You have noticed? Scoundrels are often very inclined to show a religious side.
We learned a few days ago that Donald Trump was selling Bibles to finance his electoral campaign and to attract the votes of religious voters. The terrorists who carried out the recent attack in Moscow kill in the name of Allah. Indians who beat up Muslims and Christians do so in the name of Rama. Priests who attack women and children claim to be doing the will of God.
It’s crazy how the gods can serve as a pretext for a plethora of individuals who find happiness in controlling others. Eat this, don’t eat that, say this, don’t say that, make fun of this, don’t make fun of that, fuck like this and not like that.
The list of injunctions is long. Their goal is always the same: to take control of individuals and, above all, to encourage them to pay money to religious leaders. In exchange for a place in heaven, that goes without saying.
One day, I told a Buddhist monk that the Buddha did not exist. “Of course it doesn’t exist,” he replied. But how do you expect us to eat if we tell people that?” He belonged to a branch of Buddhism that views the religion more as a philosophy than anything else.
Atheist Trump
Coming back to Trump, it is clear that the man is not religious. If it turns out, he is even an atheist. But never mind, the religious authorities who support him bring up all kinds of excuses to justify their choice. He would be an unbeliever, but also an instrument of God to establish his will on Earth.
Big deal. This kind of antics should elicit guffaws from any sane person. But devotees are hard to convince.
The Tartuffe
Molière understood this well in a famous scene from Tartuffe. Tartuffe, a model of religious fervor, holds under his influence a man whose wife he covets. The wife warns her husband, who does not want to hear anything, that Tartuffe is trying to sexually assault him. She invites her husband to hide under a table while, at the same time, she has a conversation with Tartuffe. Her husband must come out when the situation becomes untenable for her. She will knock on the table to warn him.
What’s going on, do you think? No matter how much she bangs on the table, the husband doesn’t come out. Because he doesn’t want to hear anything. Even if Tartuffe’s advances are obvious. It was only after several attempts at aggression that he finally came out from under the table.
Molière performed in 1669 The Tartuffe for the first time in Versailles. The piece has lost none of its topicality.
As long as people are happy to believe in and submit to religious dictates, there will be others to fuel their beliefs and control their lives. Unfortunately, in the United States, the bigots have become numerous enough to undermine democracy.