” …dominant religions steal broad human values and pretend they invented them.”
-From the Ars Holistica
The Walt Disney Company does not own the story of Snow White. The Walt Disney Company does not own the Little Mermaid, or Sleeping Beauty, or The Princess and the Frog, or Beauty and the Beast, or Pinnochio. But despite this, children around the world see the Disney versions as the proper and legitimate versions of these stories. Children view non Disney versions of fairy tales as off brand rubbish.
Think about that. A single company has obtained de facto ownership of public domain stories that form a part of our cultural heritage. And religion does the same thing with morality, as though Christianity invented the idea of not stealing. Nobody knew that it was wrong to murder before Moses came down the mountain apparently. Which is odd, but the Israelites forgot that it was wrong to murder when, one chapter later, they arrived in the land God had promised and killed the people who had the gall to actually be already living there.
And this is what these large parasites do. They steal ownership often our common heritage and use it to claim power over others.
“Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”
-From Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
Professor Harbinger's School for Villains 