Why Religion Prospers
But why would anyone make up the story of Jesus Christ?
Zach read the opening line of the paper Jason Tinsley had sent him. After Zach taped Jason’s “testimony,” Jason asked if he could send Zach some of his thoughts he had written down. Zach said sure, he would love to look at anything he had written.
Zach continued reading:
Do you know how much power, how much wealth, and how much control the religions of the world have? Look at the religions most of us are familiar with - your Catholics and various Protestant religions - Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Church of Christ, Presbyterian, and so on. Look at the Jews, the Mormons, the Scientologists, and others. They control over a billion people and billions of dollars in cash, real estate and various businesses.
You see, religion is a business. It’s sort of like a franchise. Each religious faith has its central headquarters which helps coordinate independent businessmen - preachers, pastors, priests - who help expand the business to capture a bigger market share. And by studying history and successful churches, they learn the best, most effective business practices for expanding their churches, increasing income, and maintaining current customers.
Just like successful businesses, some franchise owners or prospective owners want their own franchise, and they may leave to form their own faith or branch of faith. Thus, Wesley left the Catholics to found the Methodists, Joe Smith formed his own branch of religion that he called Mormonism, Mohammed founded Islam, and many others have formed their own separate sect or religion.
Let there be no mistake about the enormous power and wealth of religion. And the competition for recruiting and keeping members is enormous. Many religions have been very successful in their conquests, and continue to this day to grow and prosper. Look at the Pope and the Vatican and the Catholic Church. Look at the Aga Khan, a leader of the Muslim religion who is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, or look at the Moonies, or the Lutherans or Baptists. The money, the wealth, and the power of religion is real.
Look at the empires built by Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, and other godly televangelists.
Why doesn’t someone stop it if it’s all a big scam?
The profit motive. And the lack of reward for anyone who would question the status quo.
What does that mean?
It simply means that the rewards for those who are successful in perpetuating the myth of religion are great. Power. Money. Status. Prestige. Control. Respect. And these rewards come for those who actually believe in their faith as well as for those who know about the lies and distortions perpetuated by their faith, but choose to deceive their members anyway.
But what is the reward for someone who seeks the truth? Will someone give you ten percent of his wealth if you convince him the story of Jesus is false? Will someone pray to you and seek your guidance if you show them the Muslim religion is false? Will hundreds of people build you a place of worship if you convince them the Jewish religion is a scam? Will couples come to you to be married under your name if you prove there is no religion that has the one and only answer?
Of course not. Because the person who seeks the truth, who doesn’t claim some special knowledge of the truth, or the secret to eternal life, or that he knows how you can stay out of the depths of hell, doesn’t have any control over people.
The truth seeker isn’t going to make his living off of other people's vulnerability and gullibility. He probably has a real job, and probably spends most of his time earning a living and providing for his family. He doesn’t have the time and resources of religion, and even if he did, he's not into extortion to make his living.
Think about how many people earn a living from religion. Obviously, there are millions of priests and pastors and preachers and rabbis and bishops and cardinals and dalai lamas and clerics and youth leaders and choir leaders and publishers. Billions and billions of dollars have gone to contractors for building churches and support buildings. The Vatican has spent who knows how many millions on buildings and gold and artwork and jewelry and other valuables through the years. People know - religion pays, and pays big.
The other incentive - and it is a very strong incentive - is the incentive many people have because they truly believe. Many people who devote their lives to doing “God’s work” are honest, caring, hard working individuals. They truly believe in the doctrines and teachings of their faith, and they truly feel they are providing a service to mankind and to their god. They feel a certain comfort and joy in sharing what they see as the truth. I know – I was one of these people.
So you see, the incentives for people to spread the word of god, to evangelize to all corners of the earth, to be a good Christian or whatever your faith is, are strong. There’s a lot of self-interest. A lot of reward.
