Religion - News, Updates, Images & Quotes

All the orthodox systems committed a fatal error at the outset in assuming that their religions were derived directly from God, and consequently must be perfect and unalterable, and a finality in moral and religious progress. Such an assumption will cause the downfall, sooner or later, of any religious body which persists in propagating the error. Religious institutions, like all other institutions, are subject to the laws of growth and decay.

— Kersey Graves; Bible of Bibles (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

The Servants of Truth know from experience how few friends are won, if and when they should endeavor to expose the dirty little secrets of religion's upper echelons.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 2 view

If we could understand where religion <em>really</em> came from, maybe then we could change, or start to change, our conceptions and rules of observance. Maybe then will we succeed, or start to succeed, in finding out who and what the true God is.

— Jordan Maxwell; Symbols, Sex and the Stars view

For some inexplicable reason, however, religion has ever regarded intellectualism--in fact every form of knowledge--as fatal to man's spiritual growth.

— Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages view

The religious world of today is almost totally ignorant of the fact that the science of biology is the fountainhead of its doctrines and tenets.

— Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages view

From a consideration of this system, it is readily understood why certain religious symbols were adopted during different ages of the earth's history; for during the 2,160 years the sun was in the constellation of Taurus, it is said that the Solar Deity assumed the body of Apis, and the Bull became sacred to Osiris. (For details concerning the astrological ages as related to Biblical symbolism, see The Message of the Stars by Max and Augusta Foss Heindel.) During the Aryan Age the Lamb was held sacred and the priests were called shepherds. Sheep and goats were sacrificed upon the altars, and a scapegoat was appointed to bear the sins of Israel.

— Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages view

Nearly every religion of the world shows traces of astrological influence. The Old Testament of the Jews, its writings overshadowed by Egyptian culture, is a mass of astrological and astronomical allegories. Nearly all the mythology of Greece and Rome may be traced in star groups. Some writers are of the opinion that the original twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet were derived from groups of stars, and that the starry handwriting on the wall of the heavens referred to words spelt out, with fixed stars for consonants, and the planets, or luminaries, for vowels. These, coming into ever-different combinations, spelt words which, when properly read, foretold future events.

— Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages view

Charles Francois Dupuis, in his Origin of Worship, one of the most elaborate and remarkable works on mythology ever penned, shows that nearly all the religions of the world, including Christianity, were derived largely from solar worship

— John E. Remsberg; The Christ (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

A comparison of all the religions of the world, in which none can claim a privileged position, will no doubt seem to many dangerous and reprehensible...But this I will say, that, as far as my humble judgment goes, it does not entail the loss of anything that is essential to true religion, and that, if we strike the balance honestly, the gain is immeasurably greater than the loss...All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe; and he who keeps back the truth, or withholds it from men...is either a coward or a criminal, or both

— Max Muller; The Science of Religion (quoted by Michael Tsarion) view

Certainly, we are not in opposition to religion as it is practiced by the sincere independent devotee. We do not seek to intrude into that space reserved for private worship. But we do stand opposed to the <em>institutions</em> that have inserted themselves and their mythology between the individual and his creator.

— Michael Tsarion; The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume 1 view

Inner strength is the only defense that most persons have against social injustices. A dynamic faith in God's power and his ever-present help in time of trouble is our first line of defense against war, crime, poverty, and intolerance. All the religions of the world are dedicated to honor and integrity. Those who oppose religion or try to discredit it are false to the very life within themselves. Idealism reveals the divine destiny which we were created to fulfill.

— Manly P Hall; The Bible, the Story of a Book view

The prevalent delusion seems to be that a religiously-oriented person is at a disadvantage in an intensely capitalistic society. Honesty has no recommendation these days, sincerity is not respected by one's own family, and fidelity inhibits the gratification of physical pleasures.

— Manly P Hall; The Bible, the Story of a Book view

One of the things that makes a religion successful is if it <em>works in the world</em>, that is to say if it brings material benefits.

— Mark Booth; The Secret History of the World view

Consider how amazing it is that religion, which cannot be falsified, is at an all time low in popularity and yet socialism, which has failed repeatedly and can logically be proven incorrect, is stronger than ever before.

