Could Organized Christianity Really Be the Original Pyramid Scheme?

[MineralMan]

It has many of the attributes of one. Started by a single individual, who recruited a select group of followers, it's growth appears to be of the nature of a pyramid scheme. That original group of followers recruited the first downline of zealous acolytes, who, in turn began to recruit their own downlines.

Over the years, it grew wildly, with contributions from new recruits flowing steadily up the line. Today, billions of people have been recruited, all promoting the original founder's vision.

Recently, though, enthusiasm appears to be dwindling, perhaps due to saturation of the market. Despite spin-off copycat schemes, it may be a trend that is facing some serious downturns in the future, due to a shortage of potential recruits. In that, too, it has the feel of most pyramid schemes.

[guillaumeb]

1. Enthusiasm dwindling?

How often must an unproven and unprovable cliché be repeated for it to be taken as fact? The history of propaganda suggests that it must be repeated at least 3 times.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Post more unfounded opinion that 'atheists don't exist'.

Since you seem to know how it works and all.

[guillaumeb]

7. One more time? eom

[AtheistCrusader]

19. I'd rather you didn't.

[trotsky]

8. Dunno, how long can you keep your blinders on?

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/05/12/non-believers-outnumber-catholics-in-the-us-for-the-first-time-survey-shows/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/religion-declining-secula_b_9889398.html

http://religionnews.com/2016/09/06/why-is-christianity-declining/

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/
Stupid Pew, publishing mere propaganda. How dare they! Like they know anything about actual surveys and data! Pfft!

[guillaumeb]

10. From the last:

The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.1

A modest 3 percent decline, while religion is growing in Russia and China. What color are your blinders?

[trotsky]

13. I'm glad to see you don't dispute the decline. Thanks! n/t

[guillaumeb]

11. From the second:

In the United States, somewhere between 23% and 28% of American adults have no religious affiliation, and these so-called “nones” are not only growing in number, but they are becoming increasingly secular in their behaviors and beliefs.

Do not confuse unaffiliated with non-believers.

[trotsky]

14. I'm glad to see you don't dispute the decline. Thanks! n/t

[guillaumeb]

16. Keep wearing those blinders. eom

[guillaumeb]

12. From the first:

A quibble with Pew’s numbers on Catholics was posted by Mark Gray, who studies Catholics for the Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Gray said Pew’s figures for Catholics don’t reflect what other polls by Gallup, Public Religion Research Institute and the General Social Survey have found. Those consistently find between 21 per cent and 26 per cent of the US population is Catholic, Gray said in a post on CARA’s “1984” blog.

Dueling numbers.

[trotsky]

15. I'm glad to see you don't dispute the decline. Thanks! n/t

[applegrove]

2. Nope. The gains of real walk the walk religion are endless and accrue

to the lowest person in your 'pyramid' just like they do to the person just above them. Comfort, guidance, connection. When religion is done right it is a great thing. Not including religion that has been co-opted by politicians or radicals or female genital mutilators or other religion gone wrong in my assessment.

[yallerdawg]

3. Pyramid scheme?

Keep trying!!!

[trotsky]

9. Wow, the blind men & elephant thing?

Dude, you are a like a blast from the past. All these tired old bogus tricks, and you expect them to convince people.

What's next? Josh McDowell's "Lord, Liar, or Lunatic?"

[yallerdawg]

17. You all keep describing the religions I know...

as something totally unrecognizable.

I guess from the outside looking in - unless you go to church, services, temple, or mosque - you might have a distorted, biased, out-of-date outlook.

Remember - "A closed mind is a bar to any argument."

[HopeAgain]

4. Not even clever

[BigmanPigman]

5. All religions in the US include money in their agenda.

Their tax free status is what they prayer to continue every single day. After watching the anti-Scientology show on A&E I think they take the cake as far as "religion" scams and rip offs are concerned. Their scam is a Catch 22. It is even worse than the Catholics. Religion and politics are NOT separate in the US despite what the Founding Fathers tried to establish. Throw in corruption, sex and money and anyone with a double digit IQ can understand that organized religion is one of the most successfully fraudulent scams ever.

That said, feel free to bash and criticize my observations and experiences over the past 55 years. I have seen and heard it all before so live it up.

[LakeArenal]

18. Your post reminds me......

...that Jesus was not a Christian... Christianity was made up....

[struggle4progress]

20. Or maybe it could have been an underground counter-cultural movement?

The kings and emperors of that era often styled themselves "Son of God" (in various ways) -- I understand Augustus also sometimes called himself "Savior of the World" -- and typically these "sons of god" were quite brutal in their efforts to maintain power

Perhaps the early Christian cult set out to wrestle this propaganda strategy away from the rulers-of-the-world, relocating "son of god" in the person of a poor peasant (in a small Roman colony) who had been murdered by the establishment in the most shameful way possible and by applying to that person the title "savior of the world"

The masses of the Roman world usually reaped no benefits from the self-proclaimed "sons of god" --- and, in fact, the protagonist of the Jesus stories instead always calls himself "the son of man"

The Roman world was a world governed by patronage and family connection -- but the Christians preached that we should "call no man father" and instead taught that we all have the same "Father in Heaven" and so called each other "brother" and "sister"

Their original sacrament was a meal eaten together, recalling the murdered peasant in the Jesus stories; they taught that we should feed the hungry and clothe the naked -- and they said that their only reward for this would be persecution by the powers that govern our world, but concerning this they taught we should not be afraid

These stories can be read many ways

[Lordquinton]

21. Maybe, at one point it's possible

If we believe the government sanctioned retellings of the stories used to prop up their fading empires...