...may the breath of a thousand camels...

I was going to spend this week finishing off my little bit about the home PC and keeping it and you safe but that will have to wait until another time as I feel the need to speak about something else today.

As a non believer in religion I like to think that my natural scepticism is given in equal measure to all faiths regardless of whom or what they follow. But I also am fully behind the idea that an individual has the right to think and believe what he or she likes as long as they do not try and force it down the throat of people who are not interested. My view for instance on the way that the Catholic faith fucks people up has been well documented in these very pages. Individual faiths aside does anyone hold the view like me that religion is responsible for more trouble in the world than anything else. Just consider it for a second, Northern Ireland religion, The current problems in the middle east religion, even the second world war was about a master race stamping all over the other inferior religious groups. So if religion is causing so much grief then why do so many people follow there chosen religious path? And how come if you read many religious teachings and texts they preach about peace and tolerance yet in practice they cause so much harm?

I think it’s to do with the human condition, when you have a religion that people follow any religion, there have to be people who administer and control and say what is acceptable and what is not. Every religion has its local head to lead the people and set an example be they a Vicar, Bishop, Rabi, priest, or whatever they may be called. The trouble is that when in a position of power it is very difficult not to let it go to your head. Some have said that these types of jobs only appeal to people who like to have control over others,( look at politicians I have always thought there is something fundamentally wrong with people who want to control and have power over others ) think about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians at Waco in Texas utterly loopy.

And when you are in the position of being looked up to by people who revere you and need you, you have to be of pretty morally fantastic stuff. As these also tend to be the needier and easily led in the world (like Sun readers). And as a result you will get cut off from reality by the very fact of your popularity. Because all of a sudden you need staff to manage your time, and keep you safe. Which inevitably means keeping you apart from the poor twits who put you there? So in this position you need to be a very special kind of person and they are few and far between (if not non existent) because they are all just like you and me human with all the inbuilt faults and flaws. I am sorry to tell you this but competitiveness; selfishness, greed, envy, and a few more besides are all basic instincts that drive everybody who reads this.

In fact it’s what makes the free world turn. Don’t believe me then why do we want a new car, or bigger house, or play the lottery, or worry if my bum looks big in this. All religion does is pander to our base needs and insecurities about the future. The key to life is being happy and content with your self. If you can do that then all the other mumbo jumbo becomes irrelevant. As I have said before” organised religion is about crowd control”.
matt x