deception on all sides

DECEPTION ON ALL SIDES they are doing something entirely different. They may be pursuing a policy of personal advancement and selfaggrandizement, but they use slogans that make it appear as though—far from serving themselves—they are only out to serve others. They make out that their actions are for their nation’s good, whereas they are the sole beneficiaries of their policies. Everyone twists words to his advantage, making the cruelty and injustice he inflicts on others appear like justice and humanism. Those with the law on their side have a license to act as they please: if the law sanctions their misdemeanours, no one can say that what they are doing is wrong. This is the way with people of the world. as for people who call themselves religious, the course that they follow is not very different. They have attached the label “religion” to a few lifeless dogmas; they have assigned the highest rewards to some mechanical rites and ceremonies; they make ritualistic religion appear like real religion; they give themselves credit for practising religion, whereas in fact, what they are practising is religion made by man, not the religion revealed by God. The “God” that they have invented for themselves is one that they do not need to fear. They have appointed for themselves a prophet who will intercede for them and save them from damnation, no matter how they act on earth. The afterlife they claim to believe in is where heaven is for them, and hell is for others. When they pray, they are a picture of humility, but their prayer does not prevent them from being