Religious Fervents

In 2017, Christianity has an estimated 2.4 billion adherents, out of the approximate 7.2 billion people that occupy this planet. Followers of the apocryphal Jesus Christ represent one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world.

The three largest groups of Christians are the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with 1.09 billion adherents. The second largest Christian branch is Protestantism or the Eastern Orthodox Church (Protestants are often divided into multiple denominations).

Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, Russia, the Americas, the Philippines, East Timor, Southern Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Oceania. There are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia, Central Asia and the Middle East, where Christianity is the second-largest religion after Islam. America has the largest Christian population in the world, followed by Brazil and Mexico. 

The second largest religion in the world is Islam, with 1.6 billion followers. The main regions of Islam are: Middle East, Northern Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Western Africa, Maritime Southeast Asia with large population centers existing in Eastern Africa, Balkan Peninsula, Russia and China. The Islamic Holy Book is the Quran.

Both Christianity and Islam are considered Abrahamic religions. Abrahamic religions emphasize and trace their common origin to the tribal patriarch Abraham. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents.

The major Abrahamic religions in chronological order of founding are:

• Judaism (seventh century BCE - Before the Common Era)
• Christianity (first century CE)
• Islam (seventh century CE)

Abrahamic religions with fewer adherents include Rastafari, Samaritanism (sometimes classified as a branch of Judaism), the Druze faith (often classified as a branch of Isma'ili Shi'i Islam), Bábism, and the Bahá'í Faith.

The first of the Crusades began in 1095 (1096-99), when armies of Christians from Western Europe responded to Pope Urban II’s plea to go to war against Muslim forces in the Holy Land. After the first Crusade achieved its goal with the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, the invading Christians set up several Latin Christian states, even as Muslims in the region vowed to wage holy war (jihad) to regain control over the region.

• Second Crusade (1147-49)
• Third Crusade (1189-92)
• Fourth-Sixth Crusades (1198-1229)

The remainder of the 13th century saw a variety of Crusades aimed not so much at toppling Muslim forces in the Holy Land, but to combat any and all of those viewed as enemies of the Christian faith.

Reference: Crusades

Planet of the Lie

Morgan Scott Peck (May 22, 1936 – September 25, 2005) was a psychiatrist and best-selling author who is best known for his book, “The Road Less Traveled,” published in 1978.

In his book, “People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil” (published in 1983), Dr. Peck does not discount the existence of various psychiatric disorders, including those that may cause people to behave maliciously, but rather views evil as being a conflict that toes the line between a personality and/or a spiritual disorder.

The author describes evil people as being aware of their conscience, but actively choose to ignore it, as opposed to a sociopath who appears to be devoid of conscience altogether. In other words, an evil person knows that they are committing an evil act, while a sociopath does not, even though their actions are similar.

M. Scott Peck describes evil as “militant ignorance.” He states, “Evil people are obsessed with maintaining their self-image of perfection through self-deception. In addition, evil people will be very selective about who they inflict their evil upon, while going to great lengths to maintain an image respectability and normality with everyone else. As a result, evil people are often well liked by the majority, and their victims come across as being overly sensitive, having a persecution complex, or even being crazy.”

As a supervisor for a major electronic commerce and cloud computing company, I have the misfortune to speak to inveterate fabricators every single day. The level that some people will stoop to for a refund is mind boggling. One might ask, how do you know these people are not telling the truth? Well, it goes back to the adage, "you will know them by their - electronic history - fruits." In other words, there is a consistent history of tracking from different carriers (UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc.) that shows the item(s) was delivered, and in some cases, signed for.

The first few times the customer is given the benefit of the doubt. However, once a pattern of deceit emerges (and often the dollar amount increases), the gig is up; no more refunds for items not received. You would think, some charlatans might say, "oh well, it was a good run." But no, they will continue with the shameful falsehoods, usually accompanied by elaborate stories of rogue neighbors, out of town, or and illness. They may be right about the sickness, but their affliction (in most cases, not all) lies in morality (lack of a moral compass), emotional stability, and communal values.

Starting at an early age, I would tell my daughter and son that, whatever you do in life, learn how to tell the truth. You don't want to be known as a liar, because you could actually be telling the truth but no one will believe you. That's because you have become, "the little person who cried wolf," one time too many. You've made your disingenuous bed, and now must lie (pardon the pun) in it, the rest of your life.

What is diabolically perplexing about perpetual dissimulators is the ability to conjure up 'crocodile tears', or this "woe is me" facade, at a moments notice. There is no explanation to this type of behavior for sane individuals. To understand, one would necessarily have to be complicit and knowledgeable about duplicitous manipulation, and not give a rats nipple about potential consequences.

Considering there are billions of planets that harbor sentient beings similar to the human species, there should be a special planet. This idea is not as far-fetched as one might imagine. Considering, in the Milky Way Galaxy alone, there are hundreds of thousands (maybe a lot more) of galaxies that have the same ingredients - carbon, nitrogen, and water - that produced life on earth. What we have been able to study, through the use of powerful telescopes like Hubble and Spitzer Space, is less than 5% of what's out there. This special planet would be reserved for habitual liars. After such an incarnation, maybe Source:

• People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil (Simon & Schuster, 1983)
  ISBN 978-0-684-84859-4

© Copyright June 6, 2018 - All Rights Reserved. Author #Taskeinc