The 12Th Plague: Religion: A Short History and Exposé of Religion’S Millennia-Long Strangle Hold on Society, with All Its Schemes, Controls and Corruption Revealed

By Peter Hendersen

Author exposes Religion as a form of Mafia that controls people through fear, by promising protection from Gods wrath.

The title refers to the ten Plagues of Moses and the Black Plague and considers Religion the current Plague that must be cured.

The author offers a unique look at religious beliefs, massacres and wars, the fear tactics, ruthless methods and brainwashing techniques that religious leaders use to promote their fantasies and control people psychologically and financially.

In a no-holds-barred manner, he exposes the corruption of this immense business that is religion, and documents the conflicts between religions and their century-long battles for supremacy.

This book describes all Councils of the Catholic Church, all of the 265 Popes and 37 Antipopes, the activities and depravity of many of them and the schism in the Catholic Church in the 14th and 15th centuries, when there were three Popes at the same time. It teaches the insanity of the Crusades, the horrors of the Inquisition, the in-fighting between popes and the appointment and deposition of popes by kings, governments and cardinals.

It describes the origins of the Bible and Koran, discusses gods, the soul, beliefs, the heresy that is religion, the futility of praying, the poverty resulting from religions exploitation of the poor, religious terrorists, Islam, Jews, cloning, honour killing, blasphemy, out-of-body experience, aliens, gay marriages, Noahs deluge and many other interesting topics.

This courageous work uses sound philosophical arguments, describing openly how the Church, in forbidding abortions and contraceptives, is causing deaths from illegal abortions, deaths by AIDS, and unwanted children who die of hunger at the rate of over 29,000 per day. It shows Religions clash with Civil Law and its control of politics by supporting religious politicians.

The author suggests a bold plan to rid the world of Religion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 19, 2008
• ISBN: 9781438914480

Peter Hendersen

The author writes under a pen name for his own protection and that of his family. Any objections to religious beliefs have historically been met with a severe response from the believers in the form of burning at the stake, torture, murder and many other forms of harassment. Because of this fear of retaliation, few writers have dared to be so explicit in their denunciation of religion.

Book preview

Chapter 1

GODS

Most civilizations have conjured up a variety of different gods, as an explanation of their own existence and as a creator of the universe and all that it contains.

These gods have been represented in many different ways; as animals, logos, etc. and many religious men, posing as witch doctors, shamen, priests, and so on, have presumed to know the god they were praying to and presumed to know his will, desires and designs for the human race. By posing as the emissary of this god, they created for themselves a position of power, which they occupied and fought for and, as in any empire-building organization, expanded their power by appointing subordinates, who in turn appointed lesser subordinates, until complex hierarchies were created. A major activity of most of these religions has consisted of collecting monies from their adherents. As a result, some of these religions developed wealth and power and controlled the political, economic, legal and moral aspects of everyday lives for much of the population.

We can go back through history and record all of these gods and myths; the Greek and Roman mythologies, the Egyptian gods and Pharaohs, the Christian, Muslim and Jewish hierarchies, etc. We can see that several of the gods previously believed to be real, were simply temporary notions of the time and are no longer extant. These now-defunct gods were worshipped by millions of people, for centuries. They were just imaginings, propelled by the religious promoters of the time. These gods only existed in the minds of men.

Similarly, we can see that certain practices considered sinful in some religions, are acceptable in other religions. Things that were current practice in past times are now sinful and vice-versa. Surely

God would not change His mind about what is right and wrong. It is obvious that all these religions, beliefs and rules, are the creation of men. In some countries, the creation of gods is an every-day thing. India has hundreds of gods and hundreds of temples, where thousands of people devote their entire lives to the perpetuation of religious ceremonies.

The teaching of right and wrong and of the proper way to live does not have to be associated with religious gods. Confucius did not speak of God. He studied ways of interacting with his fellow man. Buddha did not speak of God. He spoke of the right ways to lead the good life, by doing good deeds and avoiding bad ones. He spoke against statues and temples and against prayers and self-flagellation. But soon after his death, as in many other religions before and after him, his followers disobeyed his teachings and built thousands of statues and hundreds of extraordinary temples, and because they could not agree on their interpretations of Buddha’s teachings, they broke up into many sects. Similar breakups have occurred within Islam and within Christianity.

In the past, we have seen the unproductive pursuits of theologians, who concoct and promote explanations of supernatural things, which they cannot prove (physically or even logically). How much time has been spent trying to determine the number of angels that can stand on the head of a pin or in creating religious constraints and controls regarding sex, food, clothing, ceremonies, marriages, or prayers. Many religions control their followers by fear of godly reprisal if the rules they advocate are not followed.

