Sunday, July 6, 2008

The Duality of Religious Belief


I often wonder how religious people can have such big egos. They think a person who looks just like them created the universe, just for them! I once heard a Christian hypothesize that the moon was created so you can observe a lunar eclipse.

On the other hand, they suffer from a sadomasochistic personality disorder in which they believe they are worthy of the worst punishment their counterpart in heaven can subject them to. They believe they are so terrible, that they should be burned alive for eternity.

Believers have to do a sort of mental gymnastics between the two extremes on a regular basis. God loves you and made every flower for you to smell, but you are worthy of being burned alive. So you have the kindest personality (who makes universes for fun) contrasted against the most depraved, viciously sadomasochistic personality which combine to form a type of multiple personality disorder.

(Thanks to Christopher Hitchens)

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