RELIGION STILL THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES

I was interested to read in the March edition of the Catholic church magazine "alive" about a twelve year old girl supporting the pro-life stance on abortion using the youtube. The headline on page 16 read '12-yea-old Lia's oro-life talk a big hit on youtube'. The article went on to inform us triumphantly, 'Lia a twelve year old girl in Toronto, Canada, caused ructions in her school and has become a youtube sensation with a five minute pro-life talk'. The talk was part of a school topic which the school tried to talk the child out of on the grounds that it was 'too mature and controvercial', and that if she stuck to it she would be disqualified'. Her mother tried to talk her out of it but to no avail. In the end she relented saying "I really believe it's something that God put in her heart", does not sound much like talking her out of it . Much to the delight of the church Lia won the competition, after a great deal of comotion including one pro-life judge stepping down after she was initially disqualified. The rest of the panel then reversed their decision and declared her the winner.

What I can not understand is why a girl of twelve would choose such a subject without some form of brainwashing. Accepting that she is very academically advanced for her age, and this advancement should not be stifled, and given the state of the global economy would it not have been more appropriate to speak on something more topical, like the state of the world economy, which she could still have brought her religion into, after all did Jesus not kick out all the capitalists from the temple?, the very people who have caused the global economic crisis we are now witnessing. Of course this would not have gone down too well with the Catholic hierarchy, themselves pro-capitalist, and would perhaps not have been allowed to go out as her topic. A twelve year old girl, scientifically barely able to concieve, giving a talk on the de-merits of abortion does not ring true unless somebody, not divine intervention, was pulling the strings. In todays world it would have been expected that a twelve year old girl of such mental development would be more likely to speak about a womans right to choose, which would make more sense. One problem with this and that is the church would not approve but since when has this mattered to the planets twelve year olds?, unless some form of brainwashing has taken place.

It is perhaps time that the church, all religions and denominations, were stopped from filling childrens heads with something which may or may not have happened. It must be very confusing for children of impressionable ages coming out of one lesson on religion and then going into a class on Darwinism. You can not believe in both it is a total paradox and all the scientific evidence points to the correctness of Darwin.

There are other denominations of Christianity all equally guilty of the same system of brainwashing. The Protestant religion, for example decided to re-write the rules to suit the needs of a King who wanted a divorce and, more importantly, the new aspiring class in society the mercantile capitalists. If the original Bible was true how then can the re-written one with a few alterations be also true? Why, before the industrial revolution, was the Bible written in Latin which only the priests could understand? When it was decided that people needed to learn the basics of literacy they were tought to read selected pieces from the Bible, now written in English and other relavent languages. The reason for the need to read and write, very basic at that, was so they could understand how to operate the new machinery owned by the new industrialists. While learning to read and write they could brainwash themselves by learning from the Bible. The only day they got away from the eternal slavery of work was Sunday and guess what, to enable them to go to church. While at church these early proleterians, like their predecessors from feudalism, could learn how to be a poor man on this earth but be rich in the kingdom of heaven. If this was not programming not to question and accept their lot down here, that being poverty, what was?

Then we have our overpaid clergymen and in certain denominations women, who get paid a fortune to ensure this state of ignorance continues. However when the capitalist class found they could increase profits by making Sunday to all intents and purposes a "normal" day the fact that this was suppossed to be Gods day is conviniently forgotten, similar to all the other inconvinient things attached to religion which affects profits.

Marx was right with his description of "religion being the opiate of the masses" and the day it ceases to be is the day the capitalist system will disgard it.


Caoimhin

Dublin