In the future, we will see religions come and go and we will see the death of many more gods. We will see religious wars and conflicts and endless arguments regarding whose god is the stronger. All this will come to pass, only to be superseded by other enthusiastic believers, who will perpetuate their beliefs in something imaginary, un-provable, unnecessary, but worth fighting for, worth killing for and worth losing their lives for.

Religions try to promote new ideas and invent codes of conduct and morality that they claim are God’s current-day desires, then change their ideas and return to the old code later when the new notions become unpopular or economically unacceptable, e.g., initially, Christians condemned killing, until the Christian leaders realized that this practice prevented them from crushing other religions, so they claimed that they were fighting for God, making killing acceptable. Each religion has a different set of rules, and conflicts often develop even within the same religion.

The creator of a religion generally has a short list of very clear advice for his followers. After he is gone, the followers very quickly interpret this advice by writing thousands of books and inventing numerous rules to ensure their continued employment and prosperity. They force followers to believe in miraculous, implausible concepts and the more unbelievable the notion is, the more strongly they must believe:

To achieve their goals, they will harass, intimidate, shame and scare potential believers; they will use their influence and even physical force to overcome resistance and force them into submission.

You must not do this, you must not do that; you must obey these Commandments; you must follow this religion and fight against other religions, and if they do not want to accept our teachings, we’ll just have to eliminate them

Someday, humans will realize that whatever God is, He cannot be affected or controlled by our concern for Him. We are nothing more than molecules, cells, small assemblages of protons and electrons; a mass of microscopic electrical entities in a universe of unimaginable size and complexities. What possible importance could we have? There have been races of men that have come and gone and we are simply the current version; we will be superseded. Will our current God remain after we’ve gone?

In the past, before we developed our intellect, and before we became aware of our own existence, were we less important to God? If God needs our love and worship, how did He manage then, and why did He wait billions of years before He created us?

We most certainly are not intelligent enough to comprehend and interpret the concerns of a god powerful enough to create all that we see. Anyone pretentious enough to imagine knowing God to such a degree as to be in a position to teach God to others, must be suffering from some form of delusion. To imagine that God thinks at our level is certainly an insult to His intellect. To believe that God might benefit from our praise or our worship is only a way of exaggerating our own importance. Why would God want or need the concern of creatures like us?

If you try to analyze what preachers are saying, you will realize that it is simply a succession of buzzwords, numbing repetition and meaningless oratory (religious babble) that provides no proof or logical explanation for all their notions and beliefs.

To the non-believer, religion appears to be a form of insanity, and to be deeply religious, one must therefore suspend normal reasoning. It seems easier for people to admit a belief in a God, a hypothetical answer to everything, as something they can hide behind more easily; something less humiliating than an admission of failure to understand.

The following basic truths about religion cannot easily be denied, discarded or contradicted:

-Since God is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), there can never be more than one god. All religions that believe in one God, must realize that they all believe in the same one God. This one God can only be of one mind; any difference in beliefs of what God’s alleged wishes might be, must be misinterpretations and misunderstandings. If there is only one God, there can only be one religion;

-Worship is a human invention. No God would need the attention of his own creation. No infinite being can be in need of human praise;

-Logic has no place in religion; no proof is required; common-sense can be ignored; unquestioned belief (faith) in un-provable facts must be exercised. Any religious claim can be made; not subject to false advertising rules.

A concise definition of Religion (in the non-believer’s dictionary) might be as follows:

Religion is a form of delusion; a spiritual attempt to explain the physical. It is man’s ultimate admission of failure to understand his own presence, his purpose and his environment.

When a religious person reaches the limits of comprehension, the unexplainable is resolved by creating a god, then ascribing all mysteries to the divine action of this god. This god that man has created, becomes the creator of everything, and man prefers to admit belief in this imaginary god, rather than admit his failure to understand.

Throughout history, Religion has created unexplained levels of conviction in imaginary things, for which many followers will sacrifice their welfare, their safety and even their lives. It is the ultimate obsession. This dangerous level of unexplained obstinacy in particular beliefs, has been the cause of more wars and atrocities than anything else since the advent of man. There have been wars even within the same religion which lasted for many years because of a different interpretation of one word. The Christians have had up to three popes at the same time, each fighting for control. Later, they broke up into many protestant sects.

