Lies / Sacred Falsehoods / Sacred Lies

The Invention of Religion

In the Spirit of the Gracious and Compassionate
Creator of the Heavens and the Earth

Most human beings are living on a diet of lies, sacred falsehoods, and sacred lies.

The history of the Nation of Islam — Elijah Muhammad’s organization from 1933 to 1975, inherited by his son W.D. Mohammed in 1975, dissolved in 1985 but continuing to live on in independent mosques throughout the U.S. — this history is instructive.

A man known variously as Fard Muhammad, W.D. Fard, and Master Fard lied. (“Fard” is pronounced “fa-RAAD”.) He invented a complex body of ideas, which he knew to be untrue, and taught them to a large following of people in Detroit. Elijah Poole was one of them, and under the name Elijah Muhammad he became the leader of the community of people who regarded Fard as “Allah in person”. I am convinced that, while Fard knew he had invented a pack of lies, Elijah Muhammad sincerely believed them and taught them to his followers for 40 years. This is what I refer to as “Sacred Falsehoods” — a body of lies sincerely believed, but false nonetheless.

I started to come under the influence of Elijah Muhammad’s teachings in August 1971 and eventually joined his organization in March 1974. I am deeply embarrassed to admit that, for more than a year, I actually believed what Elijah Muhammad was teaching. After several months, I had begun to feel as though I was bending my mind out of shape trying to believe that Master Fard was “Allah in person”. I was greatly relieved when Elijah Muhammad’s son, chosen on February 25, 1975, to succeed his father as leader of the Nation of Islam, began to point out that most of what his father had taught was not true.

Many years later, I came to the realization that the vast majority of the men and women in the Nation of Islam — at least since the 1950s — did not believe and had never believed what Elijah Muhammad was teaching. They had joined the NOI for the promise of “money, good homes, and friendship in all walks of life” which Elijah Muhammad held out to them. C. Eric Lincoln, in his book The Black Muslims in America, said that they had “middle-class aspirations”. In other words, while claiming to follow a man who said that America would be destroyed — its atmosphere set on fire, and burnt to a crisp for over 300 years (originally predicted to happen in 1968) — they aspired to live a comfortable and respectable middle-class American life. All the while, it was sacred to them to mouth the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, which they did not believe. I call this “Sacred Lies”.

The community of people who claim to follow W.D. Mohammed are engaged in the same process. They claim to believe in Allah — and that Fard is not and never was “Allah in person” — and to be following Prophet Muhammad, who lived in Arabia 14 centuries ago, and to believe that the Qur’an is the message of Allah (in Arabic and untranslatable) left to us by Prophet Muhammad. But their everyday policies and actions have not changed from what many still call “the First Resurrection” — the years of following (supposedly) the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. They want “money, good homes, and friendship in all walks of life”. They do not learn to read the Qur’an, because they do not see the Qur’an bringing these things. And they apparently believe that the Qur’an is a book similar to the Bible, which, historically, was produced by the communities of Jews and Christians who hold it sacred. The community of those who claim to follow W.D. Mohammed are still engaged in “Sacred Lies”.

Two thousand years ago, a man was convinced that the son of Mary — the one that Christians call “Jesus Christ” — was not the Messiah but an impostor. This man was a leader among the Jews, and he mercilessly persecuted the followers of Jesus. On a journey to Damascus, he had a conversion experience. Christians are convinced that he heard Christ call to him from heaven and that he had a change of heart. No longer a persecutor of Christians, he became the greatest leader of Christians.

I am convinced that this man — known to Christians as “St. Paul” — never had a change of heart, never heard from Christ in heaven, and never stopped believing that Jesus was a false messiah. Paul — also known by his Jewish name, Saul — had a change of strategy, not a change of heart. In order to save his Jewish people from this false messiah, he co-opted the leadership, created a body of false doctrines which he attributed to Jesus Christ and which would be completely unacceptable to Jews, and led Jesus’ entire movement away from the Jews. He knew what he was teaching was not true, that he was not hearing Jesus’ voice from heaven, and that neither Jesus nor any other man was God incarnate, God in the flesh. These were lies. For numerous people — mostly ignorant pagan people, “gentiles” — these teachings became “Sacred Falsehoods”, doctrines which were not true but which they sincerely believed.

In the centuries since then, millions of Christians have claimed to believe the Pauline doctrines. It is possible that most Christians sincerely believe them. But it is also the case that many Christians — at least millions, or hundreds of millions — are lying. For them, Christian doctrines are “Sacred Lies”. It is sacred to say them, but they do not actually believe what they say.

This fraudulence is done under the cover of “religion” — which allows people to say ridiculous things without being seriously challenged by any intellectual questions about their veracity. In the meantime, we live — on a moment-to-moment day-to-day basis — in a world where the benefits of scientific thought and the consequent technological benefits are all-encompassing. Scientific thought requires that every idea be subjected to rigorous intellectual questioning. So, we divide “science” from “religion” and live in a state of constant mental schizosis, without recognizing this as a mental disorder.

Things are either true, or they are not true. The world is not flat for some people and round for others. God does not have a son for some people and not have a son for others. (And God does not exist for some people, and not exist for others.) People who are not mentally disordered want to know what is true. Is the world flat or round?

Does God exist? Does he have a son? People are basing their entire lives on what they believe — or claim to believe — are the answers to these questions. These are issues of consequence.

You may ask the same questions of the Qur’an and of Muhammad. If God (Allah) does not exist, then — obviously— the Qur’an cannot be what it claims to be, a message from Allah. If we are convinced that God (Allah) exists and sends us messages, is the Qur’an such a message, and is Muhammad a messenger? These are serious questions, which we need to discuss intelligently and honestly. The challenge to engage in such a discussion is in the words of the Qur’an itself, but in the 14 centuries since the Qur’an has come into the world, no such discussion seems to have taken place. Both Christians and Muslims — so anxious to engage in physical combat — are responsible for this.

I am personally willing and anxious to engage in such a discussion — an honest and intelligent public discussion.

Just name a place and time.

26 Safar 1437 / 28 Jumaad-al-Awwal 1438 / 16 Muharram 1444 (minor edits)
December 8, 2015 / February 25, 2017 / August 14, 2022 (minor edits)