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[Hoodstock]

(Ed K.) Hey everybody! just checkin' in with you all and wishing you the best.. i'm layin' low and spending lots of that "quality time" at the homestead to wind out 2011. tons of cool stuff coming together for 2012 (new music, tours, etc.) stay tuned!

[FishOutaWater]

I don't think that the people at the origin of some of the religions, like Jesus and the Buddha, thought that they were starting a religion, nor did they want to. But when a movement started, people, over the course of time, clinged to it. Tried to carry it forward. Interpret it. Make a structure out of it. Develop traditions and symbols around it. Teach it. The central idea of a religion is like the Ring in the Lord of the Rings. It brings out those who want to use it for its power. It brings out those who need to rely on it as a crutch or an excuse. People who have done bad things in the past can rationalize and justify themselves and their past actions in the refuge of religion. Those in power can keep the poor class under control by the moral code and fear that comes from religious beliefs. Women have been subjugated and oppressed for many centuries under the patriarchical structure of religion and it has been enmeshed into society. Religion itself became political and a source of power, control and wealth. State governments used it, starting with the Roman empire. Those in the political structure of the religion itself used it and abused it. When people get involved, the predictable result ensued - people defiled and distorted the origin. After thousands of years - that is a lot of defilement. As people grabbed ahold of the original message, the origin became like a clean piece of felt that picked up bunch of dirty dust and lint - with people being the dirt and lint. And soon, it picked up so much lint, that you can't even see the clean piece of felt underneath it all anymore.

Compare the Vatican, with its immeasurable wealth and power and political control to a simple, poor Jewish man with nothing but the clothes on his back preaching to poor people to turn the other cheek, show compassion and love for one another, to feed the hungry and seek social justice. Would Jesus have let one person starve to death while he sat on a thrown and looked at a priceless painting on his wall? Why does the Pope?