The Emperor Ain't Wearing No Clothes

When reviewing some of the great scams of all time, more recent examples that come to mind would be the Enron scandal, assorted dot com companies, as well as the 2000 Bush election. But we can't over look what is perhaps the biggest hoax of all time - organized religion. Playing on peoples ignorance and fear of the unknown - like the K.K.K. and The House Un-American Activities Committee did - religion continues to keep people under it's oppressive thumb. Yes, the "Big G-Man" no longer requires the sacrifice of vestal virgins to keep him happy, he just wants cash. Lots and lots of cash. He has provided us with a plethera of messengers to act as middle men and keep the message, as well as their bank accounts alive and well. Jimmy Swaggert, Oral Roberts, as well as Dallas' own "Grifter Of God," Robert Tilton, are only a few of the spiritual con men that come to mind, but there are plenty of others to go around. I can't quite decide which is worse - the message or the messengers, sort of like the chicken or the egg - all I know is that it is doing more harm to people's physical and mental well being than we could ever imagine.