Religion as Obsession with Personal Life

In communist China one punishment for dissidents was to write your own biography. They forced them to write their personal lives down on paper. I have often thought about this being religious in a sense. Religions also focus on your personal life. It could well be a church wanting to invade your biography. If they can pick you out of a crowd with a bio, then you feel the spotlight on you. Its a way to make you myopic, paranoid. The NSA also has a function online with invading facebook profiles.

The way to control people is through their individual biographies, the consumer profiles of their fleeting lives before they join the abyss of nothingness, the way a cat might toy with a chipmunk.

michijo said:

The way to control people is through their individual biographies, the consumer profiles of their fleeting lives before they join the abyss of nothingness, the way a cat might toy with a chipmunk.

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I really don't see religion as "controlling people", especially via their biographies. I think that religion in general offers something that fills a personal need in the lives of many people, but they are free to come and go as they choose. Church can be a good social outlet for them as well, and sure as hell beats hanging out in bars, as a rule.

Ummm so... how do you go from comparing Communist Fascist China to religion?? Trying to see where you are coming from.