everything in religion is predestination; and by applying this to the "Savior" of the world's souls, religion can properly say that everything was as it should have been. Adam and Eve were both cast out of the Garden of Eden so that Jesus "Christ" could save our souls.

On the day of Jesus' birth, a star shown so brightly so as to lead the three kings to Bethlehem where he was born. Obviously, this was most likely made up to show the cosmos as a product of "God's" creation and his ability to manipulate them for such an occasion as the birth of his son on earth. Or it is also possible that such an occurrence could have been an astronomical phenomenon. In my internet searching I did come upon one site that espouses that such an occurrence may have occurred. They believe that the origin of the Star of Bethlehem has four possible explanations.

The first potential reality is of a fireball meteor, but that is unlikely due to the quickness that it would have fallen from the sky. Secondly, is that the star might actually have a bright comet, which would have remained in the sky visually long enough for the Magi to follow it. They being uneducated in astronomy, may have actually taken it as a sign and thus the reason they followed it. However, they also acknowledged that in that time, comets were viewed as bad omens. Another possible explanation for such an occurrence could have been the explosion of a nova or supernova star, which observers now what not have any scientific proof of. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this theory, in that scholars of the time do not record such an event. The final prospect is that the Magi could have confused a conjunction of the two brightest planets, Venus and Saturn. According to the source, if one looks at the book of Matthew and takes it literally, one would really be looking for two bright stars (Rao, 2002). It seems that these theories are very intriguing educated guesses, in the least.

Scholars of our time can actually go back and view the sky shows if they click on the link at the bottom of the article. It is impressive to find that such occurrences had happened near the time of the birth of Jesus and that they may have been mistaken for a sign. Religions bank on these occurrences and the lack of education of the masses; their doctrines are based on what was known in the past, and have not updated to handle current scientific technology. They do however, present an interesting view of history with man as its culmination, though somewhat false and outdated.

Joe Rao. Star of Bethlehem: Going Back in Time to Examine Its Origins. Spacewatch Friday. Created 20 Dec 2002, accessed 18 Apr 2004, from http://www.space.com/spacewatch/star_bethlehem_021220.html.