My peeve

Ok it took me a while to figure out exactly how do word this. What most bothers me the most in this world is organized religion. I'm not the only one who has a problem with this, comedian Bill Maher has recently made a documentary(1) in which he challenges organized religious beliefs and even states in an interview that he doesn't believe in "organized religion"(2). Also, if one were to go into any catholic church, you would more likely than not be exposed to a form of money collection, most often the passing of a basket around. This to me is both sacreligious and ludicrous. This is much to easy a target, but I have to point it out. The doctrine of Christianity reccomends living within your means and being a good caring person, and yet from the pope of rome to the priests of the many churches, the "servants" of god are adorned in the fanciest attire imaginable. Other things that come from organized religion include discriminatory hatred which sparked things like the crusades(2). I do not mean to single out christianity, however, because any form of organized religion is horrid, it is just the most well-known religion. More and more extremist groups seem to pop up from the monotheistic religions but some are completely new and "original" such as the most famously controversial one Scientology. We have even given them their own title "cults."

25 Signs of Cult Behavior
1. The Guru is always right.*

2. You are always wrong.*

3. No Humor.*

4. The End Justifies The Means.*

5. Cult-speak.*

6. Group-think, Suppression of Dissent, and Enforced Conformity in Thinking*

7. Irrationality.*

8. Suspension of disbelief.*

9. Denigration of competing sects, cults, religions…*

10. Personal attacks on critics.*

11. Insistence that the cult is THE ONLY WAY.*

12. The cult and its members are special.*

13. Induction of guilt, and the use of guilt to manipulate cult members.*

14. Unquestionable Dogma, Sacred Science, and Infallible Ideology.*

15. Indoctrination of members.*

16. Appeals to “holy” or “wise” authorities.*

17. Instant Community.*

18. Instant Intimacy.*

19. Surrender To The Cult.*

20. Create a sense of powerlessness, covert fear, guilt, and dependency.*

21. Ideology Over Experience, Observation, and Logic*

22. Grandiose existence. Bombastic, Grandiose Claims.*

23. Enemy-making and Devaluing the Outsider*

24. True Believers*

25. We Have The Panacea.

Such famous cult leaders include Charles Manson, Jim Jones, and many other horrid men and women who would go on to commit horrible crimes. Also, people tend to use religion they have been taught to justify their actions; the most famous of which would be Adolf Hitler. Once again I am not attacking belief, but I am questioning and even attacking the validity of organized religion, particularly in this day and age.

http://disbeliefnet.com/
(1) http://www.religulousmovie.net/index2.html
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYW2xXxFVtU
(3) http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cru1.htm