The Christian Pitch
Christians pitch their religion to two audiences:
- To abject suckers who can be fleeced of 10% of their lifetime income.
- To the general public. The idea is to threaten them with eternal torture, destruction of the world etc. The superstitious public perceives these threats as quite remote, but not impossible. Since Yahweh is such a sadistic crazy bastard, they think it might be prudent to placate Yahweh and kill or be nasty to gays, treat single cells as if they were newborns etc. This way Christians extend their influence beyond believers.
Threats and extortion are not normally considered legitimate tools of persuasion, but the church has bamboozled nearly everyone into thinking what they do is legal. This is the same technique ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) uses, except they carry through with their threats.
~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)