Posted by Smalls at syr-24-24-14-133.twcny.rr.com on March 28, 2003 at 17:04:15:
In Reply to: Well, Buddhism, Hinduism, a lot of Euro-pagan... posted by Booty Princess on March 28, 2003 at 16:55:25:
I mean, Buddhists, Hindus and European Pagans have fought a whole lot of wars that came down to a power-mad religious leader saying "fight this war for my land and you will please God/Goddess/Gods"... with the tacit promise that Deity will give you a better immortality for it.
The greed isn't always the direct greed of a particular worshipper... many many religious worshippers have, yes, given up everything material for a promise of immortality... but how many of those ended up giving it up to their leader or ended up fighting for the agenda of a greedy religious leadership.
Mother Teresa, not teaching birth control to a starving overpopulated nation, because the agenda of the Catholic Church is to not allow birth control, so the numbers of the Church can grow faster allowing more influence and more donations, for one.
Despite her individual sacrifice and devotion, her attention to the agenda of her religious leaders made things worse for the people she was trying to help AND made the greedheads richer.
Mike