How to create a religion

If you want to create a religion, you'd better count of rich men and politics' support. In order to create a really successful religion, there are some tips you should keep in mind:

- First and the second most important tip: promise something awesome to your followers. Afterlife, Reencarnation, Aliens that'll make them immortals, a paradise of sex... etc. But even most important, don't let them prove that you are lying. Promises after death usually work great because nobody can complain.

- Total obedience of your followers. You can warm them about terrible consequences if they don't obey your rules: an eternity of suffering tends to work.

- Be against birth control: remember that every good religion needs lot of followers. The most you have, the most money they give to you. There are 2 basic ways to gain followers: converting them by pray and making your followers procreate (children usually get parent's religion). Homosexuality must be also avoided in your religion: they can't produce more followers.

- Make believers work hard. Working has to be a must for them. You can say them that it is a sin they have to purge or whatever excuse you invent. If you make your followers good workers, rich people will support you.

- Make believers conformist. Just like lambs. Promise them that all the suffering will be rewarded after death, that usually works. Politicians will support you if you use this tip.

- Last and MOST important tip: make your followers ignorant. Otherwise they could discover your fraud. Keep your followers far from universities and libraries. Make them think that science is a creation of an evil nemesis.

The rest of your religion is basically marketing:
- Create a good symbol. Nothing really complex: simple symbols use to work better (you must create something that your brainless followers can easily remember).
- Make a revengeful and kickass main deity. Someone really charismatic and awesome that everybody would like to be.
- Think a good story for your deities, with lot of action, explosions and impossible facts. The most incredible it is, the most the people will believe.
- Finally, make your religion attractive. Against any reason, setting rules difficult to follow tends to like to followers: the most sacrifices they have to do, the most they'll love your religion. Don't ask me why.

.......

After reading all this, you could think that I'm against religions. But I'm not.
I think that religions can be good for the people: good religions are moral guides and make people generous and kind (mainly with people of the same religion). I envy the people with faith, not worried about a meaningless existence or a black courtain after death.

Anyway, I'm atheisc, but I admit that I can be wrong. After all, I'm just a person and I don't know all the truth. Thus, God could exist.
(But could any fanatical believer accept that he could be wrong?)



So, I'm not against religion, I'm against manipulation using religion.