At the same time, Protestantism is really a form of Islam. Its origins are in the culture clash of the crusades and its cardinal ideas are imported from Islam.
I imagine these statements might be offensive to some believers and that such people would rush to point out many profound differences in doctrine and practice between the faiths I have mentioned. So be it. Let them stop there. The rest of us will continue.
A Martian, in comparing Catholicism and Hinduism, would be struck by many similarities. He would notice, for example, that adherents to these religions worship a pantheon of deities, whose images are treated as sacred objects. Images of deities are garlanded with flowers, illuminated with candles or oil lamps, bowed to, prayed to, touched and fed with ritual meals. From time to time, statues or paintings of the deities will be observed to come to life and move, speak, weep or bleed. The Martian would also observe that not all of these deities are benign in appearance. Some of the deities are, frankly, grotesque and terrifying, involving imagery of violence, torture and cannibalism. Some are grand and powerful looking, others gentle and childish. Most importantly of all, many of the deities in both religions are female and some are children. On closer inspection, the Martian might also notice that worship in both faiths is mediated through a caste of priests. These priests act as cosmic lawyers, interpreting holy texts and conducting rituals through the manipulation of occult knowledge, which is inaccessible to the lay person.
The connections between Protestantism and Islam ought to be less controversial as they are matters of historical fact. Islam is, on its own terms, a kind of sequel to Christianity. It sets out to reform what it sees as a corrupted religion and return it to the true path, according to the will of its one, all powerful God. Protestantism does the same and its roots can be directly traced to the fact that it was necessary for large numbers of people to convert between Catholicism and Islam during era of Islamic expansion.
Our Martian, however, might not be immediately struck by the similarities, until he begins to observe what is missing from the worship in both religions. The power of the priesthood is, in theory at least, greatly reduced. Both religions stress the importance of a direct relationship between the worshipper and his God through direct access to and knowledge of the holy books. The images of the deities are gone and sacred objects are not in human or animal form but of a much more abstract nature. Crucially, there is no female deity and no worship of children or of fertility (female potency). Ritual is sparser, with less emphasis on holy potions, smells and pyrotechnics. There is no direct representation of horror and death in the temples of worship. Also importantly, the Martian might notice an emphasis cleanliness and abstinence.
Without going on about it all too much, it seems glaringly obvious to me that there are only 2 religions in the World and that these religions are antagonistic. One is a female religion and the other is a male religion.
The female religion is more physical and sensual and is rooted in the worship of real things, fetish objects lights, sounds and smells. Death and fertility are directly worshipped and the physical nature of both is stressed. Food is eaten and liquids are poured. Objects are touched and caressed. Inanimate objects are brought to life. Mystery and mumbo jumbo abound. God is multi=facetted and represented by a variety of deities.
The male religion is more abstract and austere. It is obsessed with cleanliness and reason. The physicality of life is abhorred, death and fertility are banished. God is a single entity divorced from the physical world.
Elements of both the male and female religion persist in all existing religions and are constantly reasserting themselves, so that fetishism and polytheism emerge in male dominated religions and abstraction and abstinence feature in female dominated ones.
Nothing new there.
What bears a little reflection is that a great deal of the conflict in the World might appear, to our Martian to come down to conflict between the two great religions, the cunt-worship of Catholicism/Hinduism and the cock-worship of Islam/Protestanism. It’s also satisfying to reflect on how much it will piss off all the paedos and beardy-weirdies of Godland to have this pointed out to them.
Postscript
You could, in fact, get a decent book out of this subject. I don’t suppose any of it is particularly new but I enjoyed thinking it. The idea came because I recently joined Catholic On-line, in order to be aware of which saint’s day it is. I decided to become a follower of St. Jude (of lost causes fame) as a result of a miracle he performed for me last week. This put me in mind of selecting Sawaswati as my Hindu deity of choice and the rest followed.
I got the bit about Protestantism and Islam from the only episode of Robin Hood I ever saw, where some guy who had been a captive during the crusades was explaining the positive aspects of Muslim culture, of which the doing away with of the priestly caste featured prominently.
I probably got other shit from other places.
One thing I would like to explore more is the relationship of the single male deity with the sun. I feel there is a connection between the sun and phallic power, but I don’t understand it yet. My thoughts so far involve a change of perspective from Earthward-looking to skyward-looking. When we look earthward, we see many divine entities, all of them tangible and sensible. We are also aware of the power of women to create new life. When we look skyward, we see only a single, and all powerful divine entity. A cruel and glorious one. The power of the sun is not visible as such, who can gaze upon His glory? It is not tangible as such. It is penetrating. Exposure to the sun is a powerful experience which can be pleasurable but leaves us raw. Grin. OK maybe not that last bit.
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