— Guerilla view

The greatest art in all the world is the art of being natural, for that which is natural shall survive. For ages religion has been founded upon a false hypothesis. It has sought to fill the world with miracles and unnatural things. It has sought to dictate and dogmatize. For this reason it is failing.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples view

Religion is the outgrowth of many ages of spiritual hunger, when the soul of the primitive man, finding itself insufficient, turned in awe to the immensity of Nature, in whose endless pageantry it saw a power far greater than itself. The savage turned to the winds and found in them something superior to himself. He trembled in fear at the voice of the thunder; fell prostrate in terror as great storms swept through the primitive world and volcanic craters belched forth red-hot stones and ashes. He offered sacrifice tot he gods of the air that they should spare him; he cried from the tops of the mountains and offered incense to the stars. He could not find God anywhere, so offered sacrifice to Him everywhere. He saw his crops burn for lack of water, his children sicken about him. His hopes were dashed to the ground by an unknown, unnamed thing which, though he could not understand, was the determining factor in every thought and action of his life. This was undoubtedly the origin of religion as man knows it. We remember the words of Pope: "Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind."

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples view

Among the so-called students of truth we see the fruitage of the delusions from which the world suffers. Sickly, nervous, no longer capable of solving their own problems, they sit around treating each other, waiting like spiritual Micawbers for something to turn up. These people were once useful, intelligent members of their community, but they are now so involved in mental absurdities that they are useless both to themselves and to society in general. Most of all, they are like gaunt scarecrows who frighten others from the paths of wisdom.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples view

The human race has never desired that which was best for it, but like a child it reaches out its hands and cries for the moon. Today the race does not know what is good for it, and individuals, instead of seeking to unfold their constitutions symmetrically, have gone mad over a system of philosophical hocus-pocus which promises something for nothing and exchanges divine wisdom for a moderate fee.

— Manly P Hall; What the Ancient Wisdom Expects of Its Disciples view

The theme or obsession of the religious forces seems to be a revival of the past, when the world was ruled by religion, a return to the garden control, which would bring paradise on earth. The strength of the movement lies in the fact that it was at one time accomplished when Druidism held worldwide rulership and the Axe was the symbol of power. Mankind was docile and full of fear and could be controlled and pastured out. All the nations of Europe and Asia Minor were settled by migrations led by gods, in the manner that Jehovah led Israel.

— Henry Binkley Stein; The Axe Was God view

Imparted to other individuals and accepted by them, the metaphysical thought of a few great minds has become the basis of religious systems. Upon its teaching was grafted a Ritual or Law, disciplining the life, mystic, moral, social and even physical, of its adherents or believers. From the exercise of such laws, theocracy or the rule of priesthood was evolved. It is to be found in every religion regardless of the fact that in some instances like in the Buddhist doctrine of Gautama and in the teaching of Jesus Christ, nothing is further removed than ritualism from the metaphysical thought or religious conception of the founders.

The power of theocrasy or exercise of government rule over the masses by a hierarchy of priests or adepts rested on its dual system of teaching, namely : Exoterism and Esoterism, the former a code of discipline of the thought and mode of life of the masses, the latter the hierarchic school wherein were trained the chosen adepts destined to safeguard the rules imposed upon the people by the high priests.

Upon a close study of the manifold religious systems, the corruption of which led to theocratic rule, namely, Brahminism, the Ancient Egyptian Cult, Mosaism or Judaism, Christianism and Mahometanism, one finds the accepted belief of Monotheism as the basis of esoteric or secret belief or doctrine. Monotheism is here taken in the sense of First Principle.

Whereas the Egyptian high priesthood of Memphis kept this theory as the esoteric teaching of the high adepts, Moses, brought up as one of them, gave it as exoteric or popular belief to the Israelitic sect to which he belonged, embodying it in a deity, the terrible Jehovah of the Jews.

Another side of the esoteric teaching was that of occultism, the development of all human psychic forces which, when misused, lead to the practice of magic. The esoteric part of all religions or hermeticism, the teaching and practice of occultism, led to the development of what might be termed the religion of the secret, which eventually overshadowed and helped to dissimulate subversive activities.

— Lady Queensborough; Occult Theocrasy view