Skeptics

INTRO - Thought Sequence - BIG Cults - Nonsense Test - Sports - Celebrity - Business - Religion - Stars - EXIT
JUdaISM - CATholicISM - PROtestants - Is-lam(b) ----- BuddhISM - ShintoISM - HinduISM - Superstition - Atheist

On this website I am making numerous claims in regards to religion and other ways of thought. Getting direct and to the point, I am saying that some / all of these 'systems' are a cult. To the true BeLiever, this is hard to accept. One wonders how this can be when perhaps everyone they know accepts the same thing and with the large amount of pomp and circumstance.  This page then may be useful in helping to understand the power of  large cults.
I have chosen two examples - Egypt and Greece

Definition of CULT (Dictionary)

1.      a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
4.      a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5.      Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6.      a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

American Heritage Dictionary

-- A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
-- The followers of such a religion or sect.
-- Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
-- The object of such devotion.

Memorable (small) Cult

I have lived in three USA States my whole life. Michigan, Washington, and California.(map)
When I first moved to Southern California in March 1997, a bizarre event occurred.

March 26, 1997 - Heaven's Gate cult in Rancho Santa Fe, California

Heaven's Gate (Time Magazine) /  Heaven's_Gate(cult) (Wiki)

I was wondering just what kind of place Southern California really was.
After all,  just two years earlier, before turning 21, on an early solo long distance trip - San Diego in 1995,  
this story was all the rage:

ABC News: Steve Hassan on Heaven's Gate

Hijacked National Guard Tank in San Diego

Shawn_Nelson (Wikipedia) - Google video link of rampage through the streets of San Diego area

What kind of place was Southern California?

What happens when a cult becomes BIG?

Egypt

WH Tour North Africa (World Heritage Tour)
Numerous Quicktime 360° views of sites in Egypt

All photos taken by Wayne in 2006.

Giza Pyramids - Cairo

Saqqara - Cairo, Egypt

Red Pyramid - Cairo

Luxor Temple - Luxor, Egypt

Deir Al Bahri
Luxor, Egypt

Painted relief in Deir Al-Bahri complex
Luxor, Egypt

Reliefs close up at Abydos.
I think of Abydos as the Sistine Chapel of Egypt

One of the chapels dedicated to the
main 7 gods in the Abydos temple.
Abydos, Egypt
Temple map (W)  / Abydos Area map (Nat'l Geographic)

More reliefs on one of the side walls
Abydos, Egypt 

Hypostyle hall (Lots of columns) - back wall is covered in reliefs and has entrances to various smaller chapels.
Abydos, Egypt

 Chiseled out relief in Temple of Hathor
Dendera, Egypt (near Qena)

Temple of Hathor side view
Dendera, Egypt (near Qena)

Temple of Edfu - Horus the Bird
Edfu, Egypt

What's the lesson from Egypt then?

Here we had a belief system that lasted for thousands of years. People believed in their gods (Pharoah ruler or otherwise) so fervently that they built these grand temples and monuments. And in the end - it was a LIE. No more Sobek the Crocodile, Horus the Bird, Osiris, Hathor, or countless other deities that I can't keep straight even after traveling there.  Egyptian_gods (Wiki)

Looking at the structures, we have the iconic pyramids, the massive temples - loaded with intricate artwork and elaborate burial practices. It's fun to explore and photograph as a tourist, but it was a LIE. The lesson then is that if all this time, money, effort, etc... could be made in support of a lie, then so could be said of every other belief system we have today. More specifically the major belief systems. For only those would be a more accurate comparison in scale. Oh, there could be nuggets of truth, just as in the Egyptian system, but in the end - just empty beLIEefs.

Pre-Christian Greece

January 21, 2007 - Modern Pagans honor Zeus in Athens (ABC News - USA)

Zeus (Wiki) /  January 7, 2007 - Pagans honor Zeus at Ancient Athens Temple (National Geographic)

Temple of Olympian Zeus (Sacred Destinations)  - Temple of Olympian Zeus (Athens)

The Greeks also had a pantheon of Gods. They had a plethora of temples too. I chose Greece because they were in the news recently as above and I traveled there recently. One of the temples was also one of the "seven ancient wonders" of the world (Like the Giza pyramids). The citizens of the  "Home of Democracy" believed in this system for a long time. And unless the resurgence you have read about above means that it is the truth, then it was a LIE too.

Myth Web - cool site on Greek Gods - Statue of Zeus at Olympia (Wiki)  - Statue of Zeus at Olympia (Seven Wonders)

God Checker - useful to keep some of the names straight!

Lesson: It doesn't matter how big or how much effort / money / time a
religious system of belief has undergone - it might be a LIE and/or CULT.
Is yours?