Do Pastors Dream Of Nazi Sheep?

(with apologies to Philip K. Dick and his novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep." on which the movie "Bladerunner" is based)

In Philip K. Dick's book, those who couldn't afford a real sheep could have an artifical one made for them. These electric sheep though for all intents and purposes looked and behaved like real sheep, could never be real. The Rosen corporation or the Tyrell Corporation in the movie also made androids. These androids called replicants make us question what it is to be human. For though they looked and behaved like real people, unlike real people, the replicants could never think for themselves. They were programmed to serve their masters. They were programmed to be led as sheep are led to the slaughter.

Does listening to a christian fundamental church service remind you of a Nuremberg Rally? Does listening to islamic fundamentalists also remind you of a Nuremberg Rally? If you answered yes to one of the questions the chances are you recognise the power of religious persuasion. If you answered yes to both of the questions, you just might be an atheist or at least a skeptic.

Religions like to programme/control their followers, or for want of a better descriptor, their sheep. The more fundamental the religion or belief, the more desire there is for absolute control. How do religions control people? A variety of psychological methods are used. This is a short list of some of the more obvious.

• They control through generating fear.
• They control through manufacturing guilt.
• They control through the promise of rewards.
• They control by creating a sense of elitism in their followers. (eg. Ours is the only "true religion." etc)

Fundamentalists excel at using these tactics in order to control their followers, but who is a fundamentalist?

FUNDAMENTALISM:~

• A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.
• An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in opposition to Protestant Liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture.

So a religious fundamentalist opposes secularism. He/she opposes protestant liberalism and insists on the infallibility of scripture. Religious fundamentalists whether they be christian, muslim or hindu all oppose secularism and liberal religiousity and have a preference for theocracy. Religious fundamentalists parallel the tactics of those used by the nazi ideology. So how do religious fundamentalists act like nazis?

• The nazis glorified the state. The individual was to be totally subordinate to the state. Religious fundamentalists glorify the state and subordinate their individuality to the state or the church. In many cases the state and the church are as one.
• The nazis supported aggressive militarism. Religious fundamentalists also condone violence and militarism in order to spread their religious beliefs.
• The nazis were elitist. Hitler was idolised as a hero or a "superman." The nazis believed in Führerprinzip or the Leader Principle. That is an adoration of the leader or the belief in the infallibility of the leader and what the leader stands for. Religious fundamentalists worship and idolise their religious leaders.
• The nazis were racist. They believed in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races. The fundamentalist ideology of the Ku Klux Klan is also an example. Religious fundamentalists, though they cannot always be considered explicitly racist, do exemplify the same fervour for "culture". That is, the belief in the supremacy of culture, and or the superiority of blood.
• The nazis believed in "Blut und Boden" or the defence of blood and soil. This defence could be in the form of pre-emptive military attacks. Religious fundamentalists have a long history of religious wars. The word crusade means literally a "holy war" as does the word jihad. (You say "potato" and I say "potarto"; you say "jihad" and I say "crusade".)

So, are you a follower or a freethinker? Are you a religious fundamentalist or secularist? Are you are willing to subordinate individuality and freedom of thought to either a political party or a fundamentalist religion? If you answer in the affirmative, I have a nice woolly jumper with a swastika on it waiting for you and a cool new hand signal with which to greet your fellow sheep. Check out the "sheeples" in the link below, you might find your face staring back at you from one of the cartoons.

LINKS:~

• The Sheeples
• Propaganda
• How People Became Sheeple
• Urban Dictionary