There are things that need to be said, and I intend to say them, or at least try to. First among these things is that the three "Abrahamic" religions have served us poorly, and are continuing to do so. For the common people they are frameworks for belief, but for the elite, for the rich and powerful they are control mechanisms. These control systems allow those who have inordinate wealth to further enrich themselves, and permit those who have power to exercise and maintain it.
Voltaire said, "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." The Catholic Church's response to this was to place Voltaire's writings on the Index of Forbidden Books, not because his writings were untrue, but precisely because they were true. Even as Candide watched a heretic ("one who chooses" what to believe) being burnt at the stake, he continued to tell himself, "this is the best of all possible worlds." Such is the grip of false teachings upon us.
But it was not the best of all possible worlds, nor ever had been. Giordano Bruno taught true science and paid for it with his life, burnt at the stake. Galileo survived only by denying the truth, that the Earth moves around the Sun. They say that he then said, under his breath, "eppoi si muove" ("but it still moves"). They both knew that a better world would have been at least possible, had it not been for the excesses of Abrahamic religion. The many "witches," tortured and killed by the Inquisition, knew it too.
My wife and I spent several days at a place in the South of France that is not far from the battlefield where the Pope's army massacred the Albigensians. That historical event has cast a pall over the place, and you can still feel the anguish of the victims and their families. I felt it myself, and apparently others did, too, because the inn that our friends had bought failed within a year--no one wanted to stay there.
You may or may not choose to believe it, but karma is a very real thing. Terrible prices will be exacted for terrible crimes, and not one of the Abrahamic religions will be exempt. Anyone who denies this, thinking to have special justification from God, is as big a fool as the innocent Candide.
What will my personal response be to all this? I don't know yet. Perhaps it does not matter. But I see "what was" as already gone.
Text and image Copyright © 2023 by Donald C. Traxler.
