MY LIFE

One can only hope.    But, sadly, it isn’t likely.

Cousin John sent me a link to this article in the Guardian:  The internet has done for Scientology. Could it rumble the Christians, too?

The article’s author is discussing the fate of Scientology in other countries, and  how it is increasingly being exposed for the fraud that it is.  NOT for their wacky beliefs, but the way they scam other people out of their money and resources.   I care little about Scientology, but I like the article’s closing paragraphs:

Clearly, Scientologists should be forced to justify their doctrinal lunacies – the only sadness is that other religions are apparently exempt from having to do the same. Imagine for a moment a Bashir-type interviewing some senior cardinal. “So,” he might inquire, “you’re saying that by some magic the communion wafer actually becomes the flesh of a man who died 2,000 years ago, a man who – and I don’t want to put words into your mouth here – we might categorise as an imaginary friend who can hear the things you’re thinking in your head? And when you’ve done that, do you mind going over the birth control stuff?”

What a shame that we see rather fewer of these exchanges, however amusing and useful a sideshow Scientology may be.

Quite frankly, the ideas of Scientology (with its aliens and Xenu and so forth) and the core doctrines of Christianity aren’t very different.  Both are fiction, and their respective leadership has duped their followers and taken their money by fraud and deception.   And their followers (most of them) truly believe the things they’ve been told.    But we know for a fact that there was never a human born to a true virgin.   We know that nobody who has died and been buried has risen from the dead.

Will the Internet serve to bring down the shackles Christianity (or Islam) has placed on its adherents?   Probably not entirely, but I believe that the Internet has provided the means by which people can access the information to discover what a crock of shit their religion is.

And really, it doesn’t take much to challenge all the core doctrines of religion.  The burden of proof has always been, and will always remain, on the believer to come up with proof that their claims are true.  And after almost 2000 years, the claims of Christianity have no evidence on record to prove itself.   People will always believe silly things, of course, and they are entitled to do so.  It’s only when they make their claims in public, out loud, that those beliefs are revealed for being ignorant, superstitious and silly, at best, and downright dangerous, at worst.

And that’s why the Internet is such a boon.  People make their claims on the Internet, and it’s out there for the rest of the world to see and to challenge and question.   That’s a good thing.  The believers may never grow up, but they will find it harder to convince others who have access to resources to test the claims of religion.  So, eventually, the Internet will put Christianity in its place.  Eventually.