PRISONER EXPRESS

The mention of rituals brings me visions of pentagrams drawn in blood and witched dancing naked in an ancient oak grove beneath the light of a full moon. These figments of fantasy are not the rituals I want to write about. Wicca, sorcery, and voodoo, what we are all taught to consider dark and evil magic, seem benign in the face of history and a more prevalent ritualized evil. When I thing of rituals my mind turns to the more subtle evil of the Christian religions.

For hundreds of years Catholic Priests hid behind the rituals of their religion to perform crimes against humanity that scream for reparations. Young boys castrated to preserve their voices in the service to a god they said was merciful. No one knows how many died screaming beneath the knife of god wielded by his chosen. Not chosen by god, but by themselves as a career and through money paid to secure their priesthood. Their perks included young boys to assuage their savage lusts in the name of god. Those who dared question the church found themselves being tortured as heretics. Scientists who proved church doctrine as wrong died in agony. Indigenous people all over the world were broken in body to save their souls and forced to convert to god of priestly mercy. All this and much more can be laid at the feet of Catholicism. This Church of Rome is the root of worldwide Christianity. Can you grow a healthy plant from rotten roots? I don't think so and for this reason all Christianity is tainted, no matter how loud they may protest separation from their roots.

The Protestants can not be blameless. Their taint is revealed by the scandals abound. Where Catholic priests are more prone to the temptations of the flesh, Protestants tend toward greed. For every financial scam a preacher is caught in I suspect hundreds go undetected. The ritual of religion is their defense. They warp scriptures to create rights for preachers as a class to protect themselves from their crimes. Many come to believe their own lies and think it is god's will for them to become millionaires in his service. As part of their greed, in historical context, my Protestant preachers used scriptures to defend and support slavery. Others, mostly Quakers and Unitarians, used scripture to fight slavery and start a movement to abolish it. Still today there are many who call themselves Christians that would assure you private rituals are the only path to get to heaven. Of course, at the same time, they'll tell you Quakers and Unitarians will be condemned to hell. Seems strange to me that the Christian doctrines that give best service to humanity are the ones most condemned. Maybe not if you consider how much service cuts into profits of the preachers. They are forced to malign the doctrines of such churches or their congregation would defend they give the same assistance to the needy.

Each denomination has its rituals, but what they share most in common is their corruption of tolerance for those that believe differently. Their rituals give them the right to judge, at least in their warped thinking, those who are of disparate belief or have no belief at al. Religion, even at its best, is a ritual evil that destroys the free spirit of humanity. Their goal is to force the masses to all think as they do. When free thought and love is sacrificed to intolerance all that is left is a brainwashed populace that is incapable of thinking for themselves and filled with hatred. Numerous denominations of Christianity fight to dominate the world's view and in their rituals of deceit lies the death of all humanity.