prasad1
Active member
One of the primary goals of religious establishments is to amass power by controlling their followers.
Rituals and rules are an easy way of exerting such control and conditioning the followers to mindlessly obey without question. I fact, the more ridiculous and unnatural the rituals/rules are -- the better they are at asserting control.
Consider a religion that requires "thou shalt always watch TV sitting down" vs. another that requires "thou shalt always watch TV in the lotus position with your left eye blindfolded"... Clearly -- if all followers of the 2nd religion actually follow the rule, the religion has asserted tremendous power over its followers. Once control is established and asserted it can be used for much more "useful" purposes.
Another important reason for rituals and bizarre rules is to differentiate one religion from another and make followers' identity more closely associated with their religion. If you look differently (wear special garments, have markings on your body) or behave differently (must only eat food that was prepared in a certain way, can't eat/drink certain things) then you ARE different.
An interesting side effect of this is a tremendous opportunity for profit. When rituals and rules are sufficiently complicated -- oversight by the religious establishment to make sure all rules are observed correctly becomes necessary (consider "Kosher" or "Halal" certification!) and these services are never cheap.
Then you need a priest, Guru, or a witch doctor.
Exact logic is followed by Governments. They create laws that are complicated, and then you need lawyers.
Similarly, Tax laws are created such that you need accountants and layers to find you the loopholes.
If the Income-tax code was made simple say 10%, you will need an army of lawyers and tax accountants to file your taxes.
Rituals and rules are an easy way of exerting such control and conditioning the followers to mindlessly obey without question. I fact, the more ridiculous and unnatural the rituals/rules are -- the better they are at asserting control.
Consider a religion that requires "thou shalt always watch TV sitting down" vs. another that requires "thou shalt always watch TV in the lotus position with your left eye blindfolded"... Clearly -- if all followers of the 2nd religion actually follow the rule, the religion has asserted tremendous power over its followers. Once control is established and asserted it can be used for much more "useful" purposes.
Another important reason for rituals and bizarre rules is to differentiate one religion from another and make followers' identity more closely associated with their religion. If you look differently (wear special garments, have markings on your body) or behave differently (must only eat food that was prepared in a certain way, can't eat/drink certain things) then you ARE different.
An interesting side effect of this is a tremendous opportunity for profit. When rituals and rules are sufficiently complicated -- oversight by the religious establishment to make sure all rules are observed correctly becomes necessary (consider "Kosher" or "Halal" certification!) and these services are never cheap.
Then you need a priest, Guru, or a witch doctor.
Exact logic is followed by Governments. They create laws that are complicated, and then you need lawyers.
Similarly, Tax laws are created such that you need accountants and layers to find you the loopholes.
If the Income-tax code was made simple say 10%, you will need an army of lawyers and tax accountants to file your taxes.