All Comments (51)

lpign abpjch dgplebnuh yzwb pzoqk scbylu oewql

lpign abpjch dgplebnuh yzwb pzoqk scbylu oewql

lpign abpjch dgplebnuh yzwb pzoqk scbylu oewql

I see no evidence to suggest that religion is not any other than man-made. You can write tons of articles, say tons of words, but it all boils down to, everything about religion can be attributed to men. Simply because we have not found a god thing yet in reality that shows religion is not man's construct. Belief, Faith, Make-Believe has not one thing to do with it.

No, I don't take anyones word for anything when they are trying to sell something and religion with god, is a sellible item. I see it every day. Maybe not for money but for minds. Turn your mind off and believe, don't doubt (that's bad). Anyone asked to believe and not question and not have doubts,, that is a really good indication it's snake-oil.

There are only two type of laws, God law and man law. It's either one of the two and nothing else. God's law has never changed and always remains consistant through today. Man's laws always change through time according to what is acceptable in society.

Man's religions change all the time and has gone as far to write there own bibles to fit around there own agenda.

Yes, religions are man made if they do not follow the origional teachings of the Holy Scriptures!!!!!!!

Hi, nice page.!
look on my pages:
conservation dedicated organization profit

ok.. bitte

Hi, nice very nice page..!
church fund raising idea
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/non-profit-fund-raising/index.html]world wildlife fund[/URL]
world wildlife fund - allfunds.free-site-host.com/non-profit-fund-raising/index.html
globe fund
fund of hedge funds - allfunds.free-site-host.com/high-school-fund-raiser/index.html

Good luck !
PS: do you listen Linkin Park ?

Hi, nice very nice page..!
fund raising strategy - allfunds.free-site-host.com/high-school-fund-raiser/index.html
elementary school fund raiser - allfunds.free-site-host.com/provident-fund/index.html
fund of hedge funds - allfunds.free-site-host.com/provident-fund/index.html
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/world-wildlife-fund/index.html]mutual fund company[/URL]
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/high-school-fund-raiser/index.html]fund raising strategy[/URL]

Good luck !
PS: do you listen Linkin Park ?

Hi, nice very nice page..!
fund raising strategy - allfunds.free-site-host.com/high-school-fund-raiser/index.html
elementary school fund raiser - allfunds.free-site-host.com/provident-fund/index.html
fund of hedge funds - allfunds.free-site-host.com/provident-fund/index.html
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/world-wildlife-fund/index.html]mutual fund company[/URL]
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/high-school-fund-raiser/index.html]fund raising strategy[/URL]

Good luck !
PS: do you listen Linkin Park ?

Hi, nice very nice page..!
church fund raising idea - allfunds.free-site-host.com/non-profit-fund-raising/index.html
globe fund - allfunds.free-site-host.com/fund-raising-strategy/index.html
globe fund
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/non-profit-fund-raising/index.html]elementary school fund raiser[/URL]
church fund raising idea - allfunds.free-site-host.com/fund-of-hedge-funds/index.html

Good luck !
PS: do you listen Linkin Park ?

HI good suite can you look on my sites
child defense fund
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/child-defense-fund/index.html]child defense fund[/URL]
child defense fund - allfunds.free-site-host.com/child-defense-fund/index.html
fund raising jewelry
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/fund-raising-jewelry/index.html]fund raising jewelry[/URL]
fund raising jewelry - allfunds.free-site-host.com/fund-raising-jewelry/index.html
money market fund
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/money-market-fund/index.html]money market fund[/URL]
and on this
money market fund - allfunds.free-site-host.com/money-market-fund/index.html
fund raising letter
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/fund-raising-letter/index.html]fund raising letter[/URL]
fund raising letter - allfunds.free-site-host.com/fund-raising-letter/index.html
index funds
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/index-funds/index.html]index funds[/URL]
index funds - allfunds.free-site-host.com/index-funds/index.html
college fund
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/college-fund/index.html]college fund[/URL]
college fund - allfunds.free-site-host.com/college-fund/index.html
non profit fund raising
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/non-profit-fund-raising/index.html]non profit fund raising[/URL]
non profit fund raising - allfunds.free-site-host.com/non-profit-fund-raising/index.html
easy fund raising idea
and:
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/easy-fund-raising-idea/index.html]easy fund raising idea[/URL]
easy fund raising idea - allfunds.free-site-host.com/easy-fund-raising-idea/index.html
state fund
[URL=allfunds.free-site-host.com/state-fund/index.html]state fund[/URL]
state fund - allfunds.free-site-host.com/state-fund/index.html

Intriguing post. Sad that most have not the stamina nor manners to truly examine your words. I find it amusing in a juvenile way, how each person who disagrees [of which they are entitled to] conveniently dismiss people who "believe" or simply disagree with them as ignorant. Somehow they've "just got it right". Ironically, that smacks of the same mentality they claim the vassals of Revelation had.