But for the person who just wants the truth, there is much less incentive for spreading the word of those who don't believe in one of the organized religions. Yes, there is the satisfaction of exposing the truth. There is the love of reason and power of right over wrong. And there are a select few who will “spread the word.” But these lovers of reason have to make a living since they don’t get paid for showing other people the truth. Their counterparts, on the other hand, can devote their days and careers and their lives to their religion and support themselves with the many contributions from members and their church.
Who are these people who know the truth? Most are just mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters - normal working class people who see the truth. They may tell people what they think, but for the most part they are busy working, raising families, and enjoying life on our planet. A few are more outspoken and thus more well-known. Some names of outspoken individuals that come to mind are: Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Madelyn Murray O’Hare, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Ingersoll, Albert Einstein and Acharya S. If you do a little research and digging, you can find many more, but not many are household names. Being against organized religion has never been very popular, especially in the United States.
On the other hand, being for religion has been popular. Here's a to do list for anyone interested in creating their own successful religion:
1. Appoint a leader (often "self-appoint")
2. Invent an all powerful "God" to worship, or pick one that already "exists"
3. Acquire (build or find existing building) where people can come to worship
4. Write a holy book and other holy writings
5. Make up rules to follow
6. Develop ceremonies and procedures
7. Devise techniques to convince people they need your religion
8. Convince people the religious leaders have some special inside information or connections or have been hand picked by God
9. Make up bad things that will happen to them if they do not follow your religion
10. Make up good things that will happen to them if they do follow your religion
11. Develop a plan to bring in revenue (usually through alms or tithes or other gifts)
12. Find a large number of people who are easily convinced or can be coerced to follow your religion
13. Persuade a significant number of people to support the religion financially, normally through tithes and alms
14. Maintain the cycle of recruiting people to your religion and supporting it financially
A great example is the Mormon religion. Because it is a relatively recent religion, we can more easily trace the history of its formation. Obviously, there are some people who believe Mormonism is based on true stories and teachings. Most people, however, recognize the lying, the deceit, and the incredible ridiculousness of this new religion. Look at the steps above, and it is easy to identify how Joseph Smith and the Mormons have succeeded. Every successful religion has followed the same steps in its own way.
Let's take a society with 1,000,000 people. In this society, if a small percentage (say .01%, or 1 out of 10,000) decide to form a religion, you would have 100 people to begin this fledgling religion. Since these people would be supported by the tithes and gifts of its followers, they can devote their time and efforts to the goals of the organization. Imagine 100 people working full-time to create, strengthen and perpetuate their religion. At just 40 hours per week per person, that's 200,000 hours every year. You can write books and scriptures, you can make up rules, conduct ceremonies, preach to thousands, recruit new converts, and do other things to build your religion.
Assuming you can keep at least 100 religious leaders active at all times (and it should be even more than 100 with growth), in 100 years, that's over 20,000,000 hours from this core of leaders! Imagine what you could do with 20 million hours at your disposal.
As the religion converts people and gets the members to dutifully tithe "to God" by giving to the "religion," the religion gains not only the money but also the hearts and souls of more people. Notable among all major religions is the emphasis on early education, where preschoolers and young elementary age children are relentlessly drilled with the 'truths' of their religion - also known as brainwashing. Religious leaders know that if they can inundate children with their beliefs and philosophies at an early age, the young children will likely hold onto those beliefs for life.
Those brainwashed as children as well as those who are converted later in life in turn help convert others, help carry forth the traditions, and support religious law. Continuous efforts result in more and more people being converted as time goes on. The result is a mix of people who know their religion is a farce and those who genuinely believe the tenets of their religion.
Conversely, you do not have any cohesive group of people who have 200,000 hours a years to persuade people not to believe in these religions. These nonbelievers are busy earning a living, improving life on our planet, and enjoying life as they see it.
In a nutshell, that's why religions grow and prosper.
What we typically see and hear are the great number of religious "believers," relentlessly pushing their religion and doing their best to convert the heathen non-believers. Meanwhile, the non-believer quietly goes about his business, enjoying life and wondering how so many people can be bamboozled into believing myths and fables made up by man.
- Jason Tinsley