A rhetorical q, of course.
How long do you think it would take to pour three and a half thousand metric tons of molten gold down his throat?
Yes, that is roughly how rich Jeff Bezos is now.
Edit: got my measurements wrong, big numbers are hard.
Gold is almost twice as dense as lead.
It might be quicker than expected.
This amount of wealth just baffles me. I already have a hard time with just my own crap that I personally own. The very idea of absentee ‘ownership’ should considered a horrible vice and not celebrated as it is now.
It was in early Christianity, but then the Emperor Constantine hijacked the religion and some things just had to go.
To be fair, it’s likely that if he had not done that, someone else still could have. Religion has always been one effective tool for social control (even as it can also be an effective tool of social liberation).
You are of course far more qualified to comment on it than me, but the way I see it:
Religion may liberate the body, but mentally when people do that, they are simply transferring their submission and fealty from one authority to another.
Yes, they no longer labor under the cruelty of the king. Now they serve under the god.
It always confused me when people like my dad and pastor would say things like “obedience to god and submitting to his will is the only true freedom.” except doing that means following a bunch of rules that take your freedom away.
Not all religious people think that way. That’s my point.
That’s a good point, I suppose most religious people don’t seriously believe that kind of doublethink or certainly not to such an extent. Although I must say I’ve always been surrounded by religious people who do.
It biases my perception a lot, and makes it difficult for me to ever give religion a pass as a social force.
It’s all about context, I’d say. Do some believe in that? Sure and we all know some, but others don’t. It’s especially problematic when it comes to taking that sort of dogma and applying it to non-western and non-monotheistic religions, which operate in a completely different way.
I have too. They are think and heavy on the ground where I’m from (MTG country). But I’ve known plenty of religious folks who work hard to fight for the right thing including liberation.
I understand that.
Well, I’m not arguing we give it a pass - I’m arguing we take each case on it’s own merits. When it’s a force that is helping to create oppression in the world, that obvious needs to be opposed (many, MANY, white evangelicals right now). But we should absolutely be wiling to work with those who are fighting for our global, common cause of a freer and more just society (Quakers, Churches, congregations, synagogues, mosques, temples, etc, fighting for a better world for everyone).
