24A046 Two Religions, Compared by Jim Davies, 11/26/2024  

Both actually exist; I'm not making this up.

Each has a substantial membership, and either a ruler or a ruling clique, whom plain members are expected to obey or get punished if they don't. Those rulers are wealthier than other members, who are required to pay over to them part of what they earn by working. Different terms are used for those transfers, but in each case they total around 50%.

Each religious entity claims ownership of substantial areas of land, on which houses can be built for members - who then pay the rulers for its use; members can not own the land outright.

Members are provided with a range of free benefits by the rulers, in each case, and one of them is free schooling for children. Kiddies are taught what the rulers wish them to learn, for as long as the rulers wish them to learn it. The content or curricula differ, as do the ages when the schooling ends; but the idea is the same. So from their earliest days member children grow up believing what the rulers want them to believe, and are excluded in some way if they think for themselves and differ.

Each religion has a set of precepts or beliefs, said to derive from a mysterious and invisible Higher Power. Some of those beliefs coincide roughly with what you and I would consider rational, while others are arbitrary or plain silly. A big majority of members in both A and B appear content, though I'd say those in B are the more obviously happy.

If at some point a member should rebel and refuse to obey the rulers, (s)he is free to leave the respective community, though it's difficult and usually comes with a penalty of some kind, such as a payment. Few do, however, because of that thorough indoctrination from the cradle, well reinforced by parents.

Although one of them ("A") is much larger than the other ("B"), so far we can see a great similarity between the two. They exist side by side, sometimes with interactions; those may involve mutual assistance but at other times are hostile, especially when their belief systems clash.

One such clash involves relations between the sexes. Religion A teaches that the union of one man and one woman constitutes a "marriage", while Religion B encourages men to have multiple wives, as evidence of virtue; they're said to be helping promote membership by raising the birth rate. That's called "polygamy" and is forbidden by the rulers of A - which it arrogantly tries to impose on B, even though its own Charter forbids interference in rival religions. B responds by claiming benefit from A for the many "single" mothers in its membership, so getting a useful donation to its Church Treasury.

An extension of these contrasting beliefs is that A sets the "age of consent" for girls at 16, while B has no such limit and frequently arranges marriages for girls of 14 or even 12. That's not uncommon, by the way; Mohandas Gandhi was 14 when he married Kasturba at 13, and it worked out well enough.

Another difference concerns skin color; Religion B sees white skin as superior and black skin as the work of the devil, while Religion A holds non-white skin as of higher value - in that it specifies that preference shall be given to it when hiring people for jobs, almost regardless of other qualifications for doing the work. Neither of these beliefs is rational; but then, it's religions that we're comparing, and religious beliefs are based on faith, not reason.

In case you've not already guessed, let me draw back the curtain and reveal the identities of A and B. "A" is the religion of Government (particularly its denominations in Utah, Arizona and Texas, where B has most of its churches, but assisted by the Feds) while "B" is the FLDS, or Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, a split-off from the mainstream Mormons - who confirm that there is no longer any link between them.

Were you to Google FLDS you'd see the multiple condemnations of that religion, and some of the scorn poured upon it may be fair. The ruler (Jeffs) can easily be seen as a cunning and ruthless exploiter of his members - and indignant rulers of Religion A have got him in one of their cages, whence he continues to rule the faithful. There is no corresponding indictment of Religion A, which helps confirm that Google and the MSM are among its members or hirelings.