Listening to George Carlin’s various takes on God inspired Java and yours truly to come up with a few thoughts about the subject in relation to different religious beliefs.

For instance, does Buddhism have a God? Or, do Buddhists consider The Buddha to be a ‘God’ or THE ‘God’? From what we know of Buddhism (the Theravada form), The Buddha espoused that following what he referred to as The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path, would lead to the elimination of ‘suffering’ and thereafter to Nirvana. There’s no mention of him stating that he was ‘God’ – nor did he, as Christ did, claim to have connections to God. So then who is it that Buddhists pray to? Somewhere along the line did some ‘smart’ guy twist The Buddha’s words and set up a system where Buddhists would believe that if they performed rituals like Poojas, that what they prayed for would be granted? Is that why we see politicians in this country troop to temples bearing gifts, as many parents do with children due to take exams?

Then there are so many types of Buddhism – like Christianity – that it is easy for any logically minded person to get confused. Which one is the ‘right’ one? Didn’t God tell any of his followers? The Roman Catholics pray to Jesus’ mother, Mary. And since Jesus claimed to be to be ‘The Son of God’, was Mary God’s wife? But since Joseph was Mary’s husband, did that make Joseph God? Confusing?

There’s Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, and other forms of Buddhism being practised around the world. The rituals are different, as are some of the beliefs, but they all ‘pray’, so do they pray to different Buddhas, or is it the same Buddha that just ‘looks’ different?

The Hindus have a whole slew of Gods in their pantheon. And I guess they pray to a particular God depending on what it is they want. Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver) and Shiva (The Destroyer) are the three main deities, but there are scores of others like Lakshmi (Godess of Wealth), Saraswathi (Goddess of Art or Creativity), Durga or Kali (Goddess of Wrath), Ganapathy or Ganesh, who has the head of an Elephant, and on and on and on. We see the rather grotesque self-mutilation that goes on at Hindu kovils and places like Kataragama by folk that are asking for favours from their God or Gods, and again, the ‘faith’ they psych themselves into acquiring is all for the benefit of having some favour granted – and nothing to do with anything ‘religious’.

We don’t know too much about Allah, so have no way of discussing that phenomenon, but if what we read about suicide bombers believing that they are being awaited by so many virgins in heaven after they blast themselves and others into oblivion is true, then please excuse us for the hysterical laughter. How could anybody believe such shit? Except, of course for the brainwashed folk who get to that state due to whatever conditioning got them there in the first place.

What Java figured (and it wouldn’t take a genius to do so) is that ‘religion’ is used by folk through the ages to acquire power over others – to control the flock, like sheep that are herded into their places of worship. Then they start to build up their empires dedicated to their particular God – much like what the Vatican has done – and to consolidate their power. And what they use to hold their various congregations is the fear of God and his retribution – be it burning in Hell, the karma of being reborn to suffer in a future life or anything else that will keep the flock in place.

So there we are – a few thoughts on God and our views on how crazy folk can be to believe such bovine rectal emissions.

What do you think?