Paz...

"If a religion is a relationship between a god and his followers, the professor is right to state that it cannot exist without followers. We can also conclude from that that it also cannot exist without the other side of the relationship actually existing. Absent any evidence that a god exists, there are no religions, only social clubs of various kinds." -- Bob Munck

The only thing that need exist in order for 'religion' to exist is BELIEF.

Religion's existence is not contingent upon the BELIEF of nonbelievers but only those that BELIEVE.

Therefore, your premise that God's existence must be 'proved' in order for religon to exist is flawed.

"One man's religion is another man's belly laugh."
Isaac Asimov

And I'm laughing so hard my belly's a shakin'...

"One man's religion is another man's belly laugh."
Isaac Asimov

And I'm laughing so hard my belly's a shakin'...

If a religion is a relationship between a god and his followers, the professor is right to state that it cannot exist without followers. We can also conclude from that that it also cannot exist without the other side of the relationship actually existing. Absent any evidence that a god exists, there are no religions, only social clubs of various kinds.

"It's lacking in that it seems to make no case whatsoever that religion isn't man-made."

Why should he make that case when it is not his case to make? He acknowledges there is a human element to religion. The case he's making is that "man-made" does not equal inauthentic. The fact that there is an human element in the history of religious thought and practice does not make religious truth-claims invalid.

Todd R.,

It's lacking in that it seems to make no case whatsoever that religion isn't man-made.

"Would one of the people who called this a great post please summarize what great points it's making?"

A better place to begin is with a summary of your points showing why the post is lacking and where.

Would one of the people who called this a great post please summarize what great points it's making?

"Belief and logic are two different subjects."

Charles S. Peirce would disagree.

"The professor employs a logic that is from another universe. He states, tautologically, that religion is man made in that man must interpret the scripture of God. He contends that this does NOT prove that there is no god. Well, it doesn't prove that there IS one either." -- King James

This point is a non-sequitor. Jackson contends no such thing. Rather, he asserts that the fact that something is man-made doesn't detract from its authenticity. Furthermore, the point of his commentary is not to prove the existence of god.

----------------------
"Secondly, he seems to imply that man-made doctrines like the constitution and the supreme court are IN-fallible. Has he read the opinions of Justice Thomas and Scalia (oh i forgot, thomas has never written an opinion). It is clearly and self evidently true that both defenders AND critics of Islam are fallible." -- King James

This is a valid point. What does Jackson mean by the term infallible? In the context of his remarks, it's doubtful he means these doctrines and institutions are without flaw or error. A more plausible reading is that these doctrines and institutions represent the final authority and hence can be relied on.

The debate on the existence or non-existence of God is moot.

If you believe, than the belief in God is the important part. All the logical arguments in the world will not suffice to dissuade you. That’s why they call it “belief,” rather than “logic” or “reality.”

Conversely, if you have no belief, logical persuasion will not induce belief.

Belief and logic are two different subjects.

It’s like trying to do a theoretical physics experiment on quarks by separating DNA with electrophoresis. It just won’t work.

Or trying to argue the validity of the Bible using only the Bagavad Gita. Two different subjects.

Logic and belief are two different subjects. Using one to attack the other is insane.

TK Kenyon, author of *RABID: A Novel*
“[D]ebut novelist Kenyon isn't fooling around. What begins as a riff on Peyton Place (salacious small-town intrigue) smoothly metamorphoses into a philosophical battle between science and religion… a novel quite unlike most standard commercial fare, a genre-bending story--part thriller, part literary slapdown with dialogue as the weapon of choice.” Starred Review, *Booklist.*

The debate on the existence or non-existence of God is moot.

If you believe, than the belief in God is the important part. All the logical arguments in the world will not suffice to dissuade you. That’s why they call it “belief,” rather than “logic” or “reality.”

Conversely, if you have no belief, logical persuasion will not induce belief.

Belief and logic are two different subjects.

It’s like trying to do a theoretical physics experiment on quarks by separating DNA with electrophoresis. It just won’t work.

Or trying to argue the validity of the Bible using only the Bagavad Gita. Two different subjects.

