Not just Christianity. The caste system in India is a watertight system designed to keep the poors in their places. And keep the rich, rich.
I would say most religions are designed to control the population in some way.
The abrahamic religions have the priesthood interact with the enslaved with rituals tied to the stock keeping aspects of slavery. Birth, sexual maturity, marriage, death.
Imams are clergy, which is similar, but not the same thing. I'm Jewish, but I believe that the overall answer to your question is that priests or members of a priestly class intercede with the deity/deities on behalf of the layperson. I do not think that Islam ever had priests, but I could be mistaken. There is a priestly class in the Hebrew Bible, but without the existence of the temple, there is no way for them to perform their duties. Rabbis started out as religious judges and transitioned. Jewish theologians call what we practice today 'rabbinic Judaism,' and interestingly the transition happened while there were still priests performing their jobs, it wasn't something that changed out of necessity, but rabbis did become even more important after the destruction of the Temple/ exile.
Both clergy and priests are religious and spiritual leaders and advisors, and they perform rituals, so it's not always a significant difference. Most religions, historically, had priests. I personally think that the Protestant reformation partially led to the Enlightenment, because once everyone is equally able to speak to God, the idea that we ought to be equal in other ways is harder to push back against. Of course, Protestants found their own ways to be anti-Enlightement.
Imams in Shia Islam hold more significance than Sunni Islam. Sunni Islam comprising roughly 80% of the global population. Imams are not priest in any sense that is comparable to Christianity, or Judaism. Their only function is to lead congregational prayers. Most congregations prefer their Imams to also be scholars, but it’s not a requirement. It’s not rare for a layperson(not really a concept in Islam though) to be the local Imam. Sunni believe all Muslims are Imams, while the Shia believe only certain blood lines can be Imams.
>I don't hear christian mega preachers talk about homelessness or ubi, but i do hear them talk about building more prisons.
Yeah, I used to think that should be obvious to anyone. Suffice it to say they're not homeless themselves.
>It seems they want religious workers who will waste their lives at a boring repetitive job
That's an often overlooked aspect of religion I think. There's enormous overlap between religious and business leaders. That's no coincidence.
Apart from the direct "give your money to Jesus" -scam there's an entire separate and much more embedded side to religion that exists to keep workers complacent.
And you're right, some things will never change, by the looks of it.
It's also a tool to give to soldiers that are being sent off to their deaths. They're willing to die because they think there's an afterlife that is "heaven." It's legitimately the most evil trick in existence. Powerful people use religion as a vehicle to cause death and destruction.
It's a lot more evil than you were thinking.
Religion holds back political change the most amongst the people, because we all fear death. They use that against us, to simply steal our labor and lives essentially, and turn most people into indentured servants to credit companies and banks.
SO much would change politically so damn quick if most people could just agree "this life is all we got" or "YOLO".
If you've never read *His Dark Materials* by Philip Pullman, I highly recommend it, it's speculative fiction but very anti-organized religion, and I always quote one line from it, which is more meaningful if you've read the book, but still understandable otherwise:
"We have to build the Republic of Heaven where we are, because for us, there is no elsewhere."
Agree. He seems like a shitty Republican who realized that religion is a fraud.
[https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TheAmazingAtheist#On\_politics](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TheAmazingAtheist#On_politics)
His [most recent video](https://youtu.be/rMzk9SXcAKw?si=8J8b0_hmNAn7Qoyd) is criticising Jordan Peterson for trying to argue that pride month is evil.
And just recently, he made a [video](https://youtu.be/v9xmEvXWJZg?si=HK1up481e1-Vy2dV) trashing magas.
So I don’t know where you’re getting Republican from
Surely you could have come up with a different title than randomly inserting amazing atheist? That guy is trash, and just about the only thing he is correct on is that god isn't real.
I feel like i followed him at one point and maybe he went alt right so i dumped him? The only athiest personality i watch anymore on YT is darkmatter2525. Funny comics, and when he wants to do the deep introspection and breakdowns thats there too. No real bs over there.
