Abraham Lincoln said you can fool all of the people some of the time and and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time. After listening to the news and the political campaigns lately, I’m not sure that’s true anymore, but it’s interesting what people choose to believe. I actually know people that to this day believe the Moon landings were staged and never really happened.
Anyhow, some “beliefs” are hard to understand….
William Miller, a farmer in northern New York, founded a doomsday cult in the 1800s. His study of the Bible convinced him that humanity was due for damnation. He began preaching that message in the early 1830s. His first prediction was that Jesus Christ would “come again to the earth, cleanse, purify and take possession of the same” between March 1843 and March 1844. When a comet appeared early in 1843, a number of his followers killed themselves, believing the end was near. However, when his prophecy didn’t come to pass and the world survived, Miller stood by his message but became reluctant to set actual dates. Some of his followers took it upon themselves to announce October 23, 1844, as the big day, and Miller reluctantly agreed. The date came to be known as The Great Disappointment. Regardless, Miller and his followers established a basis on which the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was later founded.
In the early 19th century, John Cleves Symmes promoted the Hollow Earth Theory, which stated that the planet was actually several populated worlds nesting inside one another. Simmer’s ideas influenced Cyrus Teed, who developed Koreshan Unity, a religion based on the theory. For about 100 years, Koreshan Unity drew thousands of followers worldwide. The Hollow Earth Theory was revived during World War II, when some people theorized that the Nazis actually came from an underground civilization. More recently, Kevin and Matthew Taylor spent 12 years investigating the idea — they wrote a book about their findings, The Land of No Horizon.
Claude Vorilhon, a French race car driver and onetime musician, asserted that he was visited by an extraterrestrial in 1973. It was a life-altering experience for him that caused him to change his name to Rael and found the Raelian Church. Rael’s religion proclaims that the Elohim (“those who came from the sky”) created everything on Earth. Although many turn a skeptical eye toward Vorilhon, whose faith also preaches free love, the Raelian Movement is said to include as many as 65,000 members worldwide.
The Vampire Church has offices throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. However, don’t expect to find much about the “undead,” like vampires have been portrayed in stories for years. Instead, the church offers insight into vampirism as a physical condition that sometimes requires unusual energy resources, such as blood. In addition, it explains the difference between psychic vampires and elemental vampires.
The battle cry of the Church of Euthanasia is “Save the Planet — Kill Yourself.” The church was established by Bostonian Chris Korda in 1992. Korda, a musician, had a dream one night about an alien who warned her that Earth was in serious danger. The extraterrestrial, which Korda dubbed “The Being,” stressed the importance of protecting the planet’s environment through population control. As a result of the encounter, Korda established the Church of Euthanasia, which supports suicide, abortion, and sodomy (defined as any sex act that is not intended for procreation.) According to the church’s Web site, members are vegetarian, but they “support cannibalism for those who insist on eating flesh.” Although it reportedly has only about 100 members in the Boston area, the church claims that thousands worldwide have visited its Web site and been exposed to its message.
So — religion is a very personal thing. Faith is also a very personal experience, and by definition, it isn’t based on fact. I certainly can’t tell anyone what to believe, but what some people believe is pretty unbelievable — if you don’t believe me, watch the news…..
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