Comforting falsehoods are an infinitely easier sell than inconvenient truths…
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So beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that promises much, but requires little.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that promises benefits without burdens, rights without responsibilities, forgiveness without contrition, prosperity without effort.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that hands you easy “answers” before you even know what the right questions are.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that requires you to pledge your allegiance before the age of reason.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that denies anyone the freedom to doubt. And be even more wary of any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that bestows upon anyone the “freedom” from doubt.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that is threatened by your uniqueness–or by the uniqueness of others.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that makes a fetish of the words “Thou shalt…” or “Thou shalt not…”
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise whose business model is to collect more followers, not to inspire more leaders.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that flatters the believer in you.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that teaches you that it’s okay to feel better without having to be better.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that allows you to feel special without having to do special.
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Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that would hold you to a lower standard than you would hold yourself.
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In summary, beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that puts salvation in a can and sells it.
learn more… Finding My Religion
Very complete, Frank.
Now I hear there was some religious chanting on the mall in DC, vowing to re-make America a Christian nation? Tsss.
Thanks, Brian. We need lots more “love they neighbor” Christianity than “fear thy neighbor” Christianity around here.
Fear thy neighbor? Very aptly put. And terrifying…
I’ve just started a biography of Camus. (Lousy writing I’m sorry to say, but I keep on reading.) We’re now in September 1939. WWII has just started. Reading it feels like we’re starting the same madness over and over again…
I hear you brother. BTW, Camus is one of my heroes…. not just for his ideas but because he also had plenty of skin in the game. Thanks and Peace.
🙏🏻
So well done, Frank! I can’t think of any “beware” that you haven’t included.
Thanks a bunch for the resonance, Annie. Of course, astute readers like you understand that I’m not just talking about “religion” here… that all this applies to almost all political promises of salvation as well. Keep on keepin’ on.