Americans worship Supply Side Jesus
but then thereβs also plenty of arguments that most Christians worldwide worship the Church not Jesus
this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Indeed. Wasn't one of the commandments to avoid false idols and stuff? And wasn't one of Jesus' things about you being able to directly pray to god or something? Just saying, the church is and always has been a scam, a political institution used to better control the masses, especially applicable in large population nations and empires (like the Roman Empire), loosely based on ideas of some guys' teachings. And that's the case for all organised religion.
there are stories that in the Councils to determine which gospels to include in the New Testament, one of the first gospels to be deemed heretical was one where Jesus argued against the establishment of a church β¦
Tags don't exist in Lemmy, so it's not something we can add to the community. How about adding [joke] or [non-serious answers only]?
tags don't exist in Lemmy
But Lemmy is open source. The framework could be added so everyone could have tags.
That's indeed a wonderful thing about open source software. It doesn't necessarily solve this person's question, though.
Or ask in c/wrongAnswersOnly?
thatd be good, kinda like askreddit [serious]
We don't worship the Christian god. If you look at a US dollar bill, this is explained quite clearly.
In God We Trust.
This is printed right there, on our real god: money.
Blasphemer! "Money" is always spelled with a capital letter! or are you not a capitalist?
Oh!! So thatβs the βcapitalβ in capitalism!
God money will do anything for you.
Our Money, which art in our wallet.
Hallowed be thy buying power.
Thy interest come, thy inflation be done.
In our bank accounts as it is in the Fed.
Buy us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our impulse buys
as we forgive those who advertise against us.
And lead us not into poverty
but deliver us from want.
For thine is the Kingdom,
the power, and the wealth
for ever and ever.
Cha-ching!
This is gooood! It's it original? (sorry not meaning to be a dick)
I feel like it weekend slightly around impulse buys and advertising, but otherwise I love it!
Yup, just made it up on the spot. Granted, I had to use Wikipedia to remind me of the original text of the Lord's Prayer. It's been a few decades since I broke away from the indoctrination of my youth.
They prefer to be called the primal forces of nature.
Sadly, I'm old enough to remember when that movie was a blistering satire and not nostalgia for a simpler time.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=yuBe93FMiJc
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
They already did
Was going to say... ask any Christian what their favorite parts of America are and they'll prattle off exactly what corporations want them to say.
They've already found that new Apple releases activates the part of the brain activated during religious experiences.
As an atheist, I had to ask myself how I know people are worshiping a god. In the US, it seems to boil down to a few things:
- Giving money to an organization in order to participate with the community
- Showing obedience to authority by allowing them to dictate some (but not all) of one's behavior
- Being hyper-focused on how the organization got to where it is today and whether what they do today aligns with its initial values and goals
- Performing rituals in hopes of causing specific outcomes
Based on this, I am already worshiping Apple.
I would argue that nobody gives money to their church as a form of community participation. Rather, they give money in the hope that they can buy their way to salvation or as payment to ease their guilty conscience. Probably both.
I live in Utah. Mormons are absolutely required to tithe in order to participate in temple ceremonies. I've never been LDS, but my understanding is that the accounting for how much you tithe is carefully monitored. It's also my understanding that you must participate in temple ceremonies to achieve admittance into heaven.
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I disagree woth the third one, as it implies using critical thinking to evaluate the success of an organisation, be it in a positive or negative light. I haven't heard a single strongly religious individual immediately agree that Joseph and Mohammed were p*dos, and using that as evidence to make a sound reasoning and evaluation on their religion's moral principles.
Religious people clearly use critical thinking. They just base a lot off of flawed premises.
They do use critical thinking but never apply it on their own religion, just all the others. To quote Richard Dawkins, "We're all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just take it one god further".
If you were going to choose s corporation to worship, which would it be?
I really like Costco. They have almost everything i 'need' and you can get a hot dog and a soda for $1.50.
Iβm going to go pray to my wallet now for your heathen soul. May the Almighty Dollar bless you and not send you to Debt.
not send you to Debt.
What would be the Christian version of filing for bankruptcy? Are we getting rid of dischargeable debt?
My instinct says purgatory
We do that too. That's what our nationall holidays are about - greeting cards, candy, tires, and tvs.
They seriously watch Christmas specials all about anti-consumerism and finding the real meaning, then immediately go out and buy buy buy. Legit riots on black friday just to save a bit. It's so disconnected that it's just baffling to me. Our family has strict spending limits on gifts - if we even give them at all. We have enough stuff, keep your money
We have slowly been in the process of this for a long time. People are becoming less religious but more consumerist. Traditional religion is being replaced by influencers, celebrities, brand names, etc.
We're never going to outright call it religion but it is functioning in a similar role for our society.
Instagram is a force that gives us meaning! A sad, thin and nutrient-poor sort of meaning but it does seem to calm the shakes for some people.
i mean⦠at least companies exist
Article from more than 20 years ago:
The Market as God. It might interest you.
"Will"?
Time to attack and dethrone our corporate overlords.
Some would say it's already happened, just not completely. Corpo worship really is a thing. It's just not yet larger than Christianity, though it does affect policies much more than religious institutions.
The "God" actually is a worldwide mega-corporation, or few business in a particular market
You need to delve deeper; from what I can see, there are people worshipping not only Google and Microsoft but even Meta!
When the American republic becomes the American Empire and companies become divinely chosen aristocrats. Not an impossible outcome.
The moment "kill the other guy" becomes a legit option the whole logic changes, though, and you don't have a corporation. Businessperson to warlord is a transition you can make, as the Russians can attest to, but it's a transition.
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