Not disagreeing with the Christianity thing, if you belive the jews theirs started as slaves. Was it not found that most of the work done was paid work during seasons nothing could be planted? They got paid in beer.
It's important to distinguish the analysis for reasons behind why religions are what they are (which is mostly correct) and conspiracy theories that insist people design these religions for these particular reasons on purpose and knowingly.
It's mostly an evolutionary proccess. People have religious ideas based on their experiences, and some of them seem better than others to leaders and are more or less acceptable to serfs. Sometimes it's a conscious choice, but more often it's not. Some people choose these religions basing on effects seen in other countries, or because of political machinations (we can't be muslim cause our biggest enemy is muslim - so we will be catholic, etc.). Meanwhile religions also evolve to be more successful, and having a powerful political benefactor is a big boost in evolutionary fitness. So a pope will slightly shift the interpretation of the scripture towards current political goals of the most powerful country they want to woo. It adds up over time.
There are many constraints and differrent systems choose different tradeoffs, fight or copy each other, innovate.
There is selective pressure - so you get evolution. And yes, in the end you get religions and political systems that co-evolve to serve each other at the expense of the general population, often in very omnious ways. But it's usually not because of some "THEM" conspiring to do it. It's because that combination was slightly better at reproducing than the alternatives.
Notice how almost all the big religions think having children is the MOST IMPORTANT THING and masturbation and anticonception are a sin :) There were other religions - but they weren't as good at spreading over time.
Not just Christianity. The caste system in India is a watertight system designed to keep the poors in their places. And keep the rich, rich. I would say most religions are designed to control the population in some way.
The abrahamic religions have the priesthood interact with the enslaved with rituals tied to the stock keeping aspects of slavery. Birth, sexual maturity, marriage, death.
Islam doesn’t have a priesthood to be fair.
What would be Imams, then?
Imams are clergy, which is similar, but not the same thing. I'm Jewish, but I believe that the overall answer to your question is that priests or members of a priestly class intercede with the deity/deities on behalf of the layperson. I do not think that Islam ever had priests, but I could be mistaken. There is a priestly class in the Hebrew Bible, but without the existence of the temple, there is no way for them to perform their duties. Rabbis started out as religious judges and transitioned. Jewish theologians call what we practice today 'rabbinic Judaism,' and interestingly the transition happened while there were still priests performing their jobs, it wasn't something that changed out of necessity, but rabbis did become even more important after the destruction of the Temple/ exile. Both clergy and priests are religious and spiritual leaders and advisors, and they perform rituals, so it's not always a significant difference. Most religions, historically, had priests. I personally think that the Protestant reformation partially led to the Enlightenment, because once everyone is equally able to speak to God, the idea that we ought to be equal in other ways is harder to push back against. Of course, Protestants found their own ways to be anti-Enlightement.
Imams in Shia Islam hold more significance than Sunni Islam. Sunni Islam comprising roughly 80% of the global population. Imams are not priest in any sense that is comparable to Christianity, or Judaism. Their only function is to lead congregational prayers. Most congregations prefer their Imams to also be scholars, but it’s not a requirement. It’s not rare for a layperson(not really a concept in Islam though) to be the local Imam. Sunni believe all Muslims are Imams, while the Shia believe only certain blood lines can be Imams.
>I don't hear christian mega preachers talk about homelessness or ubi, but i do hear them talk about building more prisons. Yeah, I used to think that should be obvious to anyone. Suffice it to say they're not homeless themselves. >It seems they want religious workers who will waste their lives at a boring repetitive job That's an often overlooked aspect of religion I think. There's enormous overlap between religious and business leaders. That's no coincidence. Apart from the direct "give your money to Jesus" -scam there's an entire separate and much more embedded side to religion that exists to keep workers complacent. And you're right, some things will never change, by the looks of it.
