(June 22, 2014 at 8:03 pm)Jenny A Wrote: It's a kind of congame. (Sorry in advance to any old timers who have already met Hank's Ass):
There's a printed version here: Kissing Hank's Ass on Jhuger
Actually - it IS a kind of Con Game
Religion was the devise that the leaders of ancient time used to keep the masses of uneducated and illiterate people under control.
It just spiraled out of control and became more and more complicated as interaction between different groups of people required it to evolve - ie - to keep up with the other religious beliefs. So - as people were conquered - the religions of the conquered and the conquerors had to evolve to stay ahead of the new claims. When one religion claimed a Virgin birth - others had to have it. Same with resurrection - and many other claims. Flood stories got more and more exaggerated (Why flood the earth when you can flood the Universe? - Well ancients did not think that there WAS a universe beyond themselves. THey did not even think there were other continents)
Today - we have democratically created law systems to replace the need for control of people - although these are highly based on the beliefs of the people involved and so could be said to be religion based - except that the Government is the ultimate power.
