I guess that's because nobody but me reads this shit. Well....it's a chance to get things off my firm, pert breasts, so I write anyway.
Christmas is on us once again, and once again we have all the religious crap to deal with. I'm currently going with a member of one particular little cult called "Happy Science" (in Oz at least - Kofugu no Kagaku in it's home country Japan) which makes most of them look positively sane!
The "Master" of this disparate group of boofheads is a middle-aged Japanese businessman who calls himself Ryohu Okawa; he began life as Takashi Nakagawa - here's the cached link with that information (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:guKlfpDHj7QJ:askjot.com/search/Happy-Science+Happy+Science+is+a+new+religious+and+spiritual+movement+founded+in+Japan+in+October+1986+by+Takashi+Nagawa,+now+known+as+%22Ryuho+Okawa%22.+...&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au); interestingly, the Wikipedia page about HS has since been edited to remove the name change - I wonder why? He was an uninspiring, largely unsuccessful and unnoticed salaryman until 1986 when he founded this religion; now, of course, thanks to the generous donations of his many believers, a highly effective advertising campaign and the tax exemptions he's allowed as a "religious leader", he's a fucking multi-millionaire!!
This guy is either deluded or a con-artist or both. He claims to be the manifestation on earth of the "real" creator God of this universe (don't they all?) known as "El Cantare"; he also claims to have previously lived on earth (don't they all?) as, among others, Confucius, Jesus, the Buddha and Muhammad - my, he HAS been a busy boy! He's managed to convince about 2 million Japanese (according to HS's own figures; who knows how accurate they are) and quite a few more around the globe, including a number in l'il' ol' Oz, that he is for real, despite the fact that his claims are either completely unprovable or demonstrably false.
Eg, he claims that the earth was visited and seeded by multiple alien species in its distant past (unprovable), that they killed off the dinosaurs (demonstrably false), that there have been numerous, highly technologically advanced civilisations on earth in the past (highly unlikely) most of which have been destroyed because they turned evil after his manifestation died/left them (which proves that, as a God, he's lousy at setting things up properly) by sinking into the ocean (demonstrably false). He's produced one laughable, live-action movie and a series of child-like anime's which purport to show this manufactured "history", with his various "manifestations" as the star turns in each. The religion is loosely based on Buddhism, which I think is what attracts most of its adherents, but is a reworking of it mixed with elements of Christianity, pantheism, animism, a range of other religious movements and a large dollop of bullshit New Age spiritualism; a nice, broad range of appeal to catch as many chickens as possible.
If anyone wants to read the kind of crap he delivers, this is the English version web-site (http://www.kofuku-no-kagaku.or.jp/en/index.html); I've heard that the English language version of the religion is watered down somewhat from the more hard-core, Japanese version, which makes claims that Japan is to be THE (note - not A) world leader in pretty much every respect and calls for, among other things, a 'first strike' military policy against North Korea; yeah!! there's a REAL pacifist re-incarnation of the Buddha for you!!!! This dick-wad clearly has NO IDEA AT ALL what that would do to the local power balance, not to mention the fact that China is hardly likely to sit on its hands while Japan takes this unilateral action!! Of course, it appeals greatly to the conservatives in the Japanese population, which is of course why he said it. They make up the bulk of his power-base there and he has a few high(ish) profile members from those factions.
He has made a stab at politics of late; I don't think he won a single seat in the last Japanese election, which goes to show that, if he is a God, he's a pretty minor one - there are plenty of completely mortal men who can swing votes any way they like, so this Okawa/Nakagawa dude is a clearly a dud as far "other-worldly powers" go. Of course, his claims are that "evil spirits" interfered to cause his woeful political showing, as they did to destabilise his marriage. That's right!! This douchebag's wife has up'd and left him for - get this - the second time!!! Maybe she's pissed off at not getting to be first lady. The BS he's spreading about this (to cover his arse, of course; how can a God make a lousy husband?) is that she was married to Lucifer in a former life - YES!!! HE REALLY CLAIMS THAT!!!! - and that Lucifer's spirit is influencing her to try to take over as leader of HS and to claim that she is the real re-incarnation of the Buddha!!! And some of his followers actually buy this!!!!!
Amazing, I know!!! I've been to the local "temple" once or twice and met some of the members; most of them seem like genuinely nice, reasonably intelligent people; the local "branch manager" (why he has this title as opposed to minister, I don't know - it's probably a tax dodge) is a nice enough guy and seems quite genuine. I just can't understand how anyone with an education of any kind could buy into this crap!!!! My boyfriend is reasonably intelligent; he's hot and I'm not about to end my relationship over this (as long as he doesn't try to get me to join - so far there's no pressure); but it just amazes me how gullible/desperate people can be to actually believe someone like this twat can be what he claims to be!! I've seen a couple of the movies he's produced and it was all I could do to not piss myself; while some of the members around me, even the men, were being reduced to teary eyes!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! - in every sense. I've also read part of his major tome (he's "written" about 500 books about all this) called "The Laws of the Sun"; I put it down after the last effort to wade my way through it as it is full of so much crap!!! I don't know how much more of it I can stomach, but the boyfriend doesn't seem to mind that I don't believe it as long as I let him do so. So far, it's caused no ructions, so I'm happy (non-science) to let it ride for now.
Let's see what the future brings; unlike Nagawa/Okawa, I don't lay claim to being able to predict the future - even though he covers his arse by saying that his "predictions" can get changed because of "evil spirits" or if enough people become his followers or whatever other BS reason his followers will believe (clever son-of-a-bitch, isn't he?). I'll be interested to see just how long this douche-bag lasts.
Happy Holidays.