Utilizing Religion

    An interesting part of chapter 4 was the introduction of the character Richard Moss. The way Moss has constructed his own religion and belief system made me think about how Mr. Butler talked about religion in sophomore history class. He described it as an excuse essentially, or a way people could justify their actions or manipulate others into doing what their bidding. Historically, religion has been used as the reasoning behind many wars and many deaths, as well as swaying the hearts of the citizens, finessing them out of money in a lot of cases. Richard Moss on the other hand used religion to justify his relationship, one that we can reasonably infer is looked down upon. His reasoning is extremely old-fashioned, sexist, and reminds me of something an incel might say. I'm not too familiar with the Old Testament, but something I know (or at least something I think I know) about christianity is that lust is viewed as a sin. I think many christians would argue that a polygamous relationship such as the one Richard Moss is engaged in is an example of someone letting lust take over. On the other hand, I feel like I've heard mormons have polygamous relationships. It's peculiar to me that something as important and sacred to so many people as religion can be manipulated and crafted into so many forms each with a different set of values. Christianity has too many subsections for me to keep track of, and I think that's part of the reason I can't take any one section too seriously. Richard Moss essentially just mix and matched different parts from two different religions to create the optimal belief system to support his personal interest, and I think that's something very present, though less blatant, in the real world.