Logic and belief are two different subjects. Using one to attack the other is insane.

TK Kenyon, author of *RABID: A Novel*
“[D]ebut novelist Kenyon isn't fooling around. What begins as a riff on Peyton Place (salacious small-town intrigue) smoothly metamorphoses into a philosophical battle between science and religion… a novel quite unlike most standard commercial fare, a genre-bending story--part thriller, part literary slapdown with dialogue as the weapon of choice.” Starred Review, *Booklist.*

Actually God is Love. Whatever you do out of Love you are doing for God. Even if you have all the "right dogma" but you aren't at least trying to live in Love then it really doesn't add up to nothing. Knowing God's Name really isn't the answer either because God is not the egomaniac that a lot of people think that He is. A lot of people are in for a great shock when they realize that Jesus said "Come follow Me" not to browbeat and condemn everyone else and act like you are so superior to everyone else. Judge not, condemn no one might sound like simple words and they are but they are not exactly easy to actually live by. God's Kingdom is for all of His children. God's Plan is His Plan and it will come to fruition. Don't we try to put God into a box and give it all kinds of "religious labels". God is a searcher of hearts and minds not of relilgious affiliations or lack thereof. Jesus is Who He said that He is and that is God Incarnate not a second-rate prophet like the god of islam says that He is. I do not hold it against Mohammad that he was deceived by the deceiver, do you? Christianity is not a religion but a covenential relationship between God and a person, but calling yourself a christian does not mean that you are one. So much of what I hear and read being said in Jesus's Name is such vile hatred, it is sad. Judaism is not a religion either but a coventential relationship between God and a people. Islam is a religion and it is a religion of world domination. Like I said God, the True Living Triune Triumphant God is a searcher of hearts and minds and it is important what you do and why you do it and also what you know. I happen to be the New Testament Moses, I didn't ask to be me but when I found out I was me I said Yes. God's Plan is for all of His children to be in His Kingdom and they will be. Like our brother Jesus told us night is coming, be ready. On the seventh day God blest, rested and made holy, it will get here. We happen to still be in the sixth day. In case anyone forgot Jesus won the keys to hell and death and they will be used, one day everyone will be glad that God has a Plan, and has had It before anything at all was created. Take Care, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

"It is interesting how many people talk about how man made religion thousands of years ago. There is no archeological, sociological, or psychological proof for humanistic origins of religion, yet it is stated as a fact."
------------------------
Chad: you could not be more wrong. There are scores of documents from long ago showing the growth of religious doctrine, including the concepts and content of the bibles, over time. You can find out a lot about them by doing a quick Google search. Why is it hard to see that, if many aspects of the doctrine and concepts have been human made over time, why not religions as a whole, too? Moreover, you haven't addressed the opposite question, equally valid: where is the reliable evidence that religions were made by a supreme being? Answer: there is none.

Good Article Sir. I agree with Fresno Bob completely. I was going to point out the same thing he did about the documents mentioned in this article ARE man-made and REAL. Since that was written already, I will move on to point #2, and the most important thing that most people fail to realize or are just ignorant...meaning IGNORING...not dumb.

The Bible is nothing more than a retelling of stories which were myths in their original form. The Jews of 600 bc while in captivity in Babylon, wrote the Torah, which later became the Old Test. and Quran. If they were all written one after another today while all the authors were living, there would be many charges of Plagiarism and out right theft of stories. Listen, call it the word of god or whatever but you couldn't be more wrong. The Sumerians are credited, thus far, with the original stories from which the Torah was stolen. The original stories were adopted, changed, and injected with further fantasies by the authors of the Torah. Do a google search for "Mesopotamian Biblical parallels" if that doesn't make you see that religion is man made and a fabrication, then really, you are ignorant.

Real fast here is the story of the Flood in its original form, so far as we know...but we do know this, it was penned or scraped into clay tablets a few thousand years before the jews were even a people, before Abraham even existed:

There were two gods Enki and Enlil (there were a slew more, but for this story I only need to recall two of them), after making mankind in their image to toil in gold mines for them, Enlil complained to the gods that mankind was too loud and noisy, so he decreed that he would send a flood to wipe them out. His brother Enki went down to Earth and spoke to a faithful servant of his Zuisudra and he told him to build a boat.

So, unless you want to call yourself a polytheist, you better research what it is you have wasted all this time on further than just your bible. Look, there are some good stories in there and some great moral rules to follow, but its just common sense to know not to kill someone, you don't need the threat of hell to be good, unless you are a mindless idiot.

