Will Religion Spontaneously Combust?

This is an intriguing, if not, morbidly horrifying phenomenon where a person, without any apparent reason, explodes and suddenly becomes a pile of ashes.

Scientists have now, of course, unlocked the great mystery of such horrific deaths, being the subjects of anecdotal accounts that date back centuries.

As it turns out, the victims are simply the results of accidental deaths. For example, an old lady, living alone falls asleep whilst smoking a cigarette which ignites her clothes. She passes out and the fire is enough to slowly burn her without catching onto the rest of the room. Body fat burns and produces so much heat as to eventually (24 hours or so) render the entire body to ashes. Quite often a pair of intact feet is found in the ashes.

Yet there are some people who will still believe that this is "spontaneous combustion" simply because they want to believe so, it sounds sensational and naturally, the story gets "modified" somewhat as it passes down the line.

Religion is a bit like this too. Somebody a few thousand years ago "reports" an amazing spiritual happening and, being in times when people lacked knowledge but were profoundly superstitious, the story spreads like wildfire. Eventually, we have a story about God and how he made everything and he spoke to someone and parted the seas in a puff of smoke, then he........etc. The story grows to the point where God is promising people an afterlife in paradise so long as you "believe" in him and incidentally attend a meeting place regularly to pay some money. All sounds warm and fuzzy of course, and people (usually those of a weak, impressionable disposition) want to believe it. Who doesn't have an ego?

But just like spontaneous combustion, of course, there is no such thing as a God who created us, it is merely a simple myth that has gone wildly out of control over time to the extent that the unscrupulous use it to their own advantage by taking money from and control of those who are naive and gullible.

So, through better education, better society attitudes, and availability of better knowledge, this bizarre belief will be gradually relegated to what it is really worth, no more than a pile of ashes.