Be you Christian, Muslim or Jew, the Big Boys Dictate the Terms

[Soph0571]

Be you Christian, Muslim or Jew the Abrahamic religions all have one thing in common. They are run by men who try and dictate the terms of faith for everyone else. Do things how they dictate or your after life will be at the very least somewhat unpleasant. It is a great wheeze actually. Getting the masses to do what you want in this life just in case they get into trouble in the next? The big boys have this down pat.

I was chatting with a member of staff on the way home from work the other day. She is very excited about her up and coming wedding. She then started to explain the process of marriage classes that she had to go to before she could get a certificate to say it was OK for her and her partner to marry. As a catholic she is expected to attend marriage classes every Thursday night for eight weeks to listen to a man, who has never entered into any kind of romantic or sexual relationship (well with another adult anyway?!?!), tell her what it takes to make a successful and sustained marriage. Seriously? What the hell does he know about it? Bugger all, that’s what. This article is not just about Catholics but I thought the anecdote was illustrative of the point I am trying to make about the power and control exerted over communities by religious (invariably male) leaders dictating terms.

The big boys dictate the terms.

The big boys use the fear of a horrible after life to dictate terms to the faithful in this life. They try and tell you who you can marry, whether you can divorce, when to procreate, when to not procreate, what to wear, how animals should be slaughtered and what you can eat and drink.

The big boys dictate the terms.

They try and tell you how to worship, how to pray, how to ask forgiveness of God. If you do not accept their terms and conditions for your relationship with the higher power you will suffer in the afterlife. It matters not to them how you suffer in this life. The big boys will tell you who to vote for, who not to vote for, they will tell you this to keep power and control, not as a way for an individual to improve their human condition through the democratic process.

The big boys dictate the terms.

They commit fraud and deceit, sexual assault and fornication; they lie to their flock, but expect blind obedience and money in the collection plate. They own our politicians. They bring hate and division into communities and still they expect more. More power, more control, demanding forgiveness for their actions, more suspension of our belief.

On the other hand, faithfulness or morality, if you will, has no terms to dictate. It is individual and personal. Be it faith in a higher power or faith in the world around us, if done well faith helps heal communities. Feeding the poor, clothing the needy, accepting with love the foibles of those around us. Caring about the here and now, not just the unknown of the afterlife. Real faith recognises that who you marry and who you divorce are not the most important things in the world to obsess over. People of true faith or no faith don’t wish to dictate the rules. They do not want to limit the scope of human possibilities of those around them. Faith is not interested in power. They don’t care for control. They recognise their own weaknesses, that they are human.

Faithfulness rocks. With faithfulness the big boys do not get to dictate the terms.

[PragmaticDem]

1. A lot of denominations including my own require several months of classes on marriage.

My sister had to do this when she got married in the church. My denomination is not an all boys club, but I get the point you are making.it is hard to take marriage lessons from someone who has never done it.

[Igel]

4. Psychologists help the mentally ill.

In spite of the fact most of them have never fought against mental illness. In fact, I'd rather suspect that if you are medicated for paranoid schizophrenia you're probably not a practicing psychologist.

A lot of doctors tell people how to manage things from cancer to HIV, but few have shown themselves to be any more adept at managing it than the people they advise can be.

One can observe and draw conclusions without having to go through the process. I routinely help people learn English as a second language, but that's something I'll never do. And I've found that many scholars who learned English as a second language have no greater insight into the process than those people who are pretty much monolingual or learned Chinese or Russian or Latvian as a second language.

What's hard is to believe that somebody not in your shoes can understand or have insights that you don't, esp. if their insights are different from yours. It requires trust in an age where distrust is one of the dominant virtues. Those whose flaws you can see because they're present are among the least trustworthy, while those you have less information about, since we don't know their flaws, we trust more.

[PragmaticDem]

5. All fair points.

[Cartoonist]

6. No, those aren't fair points.

Just a variation on that false equivalency canard. Here used to apologize for religious oppression.

When a Doctor does something, his decision is based on years of scientific study, the result of accumulated knowledge. This knowledge is constantly being updated as it's effect is carefully studied.

Contrast that with a priest consulting an ancient book that never gets updated. Do they have marriage classes for gays? I don't think so.

[MineralMan]

2. Another advantage of atheism.

When you want to get married, you get your license and get married. Or just move in together. It's up to you. You don't have to take classes, promise to bring up any children that result in the church, or any other such nonsense.

In fact, you don't have to pay any attention to those folks at all. Less distraction; more time to get on with your life.

I highly recommend it.

[CrispyQ]

3. It all makes sense when you realize man created God to control woman.

They even co-opted the birth process & pulled woman from one of man's ribs.