Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for February 11, 2023

When the first con man found the first mark

Religion: Just guys in robes makin’ $#!t up.

It looks like the beginning of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos to me. He must be the first Grand Poobah.

All religions are a business first. Just follow the money

Next, he’ll have a private meeting with a woman to explain virgin birth.

It’s funny how often the all powerful, all knowing, all seeing deity is reliant on humans to do much of the work. Can create the universe, but can’t make cash. Can write the hearts of all humans, but needs humans to travel to other humans in other countries to say why the god they already have is wrong. Has a perfect plan for everything, but needs constant nagging from everyone on what he should be doing differently. And although “Republican Jesus” is a meme on how the religious “right” is wrong about their own religious figurehead, from what I see of America, it’s the punchlines who are the promoters.

You’re just figuring this out now?!

Those who are heads of their churches or just belong to them also are the ones who set the tax laws.

Crooks, Con-men and Shysters.

And remember, when “Religion” ruled the major governments of the world, they called it THE DARK AGES, and the Heffalumps want to bring them back!

Yep. God gets the good bits with the priests getting stuck with all those leftovers.

Had to be a pie-chart, din’ it!?!

Methinks he may be the next on the spit.

More like … How egocentric man (a self-centered person) might see himself as God and makes himself to be God.

A person who knows and follows the one true God (who is God-centered), while still imperfect and having selfish inclinations, will be (moving toward) serving God more, and serving and caring for others.

Religion or big business?

Actually, there is a lot of truth in that. Which, ironically, is when the lies started.

Which god – Ishtah? Apparently the bloke with the biggest spear could tell you anything. And get away with it. Doesn’t look like a particularly ‘organized’ religion to me!

Trump’s ancestor.

Sounds like the rich vs poor, the poor tend to be suckered into believing the bull propagated by con-artist. Three tRump followers self-destruct in PA; odds say tRump will not acknowledge them.

Well, how religion got severely distorted to serve the oligarchy in any case, much like the vast amount of all modern news, entertainment, and social media that strictly focus on extreme cultural agitation in one direction or another, rather than truly focusing on the gaps in the distribution of wealth and power in this world.

Healthy food on the tables, good education, social security, and freedom from war and genuine oppression for all families across this world is far more important than very aggressive personal persecution complexes and tribalism.

Shocking news. Jesus was a socialist.

Man made god in the image of man.

I like that he’s wearing the hat worn by members of the Loyal Order of the Water Buffaloes.

This comic could work for many things, politicians, business and other greedy people

In the Beginning, man created god, and in his image created he him.

Glad to see someone to tell the truth about religion, I have figured this out over 40 years ago!!!!

If one could time travel back a hundred years with an iPad and a solar charger, one could use a pre-loaded video to start one’s own religion. The video would show the bearer as the owner of the truth of that “miraculous device” and its message.

I thought it originated to answer the unknown.

I like to paraphrase Will Rogers, “I’m not a member of any organized religion; I’m Episcopalian.”

History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it. A quote from R. A. Heinlein that I agree with.

Not my religion.

The 1st church potluck.

There are religious people, and there are those who hate people with morals. No in-between.

The original first commandment?

In the vastness and billions of year of “God’s” universe, our 10k years of “civilization” are just a short blip on the screen. We’re close to being a failed experiment—industrialized lemmings just smart enough to build the cliff all around us. Now people are shocked that birth rates are going down? We need net zero population growth for a while until we can figure out how to stop destroying ourselves and our environment. I’m old, and no one will listen, but a lot of people know that “the truth is out there”. Soapbox mode off.

I take it you are not a Kardashian fan.

Religion and philosophy and science (which used to be called philosophy) are all products of man trying to explain his world. Early religions had gods responsible for natural phenomena. Man tried to find ways to appease and reward those gods and he also figured out ways to use those gods to excuse various human actions [mankind has never really been very good at accepting responsibility]. Wise men (or con men) figured out that if their group was going to survive, it needed to have some rules of behavior and they set up rules that kept the community going. It didn’t matter if there was a god or gods, man needed to have an authority to establish ways for people to get along. And it was easier to get people to believe in an invisible god than to believe and follow just another person.

Religion is the greatest scam ever invented by man.

Aw what a nice thought

Looks like a Moon Pie !!!

Looks like everyone is well fed in spite of the greedy guy.

Religion and gullibility…

Hey look! He also invented Pac Man!

For some reason, as a species, we have evolved to find it easier to trust in a particular person (or deity) rather than to apply critical thinking to our problems. We are “hard-wired” to be charisma-vulnerable. If we like a person, they can spout any number of contradictory and often dangerous ideas from which we subconsciously pick and choose those to believe.

I was the national co-chairman of an organization that ran a man with a bag over his head for President in 1976. This political parody campaign was an attempt to present the first charisma-free candidate. We all know how that ended (no second term, for instance). :)

Food, then all the gold.

Huh, should have killed the @##hole when they had he chance….

Best bit of Bible wisdom: “For the love of money is the root of all evil”—not some, but ALL evil. (1 Timothy 6:10) Shines a light on the GOP’s perpetual attempts to privatize all the wealth in the country.

Stirring the pot . . . again. Snore.

Yeah, right. God never, ever, said any such thing, if you take all the Bible or the Koran or the Hindu holy books or the teachings of Buddha as truth.

Man’s creation of deities solved some main issues. To explain what was unexplainable at that point in time of our history—“What’s that fire in the sky?” “Where did we come from?” and so on. Another was to extend parental control to an omnipotent being that constantly surveils over people that were headed toward or in adulthood ensuring their “goodness”. Another was to explain the question of what happens when we die such that they would not be fearful of dying for “The Cause”. And that whole construct seems both outdated and narcissistic to me. It does not say much about a person if they need to believe in a fictional prophet in order to live by the Golden Rule and to take it a step further and be charitable, as well.

Religion started by the con men. Government started by the thugs. Exactly the same purpose, POWER.

Nothing has changed much. It’s still all about power and control over others.

Easily arises the notion that what comes after “Religion was started by…..” qualify as prime examples of “Conspiracy Theory.”

Everybody knows the crusades were fought to get more pizza

went to sleep on the second line. sorry. cartoon words were just right.

Bigger, badder bodacious bully…

Proof for the reason church and state must be separate and not equal.

Proof that Church and State must be separate…and not equal.

The difference between a cult and a religion: In a cult there is a person at the top who knows it’s a scam, and in a religion that person is dead.

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.” — Seneca

More like government — a socialist one, too, since it’s distributing food.

Religion: the only communicable mental illness.