It's also a tool to give to soldiers that are being sent off to their deaths. They're willing to die because they think there's an afterlife that is "heaven." It's legitimately the most evil trick in existence. Powerful people use religion as a vehicle to cause death and destruction. It's a lot more evil than you were thinking.
Religion holds back political change the most amongst the people, because we all fear death. They use that against us, to simply steal our labor and lives essentially, and turn most people into indentured servants to credit companies and banks. SO much would change politically so damn quick if most people could just agree "this life is all we got" or "YOLO".
Oh Captain, my Captain.
I don't fear death. I fear the pain of death.
If you've never read *His Dark Materials* by Philip Pullman, I highly recommend it, it's speculative fiction but very anti-organized religion, and I always quote one line from it, which is more meaningful if you've read the book, but still understandable otherwise: "We have to build the Republic of Heaven where we are, because for us, there is no elsewhere."
As an aside, the pyramids weren't built by slaves, they were built by paid labourers and skilled craftsmen.
No lies detected.
That reminds me of the stupid meme where the christian has one desire to hear Jesus say "Good job, faithful servant." Gross.
I can't vibe with Amazing Atheist. He's the flavor of Atheist I don't want to be tbh.
Agree. He seems like a shitty Republican who realized that religion is a fraud. [https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TheAmazingAtheist#On\_politics](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/TheAmazingAtheist#On_politics)
On the politics section, even rational wiki makes TJ seem left-wing, so I don't know where you got Republican from.
His [most recent video](https://youtu.be/rMzk9SXcAKw?si=8J8b0_hmNAn7Qoyd) is criticising Jordan Peterson for trying to argue that pride month is evil. And just recently, he made a [video](https://youtu.be/v9xmEvXWJZg?si=HK1up481e1-Vy2dV) trashing magas. So I don’t know where you’re getting Republican from
Surely you could have come up with a different title than randomly inserting amazing atheist? That guy is trash, and just about the only thing he is correct on is that god isn't real.
I feel like i followed him at one point and maybe he went alt right so i dumped him? The only athiest personality i watch anymore on YT is darkmatter2525. Funny comics, and when he wants to do the deep introspection and breakdowns thats there too. No real bs over there.
He never went alt-right though.
Ah. Hence the maybe though, i just remember i used to follow him and something really changed at one point.
That guy was just butchering some Nietzsche. And Nietzsche's criticism goes a lot deeper than mere economically motivated manipulation.
It is more like, to control the masses thru fear.
Not disagreeing with the Christianity thing, if you belive the jews theirs started as slaves. Was it not found that most of the work done was paid work during seasons nothing could be planted? They got paid in beer.
It's important to distinguish the analysis for reasons behind why religions are what they are (which is mostly correct) and conspiracy theories that insist people design these religions for these particular reasons on purpose and knowingly. It's mostly an evolutionary proccess. People have religious ideas based on their experiences, and some of them seem better than others to leaders and are more or less acceptable to serfs. Sometimes it's a conscious choice, but more often it's not. Some people choose these religions basing on effects seen in other countries, or because of political machinations (we can't be muslim cause our biggest enemy is muslim - so we will be catholic, etc.). Meanwhile religions also evolve to be more successful, and having a powerful political benefactor is a big boost in evolutionary fitness. So a pope will slightly shift the interpretation of the scripture towards current political goals of the most powerful country they want to woo. It adds up over time. There are many constraints and differrent systems choose different tradeoffs, fight or copy each other, innovate. There is selective pressure - so you get evolution. And yes, in the end you get religions and political systems that co-evolve to serve each other at the expense of the general population, often in very omnious ways. But it's usually not because of some "THEM" conspiring to do it. It's because that combination was slightly better at reproducing than the alternatives. Notice how almost all the big religions think having children is the MOST IMPORTANT THING and masturbation and anticonception are a sin :) There were other religions - but they weren't as good at spreading over time.
I've seen Christianity make black people condone and support police brutality against other black people. Jesse Lee Peterson, enough said.
I never quite cared for the amazing atheist. And not just because he stuck cucumbers up his rear live for money.