We, especially in America, need to rid ourselves of Religion in Government, or oneday the arguement will be...Why can't we put in Allah we trust on Money. My suggestion is to remove god from government and let be people practice their mythcraft in their own homes. Putting in GOd we Trust on our money and One Nation under God in the pledge was downright Theocratic and it has to end! You know that money wasn't originally made with that mythcraft phrase on it and neither was the PLedge written with One Nation Under God, they were both added in the 50's. Imagine changing the lyrics to a beatles song, see what ridicule you get...'cause you know, they are bigger than Jesus! :)

Joe Potts

it is hard to believe that GOD was such a biased real estate agent depriving the promised land from its real owners,the Cananaites,and granting it to the nice Israelis.The whole story is nothing but an ancient fairy tale,unfortunatyely politicized now,for cusing more bloodshed and miseries in our world. Millions of innocent people were murdered throughout history due to such false and man made religious teachings.It is time to wake up and to make strongly known to everybody that all religious teaching should be put behind our back and to deal with each other,regardless of our inherited relioius differences,in amore scientific and civilized manner.

Thanks for a particularly fine post, Professor.

Now Tom

you really ARE a gentleman.

you spoke so soothingly to Marilyn that we all must admire your compassion.

You didn't say, for instance, that the Bible is an execrable hodge-podge of diverse literary styles (surely a God could inspire better writing than this, Ecclesiastes excepted)
with moral depravity throughout the OT (slavery, selling daughters into sexual servitude, genocide, killing of innocent civilians, God initiated terrorism).

Perhaps Marilyn is not grown up enough to withstand the shock, in which case your judiciousness was truly an act of kindness.

You are a good man, Tom.

Marilyn:

It takes no great logic to openly declare there is a God and that Jesus represents good news. To be believable you should really cite some evidence. For example, why do you think your God is God? What evidence can you specify that supports your asertion that Jesus is the son of God? Just declaring something and hoping or believing it to be so, does not make it so.

As to evidence, there is lots of evidence that contradicts your conclusions. The idea that God is the source of the bible is contradicted by what the bible says. For example, after creating the world and declaring it good, does it make sense that God would have to destoy it? Even if there were lots of evil people around, certainly the creator of the universe would be able to correct minor flaws in his creation without destroying it? Plus, what sins were committed by babies? By animals?

As to the love of God, where is there evidence that anyone up there is listening? Certainly, the millions of unanswered prayers offered by Jews and their families during WW II is evidence of no one home. How can you declare God to be love when a few strategic heart attacks would be all that was required from ending the deaths of millions of people.

I am sorry but the bible is a deeply flawed book of dubious and inconsistent moral values, that describes a jealous, vengeful being that we somehow think is worthy of praise? Your assertions would be more believable had you indicated some evidence to support your claims. And as far as Jesus words being the greatest mankind has ever encountered, your judgment is suspect. There have been other religions that describe rules and a world much better than that described by Jesus. Many of these religions specify rules against one person owning another and declaring equality between man and woman that are far better than the 2,000+ year old rules of the bible.

Lets get back to Hitchens...want to see this slimeball get his ass kicked in a debate on the Iraq war:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH_BULU2vcM

Great stuff!

I bet he came up with this new book to divert from his stance on the Iraq war.

What a NEOCON, what a piece of TROTSKYITE scum!!!!!

Permanant revolution, eh? How is it going, Hitch???

Wasn't it Richard Dawkins who said that if it was not man who invented religion,then it must have been a woman? Well that makes sense to me.
There isn't anybody else....unless we look to the supernatural for help. Or maybe outer space (2001).
But the supernatural exists only between ones ears.
So thats out.
Aliens are a maybe.....who knows?
But you know the philosopher has said that if there were no god the people who have to invent one.
Is it too much of a stretch to believe that our primitive ancestors may have thought him up?
Back then people were ignorant beyond our imaginations. Even I would have been praying to the trees and the clouds in those days.

Marilyn wrote: "Wouldn’t you agree that this is “Good News?”"

Fiction isn't news.

Be careful about pronouncing "give us this day our daily bread." We don't need those wonderful people in our government getting ideas.

Jackson wrote: "But neither is s/he infallible, which brings us to the real challenge facing religion: how to detect and rid itself of interpretive error."

Why not just use violence to stamp out the heretics as has always been done?

I think a big question, Marilyn, is ...if you believe that, *what conditions do you put upon it?*

For people supposed to be 'free from death,' you sure do seem to like to spread fear of it a lot.

