All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies.(Cats Cradle, Vonnegut, 19??). This quote is the very first line of the bible of a religion created by Kurt Vonnegut for his book Cats Cradle. This bible is called the Book of Bokonon.
There are many religions in human civilizations, each religion has its own beliefs, rituals, music, the list goes on, but they all have one thing in common: they are all made up of narratives about what the world and life are and should be about.
For a religion to survive it must have followers, people who believe in the specific narratives of a given religion, and who obey its laws. . One of the most influential religions in our society is Christianity (Catholic, Greek orthodox, Protestants of all denominations). It has by far the most followers, mostly in the Western World, in part because the Crusades kicked the Arabs out and thus the Muslim religion disappeared from Western Europe, in part because European missionaries exported their religious beliefs to the New World. These expansions were always the result of actions on behalf of God. The crusades were military campaigns to expand Christianity, in the name of God. Missionaries in the Americas or elsewhere, were also actions for God. This is still applied now, September 11 2001, the destruction of the twin towers in NYC, was a radical extremist jihad terrorist act, in the name of god.
The more followers a religion has, the more impact on the world it has. Its leader can stimulate drastic acts from its followers explaining them as Gods will. Over the years, this has been expressed by great leaders of great nations, often leading to an incalculable number of deaths and other casualties.
Most religions are based on the belief of a supernatural being. We must follow what He tells us or we wont go to the Promised Land after our death. In many religions the objective in life is having a death that leads to Paradise. This means that during his life time, one must do his best to be accepted into heaven by being good and by following what the religion advises.
Is this sound behavior? Not according to Kurt Vonnegut: He (Bokonon) always said he would never take his own advice because He knew it was worthless. (Cats Cradle, Vonnegut, 19??). Bokonon created a religion, spread its beliefs to a whole country and yet banned it, once he and his friends have conquered the country. All the truth he taught to the people was indeed shameless lie.
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