Hypocrisy is the best coping mechanism for those with delusional faith. Ritualistic repetitions suppress common sense and obligations toward social duty. Ceremonial duties sideline any responsibility for upholding rights. Spirituality is reduced to cultism. Organized religions are to behavior what designers are to fashion: influencers. The latest religious trend globally aligns with capitalism.
Organized religion’s vocal chants and sermons against oppression suddenly turn mute during opportune circumstances. Deceived by the clergy, fanatics fly planes into buildings, rape children, and commit suicide missions, but ironically, fail to protect the vulnerable and defenseless when they are most needed. Thanks to social media fanfare, millions become excited for boycotts. Articulate speeches of world leaders circulate on various platforms, prompting all sorts of reactions to genocide except for the humanitarian priority of eliminating violence. Traditionally, religious leaders simply condemn acts of aggression from afar.
Islam is an organized religion that developed from a spiritual movement led by Muhammad in Mecca almost 15 centuries ago. His goal was to establish equality within a compassionate society. Christianity began in a similar fashion, with Jesus calling for compassion in our daily interactions. And yet, instead of promoting compassion as a primary behavioral function, Islam and Christianity (which together account for over half of the human population), established by capitalist-thinking religious scholars pursuing power and wealth, promote cultish behavior. The purpose of ceremonial subscription is membership growth and retainment. Ultimately, a successful growth rate culminates in a continuously profitable organization. The histories of both Christianity and Islam enable a manipulative shaping of sectarian organized religions pretending to be based on the original spiritual intent of embracing compassion to advance social equality and rights.
Fundamental concepts of supported migration, group pilgrimage, equitable charity, communal shares, individual rights, animal welfare, collective prayer, family bonds, and missions and jihad (the resilient defense of justice) are replaced with religious misdirection. Manipulative religious oppression capitalizes on fragile societies, gullible minds, and vulnerable souls to induce delusion through rituals that allow organized religions to keep an iron grip on their followers’ behavior and ensure self-sustainability. The true competition lies within the capitalist religion industry and among its different brands of religion; profit has overcome spirituality.
Government leaders in our religious world calculate benefits diplomatically, stepping on political eggshells as they maneuver around the political minefield, cautious not to invite the wrath of the mighty or jeopardize personal comforts to protect defenseless innocent people targeted for massacre. When unaffected by regional socioeconomic implications, others either turn a blind eye to evil or, worse, support genocide by blaming terrorism. Terrorists, however, are never isolated. A global population now suffers without firm global reactions. Organized religions fail to drive moral action in response to our deteriorating our socio-spiritual fabric.
Decades of unsupported oppressive violence has numbed people to rebellion. We now prefer to bury our emotions in the sponge of social media. A controlled algorithm ensures that spillovers to dangerous actual revolts are contained. Boycotts are easily countered by tax implications, rallies are scheduled around capitalist efficiency, and donation campaigns raise millions of dollars with no conclusive aim. We have devolved into a generation of hypocrites hibernating as the world literally burns. We are comfortable vacationers concerned only with that which affects our own itinerary. We are feasting beasts intrigued by genocidal theatre. We are desensitized, numbing our humanity to reach capitalist efficiency. We are morphing into money worshippers turning greedier with every war’s sunset, counting our blessings in the profit of every midnight missile that lights our skies.
Humans, defined by a distinct ability to act with compassion, have become extinct. Delusional devolution has sent us spiraling downward from compassion to capitalism, and we are misled from harmonious spiritual paths by the clergy. We are misguided to Hell in its famous religious depiction, a place from which joy is banished while suffering is celebrated. We have distorted into inhumanity. And yet, religious hypocrisy ironically leads to capitalist unsustainability. Competition between religious “brands” assists in the deterioration of our society, all in the name of profit maximization.