For a kingdom 'not of this earth,' it seems it's trying to control as much Earth as it possibly can.

That's where there can be conflict.

MARILYN:

The "Lord's Prayer" is good news? OK, let's implement what it says.

The government can collect up all the food in the country, close all other sources. Then we can get in line and PRAY to the government, "give us this day our daily bread."

The only record of such a thing is ancient Egypt where Pharaoh did it, according to the Bible. The written history says that was limited to the workers building Pharaoh's "grand palaces, timeless memorials and magnificient tomb." The writers of the Bible didn't get that part of it straight, says all the food for all the people.

The actual lords prayer of Gospels comes from Amenophis IV (both Moses and Jesus) indoctrinating foreigners, (Israelites meaning builders) into the protocol for workers on Pharaoh's projects. Israelites built the "Tabernacle" in the winderness, a complete city with "palace of the sun" Akhetaten.

The being in the ball of fire Moses made the deal with is the man in the sun. Amenophis IV talked to the same individual, her heavenly father.

Try harder. You can do it, http://www.hoax-buster.org The Bible is a proved hoax,, unless you want to accept it as "word of Devil" of course.

“The Lords Prayer!”
Within its contents lies the Solution to the entire Worlds’ Problems. It is such “Good News” and it is soooo seldom that we hear “Good News.”

In all its simplicity “The Lord’s Prayer” or “Our Father Prayer,” answers “three” of the most catastrophic problems facing humans today. Jesus provided the Solution to all the World’s problems (in just three sentences.) Problems such as; Will there ever be “World Peace?” Will the earth be destroyed by “Weapons of Mass Destruction” or possibly an “Asteroid from Outer Space?” Or will there ever be a time when “Sickness, Sorrow and Death” is done away with?

We pray in modern English, “Let your Kingdom come.” God’s Kingdom is a Spiritual Government, I am sure that you are familiar with the terms “Prince of Peace and King of kings,” referring to Jesus Christ It is Jesus’ Spiritual Government that is going to bring permanent Peace to the Earth.

Then we continue; “Let your Kingdom come and let your will be done on earth.” In order for God’s will to be done on earth the earth has to remain and there will have to be people on earth to do God’s will. So we don’t have to worry about the earth being destroyed! But you may be wondering now will we always have to live with the tragedy of “Sickness, Sorrow and Death?” Jesus said NO!

“God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven” heaven is perfect! So in essence we are asking God to please rule this earth in Perfection as He once did in the Garden of Eden.

Wouldn’t you agree that this is “Good News?” That is why Jesus stated at Matthew 24:14, “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”

Thank you so much for your time and attention. I do hope that this is “Good News” for you also.

Sincerely,

CHAD:

Have a look at http://www.hoax-buster.org Scroll down the first page until you come upon the print from "The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead." Study that picture and tell me what it says. That's about death and what happens to people after they die.

That picture is the foundation of the main "faith" sequences of the Bible. For example: Jesus said, "fear him who can destroy both body and soul..." Who is the "him" Jesus is talking about?

Bill Hunt says the Bible was originated, (main faith portions) by people looking at that and other similar pictures with the ability to translate a word or two of the symbolic writing here and there but clearly not all of it. He says there were many who tried to trnaslate and make sense out of those writings that accounts for duplicate books like the Gospels that are similar but not identical.

Don't you think that makes more sense than, "Devil inspired?" It's an insult to associate God with the crappy writing of scriptures, all of them.

You got a better source for the "action items" of the Bible? They got the actions somewhat correct because they were pictured...

Great Post???? NOT

The professor employs a logic that is from another universe.

He states, tautologically, that religion is man made in that man must interpret the scripture of God.

He contends that this does NOT prove that there is no god.

Well, it doesn't prove that there IS one either.

Secondly, he seems to imply that man-made doctrines like the constitution and the supreme court are IN-fallible. Has he read the opinions of Justice Thomas and Scalia (oh i forgot, thomas has never written an opinion).

It is clearly and self evidently true that both defenders AND critics of Islam are fallible.

That says nothing about the Truth of Islam, or whether Allah exists.

All the evidence is that Man created God. There is no evidence that there is a God. The simpler, less "un-believable" explanation, on which side the evidence lies, is that evolution and the big bang created the world, and that God is an Illusion.

THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD, IN THAT, It is capable of “maintaining” the attention of the most “naïve” to the most “intellectual.” It encompasses the complete range of human intellect. It contains the entire scale of human emotion. No publication produced by humans is capable of this umbrella of Wisdom. All of humanity has the same fundamental needs and desires, whether one lived centuries ago or in our twenty-first century. All have suffered equally. Men and women alike throughout Bible history were our counterparts in every way, the only difference between them and we are basically their culture. They too, struggled with the questions; “Why God permits wickedness.”

Universities teach one to study to become an intellectual. The Bible teaches one how to live!
Proverbs 2:1-9

hi very interesting post i can understand what you mean great post

__________________________________
A journey of a young UK based Muslim
http://www.islam4me.co.uk

I’ve read a number of the responses to the observation that "religion is man-made" and so far every one of them has dodged the question – some better than others.

The question is simple enough; can religious traditions point to anything they rely upon for their authenticity other than figments of the human imagination?

--
"This is interesting, given that all kinds of secular constructs, e.g., the Constitution, democracy, culture, even science, are unquestionably man-made; yet this does not seem to detract from their authenticity or the degree to which we deem it proper to hold others to their dictates."
--

Yes indeed, these secular institutions are man-made. The difference is that they are based upon authentic, observable, demonstrable, principles, not fictitious revelation.

It is interesting how many people talk about how man made religion thousands of years ago. There is no archeological, sociological, or psychological proof for humanistic origins of religion, yet it is stated as a fact. Odd that the opinions of the people closest to the events don't have any say in the actual events.

For instance, I have come accross statements similar to the following quite frequently:
"Man made religion in order to cope with his understanding of death."
Any other statement like this would never be stated as more than a hypothetical without some supporting historical evidence. Point to one dig, one ancient document, one piece of pottery that supports that opinion. Interestingly in the Old Testament there is a surprising lack of emphasis on any sort of afterlife. There are a few vauge references to life after death, the most prominant coming at the end of 1 Samuel. If religion is supposed to comfort us at times of death, why is one of the older religions almost oblivious to any sort of life after death?

Furthermore, if religion developed naturally over time, the lack of emphasis on life after death in the ancient hebrew tribes points to a lack of emphasis of life after death in whatever religion they adapted to themselves. When did religion change from "comforting us at death" to a complete lack of that comfort?

"We hold these truth to be self evident, all men are created equal EXCEPT Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, the pope, Billy Graham, GHW Bush and Jacob Jozevz." The wisdom of the founders is amazing. How did they know about Jacob?

Other than leaving out the "Book of Mormon" the assertion is correct, books cannot implement their content, always the work of man and thus religion is the work of man, the implementing of the content of holy books.

The communion of man and God is the wiggling of hands by the magician as he does the trick in plain view. Only those, the precious few who do not focus on the irrevevant hand notice what the magician is actually doing.

Fait is therefore first in the magician, minister who get's his authority from the book he is implementing to create religion. That makes the second level of faith in the scriptures, (writings and nothing more). Only those rich if faith have any faith left over for God.

Who is behind the books? Is it God or Devil? Without Devil, God has no reason to exist. God saves from Devil in the dark passage between this life and any subsequent life of any kind.

http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul makes a compelling case that the inspirer of scriptures, all three is Devil and not God at all. That confuses the issue of faith in God, the third level of faith after faith in ministers and faith in scriptures.

Simple conclusion: Religion is the work of man inspired by Devil. Besides being saved [from Devil] what else does a Baptist get out of his relition?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, the single good intention of Devil to get as many as possible into His kingdom. Heaven is a democracy. Take Iraq for example of the US government attempting to create heaven on earth. The Devil is forever showing up in scenarios intended to lead the multitudes to heaven.

The big money goes to those who lead the multitudes to hell.

Excellent article... very articulate. I guess not many people would dare to come on this post and start religion bashing.

Great column:

Though I'll add that it's often just as much religion's fault for the implied problem this question identifies:

If religion claims authority over others on the basis its man-made parts are 'really' "of God,"
(whereas your common sense or other religion or scientific understanding, etc, is 'merely human,'

...Then of course people are going to contest the premise of that *authority* by saying, "Gee, someone made *yours* too."

There's a lot of wanting to 'have their cake and eat it, too,' once people start saying that their religious authority *comes from* absolute and exclusive divine authority.

Well, actually the point in pointing out that things like the Bible or the Quran are man-made documents, is to help explain why they are so full of errors, contradictions, false prophecies and moral outrages and thus show the world that these documents could not have been inspired by or dictated by, or breathed by or especially written by a holy GOD.

The books are myth and poetry, and should not be viewed as anything else and in fact this should be their only value. Not a religious one.

Excellent rejoiner!