Religious organizations have promoted and supported human sacrifice, which evolved to the extreme level of removing the heart of living victims. Adepts demonstrate a dedication and zeal to indoctrinate everyone else to their beliefs and customs, that are unheard of in any other area; so much conviction based on so little fact. Any religion that supports such horrors as the Inquisition, the Crusades, or any form of religious wars, such madness as massacres, extortions, mass suicide, the destruction of irreplaceable property (temples, valuable records of previous cultures and religions, etc.), must be viewed as an unacceptable and dangerous cult that should not be allowed to continue. A high level of dishonesty and scandals has been noted among many religions (large and small), but surprisingly, these occurrences seem to be overlooked by the membership, and the sect lives on. It is also surprising to note that members of some religions continue to claim membership in that religion, when they clearly are no longer practicing members, nor do they agree or believe in many of the basic rules of that religion. For example, many Catholics believe in using contraceptives, they get divorced and they have abortions, which the Church and the Pope forbid; some Jews and Muslims eat pork (call it pseudo-faith, part-time faith, partial faith or maybe blind faith?).

There are large and small religious groups. If a group of worshippers is small, we tend to call it a cult; when large, we call it a Religion. But all religions are cults, whether they promote rituals, chanting, voodoo dolls, chicken parts, myths, miracles, gods or afterlife. To the more than 80% of the world’s population who do not agree, belief in non-physical or non-provable notions is irrational and considered a form of delusion. The degree of influence of the various groups depends on their size. Because of their limited influence, small cults cannot generally do as much damage as larger religions.

At some point in the evolution of religion, someone came up with a most mysterious and incredible invention called faith. This device allows participants to accept any suggestion, notion or fabrication proclaimed by the leaders, as a religious truth. Such a belief is called a dogma or doctrine; and it is generally a stated opinion without evidence. It is conceived by the leaders, it is decreed and it is imposed upon the adherents as a religious truth, and no logic, no common-sense or thinking is required to accept the dogma as truth. The new doctrine permits no question and members are enjoined to henceforth perpetuate and promote this belief and impose it on their peers and descendents. The new truth is law and must be obeyed by all. It does not matter if you are a logical person, or a research scientist who normally needs to calculate everything to the 27th decimal point, you can put aside all this logic, mental finesse and common-sense and accept the new dogma. Faith and the truth do not go well together. Believers fail to understand that: Believing something to be true does not make it true. Believers also fail to understand that: You cannot believe in something that you cannot understand. How faith and logic can be compatible is one of life’s mysteries.

If we can create gods, we can much more easily invent dogmas to promote any rule that we wish. Every cult must have rules; how else can the leaders control the factions? This religious tool called faith can thus make a truth out of any delusion. Religions have invented other tools (devices), such as hell, purgatory, fear, confession, mass, absolution, indulgences, dispensations, ceremonies, parades, marriages, annulments, pilgrimages, processions, sacraments, prayer books, hymns, the Devil, the Bible, the Trinity, religious wars, intimidation, public humiliation, saints, excommunication, interdict, transubstantiation, consubstantiation, impanation, concupiscence, eucharist, last rights, confirmation, christening, anointment, apotheosis, canonization, beatification, blessings, baptism, enthronment, rebirth, rapture, etc. which they use to confuse and control the members. Some cults use chanting, dancing techniques and magical potions to control followers. The old adage should be rephrased to say: "All’s fair in Love, War and Religion."

They invented the Original Sin, and made us guilty of it retroactively. They then made a law requiring that everyone be baptized, and thus be absolved of this crime. Even we humans recognize that crimes committed before a law is enacted, do not apply. We also understand that we are never guilty of the crimes of others; nor do the crimes of one person hereditarily apply to his progeny. Only in the Bible do we see guilt carried on to the next several generations.

Man has also invented what he calls Free Will. This is man’s way of ascertaining his ability to control his environment. Without it, he would have to admit that he is only one more of the animals of the earth. Man can make decisions, as animals do, and like other animals, man is at the mercy of his nature, his senses and his personal mixture of desires, inclinations and preferences, and he needs to adjust to the present circumstance or situation. What he thinks is free will, is simply the outcome of this mixture of variables. His plans and decisions appear to him to be the product of his reason, but are instead the product of all the variables of the moment. He is unaware that his choice is made for him. Free Will is therefore just a religious pretense, by which humans think they can purposely and intentionally defy God, by doing something other than that which God has already decided and already knows they would do. They believe that God knows the future; so how can they do anything else? Religions cannot work unless the leaders can convince the members that they have a free will.

Man further invented an activity called Praying. He has created thousands of prayers, songs, rituals, ceremonies, many of which beg for forgiveness. To the non-believer, there is nothing more abstruse than this peculiar belief that praying, (i.e., adopting an unusual position such as kneeling, or with head on the floor, or with hands joined and uttering verbal wishes), can do anything more than waste valuable time.

