(#5575) The use of religion as a weapon

      I am not against anyone who has a belief in a higher power than can be shown. In this existence where the beginning and end of things is still a mystery having a lifeline to some safe place or person is mostly comforting even if a bit far fetched. I get it and do not disdain that. What however is done in the name of religion often resides outside a personal belief system and is used as a tool to gain wealth or to harm others. You see it with mega church practitioners who seek the 10% with much more enthusiasm than living the life of their belief system.
     But even those people are not the worst of what is done in the name of religion. Those who do the belief system of their choice to advance their other intents are what I call even worse. People who use religion as a shield to protect them from their real desires. Behaviors and actions that they truly try to justify that are despicable and reprehensible. Yet even those who do the opposite of what their belief systems require so that they can project themselves as something they are not are still better than those who are the absolute worst of what they use religion to accomplish.
     The absolute worst are those who use religion to kill and maim others. They pretend to have a tie with a God and then dismiss the nature of a God and supplant it with their own egotistical and maniacal compulsions. A person I would call a demented demigod. Someone who sees themselves as a greater human being than any other. Their world consists of them and then the rest of us are here for their pleasure or disgust. We see this with people like putin of Russia who gives off an impression of a godly man while behaving like he is the God. For me religious beliefs are silently held by those who wish to believe. For others who must blow a horn to announce their religion I keep clear of because no good intent can follow such blatant behavior other than some ulterior motive.