" God Wills It!"

I was recently asked, in the pejorative way that Christians who clearly have never read their 'Bible' because their faith is strong do, have I read the Bible because if I did I would see the 'wrong' in my atheism and come back to the Christian light and flock (or maybe it was the Christian right - my hearing is not what it used to be).

I told this protelising and self righteous berk the truth. I have indeed read the testaments, studied them, intellectually dissected, philosophised over them with the help of  learned commentaries and theologian tutors while preparing to be a Methodist Lay Preacher. The problem is the more I learned, the more I understood the New Testament is made up from a number of preceding belief structures, including Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, under pinned by Jewish uni-theism with a wee bit of fertility goddess worship (Maryism) thrown in.

Christianity was a religion designed over a number of conferences in the 5th Century, rendered down to fit in with Roman Law and social norms in order to become the 'State' religion by creating a  stronger 'social glue' to hold the increasingly disparate elements of the Roman Empire together - as the cult of 'Emperor God' no longer cut the mustard. It was probably at this time of fixing Christianity to one single story, the line, 'Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.' surreptitiously found its way in to the agreed spin amongst other accommodations to keep the Emperor on side.

The ironic thing is it is the ultimate schism between Orthodox and Roman Christianity which was key to splitting the Roman Empire between Byzantium and Rome. Leading quickly to the Western Empire's collapse.

The Old Testament reads like a 'Ripping Yarn' with its tales of  genocide, adultery, rape, violence, begetting, conquest, destruction and exile. In fact the Old Testament reads like a Better Together campaign leaflet with its underlying threats of doom, eternal exile and isolation in the wilderness.

So, yes, I have read the bible, both testaments, from cover to cover and it was this study which made clear in my mind 'God' does not exist except as a tool used by the powerful, rich and privileged (and sometimes barking mad) to get their own way by controlling and manipulating the masses through fear and ignorance.

Interestingly this realisation of how 'God' was used to manipulate poor, uneducated and weak humans by rich and power hungry humans was part of the Buddha's process of enlightenment. This is why Buddhism's central philosophical context is the need for raised self awareness and accepting personal responsibility for your own action or inaction and the impact on others known and unknown. 'God wills it' does not cut the mustard within Buddhist philosophy. People do things and then credit / blame their 'God' with the idea or as the source of inspiration, after the fact, in self justification.

Liz is head of the Church of England not because 'God Wills it' but because a distantly related ancestor wanted out of a 'failed' marriage. The only way he could make it happen was to invent his own church of which he was boss and then could decide what this church now 'believed in', how it was going to work and what 'God' was going to will. The 'sanctity of marriage' was the first thing Henry's 'God' changed his mind about, then there was all this nonsense to do with monks Henry's 'God 'now had no truck with as for the monastic riches which were no longer 'God's' ... 'Render unto Caesar!'

Liz is not Queen of England because 'she is God's anointed' but because politicians and the rest of the British Establishment find her useful when they can not find a squirrel with which to deflect the public's attention from impending disasters (such as the latest boom and bust mortgage bubble Mk2) created by the self same British Establishment - as in, 'Look - Liz has a new coach to ride to Parliament in, isn't it pretty'.

As for September the 18th?

The result of the referendum will be what the people of Scotland choose either by voting or choosing not to exercise their vote. The choice is between whether to be manipulated like 'sheeple' into keeping the status quo through the traditional threats of God's /  British Establishment's judgement, emotional blackmail and unthinking, forelock tugging obedience to our 'Betters Together' or take personal responsibility for our own future as a nation, re-write our own future narrative by our own hand and not just taking what we are given, creating a civic nation which best meets all our needs in and aspirations for Scotland; not simply the needs of the rich and privileged in London and the SE.

The difference will be made by giving enough people access to all the information, both good and bad, on the potential impact of independence, let them decide for themselves from an informed position rather than relying, as Better Together do, on the old politics of "God Wills it!"