Millions of people pray, yet very few can claim concrete results. The small proportion of alleged results claimed, compared to the total time spent by millions without results, gives a lower chance of success than any lottery or betting odds. Any gambler, whose odds are no better than prayer, would surely have to change his profession to survive.

So why do it? The only explanation is the admonitions, the fear, that not doing it may lead to punishment by some god, for alleged past crimes that religions impose on their believers, (e.g., for the Christians, it is the original sin). Are we responsible to pay for an alleged disobedience by Adam and Eve? What utter fabrication. And if we are not responsible, what are we afraid of?

The Christians have invented an indoctrination ritual they call Baptism; a formal admission to the religion, which they put their off-spring through at a very early age. Then they found a more legitimate and allegedly essential purpose for it; as a means of absolving the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Though Baptism is supposed to remove that original burden of guilt, believers continue nonetheless to pray for forgiveness all of their lives. What are they asking God to absolve them of? How did the creators of these religions succeed in persuading millions of scared followers to give up a lot of their time in prayer, a lot of their money to support the promoters of these religions and a lot of the freedom to live as they wish? Why do people accept living under the incredible restrictions that these religions impose on them (social, sexual, physical, legal, dietary, vestmental, etc.)?

Another religious invention is SIN and the associated CONFESSION. These are most valuable additions to the religious tools, as they require the continued intercession of the priesthood, to save the sinners (redemption). Religion teaches that all pleasures are sinful and everyone is guilty for not following the rules. Confession is a powerful inquisition device (a veritable spying system) that reveals everyone’s transgressions. In a confessional, the individual is like a puppet at the mercy of the priests, who can grant or refuse absolution and thus gain unprecedented power to control, brainwash and frighten each individual on a one-to-one basis and thus maintain or reinforce the guilt and fear factors.

In the middle ages, sin was explored in its most intimate details. The church documented every possible permutation of sinful act (the frequency, the position, the intent, the age and parentage of the sinner, the occasion, etc.) and designed penalties for all aspects of sin, from the worst to the most benign. The only acceptable sex act was the missionary position, for married couples, for the purpose of procreation only and without lustful intent. Every other variation was sinful. They wrote a manual of sins and penalties called penitentials, which the church enforced for centuries. The concepts, prohibitions and variety of sins became so complex that followers could no longer understand and had to accept their situation on faith alone. Therefore, all Christians were guilty of shameful sexual acts and must repent throughout their lives.

By publishing the INDEX (a list of all the books the Church did not want its followers to read), the Church kept its questionable activities hidden and maintained the religious illiteracy.

Religion also introduced the tithe; a religious tax (generally one-tenth of a year’s proceeds), for the support of the clergy and the church; a sort of protection system. They used confession as a convenient opportunity to inquire into everyone’s income and to enforce payment of the tithe. If you did not conform, instead of having your legs broken (as in other protection rackets), you were refused absolution and thus your soul was at risk. Without absolution for your sins you could not get into heaven. If you died in a sinful state and if your sins were serious (mortal sins), you

went straight to hell; for lighter, more excusable sins (venial sins), you suffered temporarily in purgatory. However, to help you reduce your time in purgatory, the church provided indulgences (which they sold for cash), as a convenient method of paying for some of your sins.

Another religious invention that generates an almost endless source of revenue is the PILGRIMAGE. Adherents are urged to make a pilgrimage to what is called a holy site (sometimes half a world away), where something ordinary has allegedly taken place, but where the event has been given an extraordinary religious significance. This is a most effective means of gathering believers into one area, where it is then very much easier to relieve them of their money. There are hundreds of such places, where alleged relics can be viewed, where alleged events, apparitions or miracles have taken place, where alleged religious figures have walked, etc. At many of these sites, large churches or temples have been built, where believers can view relics and where they can deposit their offerings. Large facilities have been created to house and feed these visitors and elaborate ceremonies, rituals and preachings are used to renew and reinforce their beliefs and to keep them there for as long as possible.

The Catholics have invented a leader, which they call a pope. The creation of a pope is presently done by cardinals, who elect one of their group as Pope. This Pope becomes their leader and is more powerful than the cardinals.

In a similar way, religions have achieved this mysterious miracle where subordinates acquire the power to create a leader, a God, which then becomes their master. They have achieved another, even more surprising miracle, which is to determine what this new god (which they have just created) wants them to do to please him, and to whom they will pray and ask favours. It is a totally illogical concept, but it has defied human intelligence for millenia.

Another religious innovation that seems to work well on children and less-educated individuals is that they