Religion in the Third Galaxy and the Terrible Times

The more I do research into the 21st Edition of the Absolute Truth and what transpired in the Third Galaxy up to the time up just before the fortuitous intervention by the Alien Veggies, the more it strikes me that one of truly tragic developments on that poor world was how religion was abused in ways which helped bring about the Terrible Times.

Although no religion, except perhaps Buddyism, can be said to have been free of such taint, in is especially true of the three "single-tater" religions, the Peelers, the Mashers and of course the Strugs.

With the Peelers and Mashers, one could almost suspect that they had been in competition with each other to show who could be most cruel and bloodthirsty in torture, murder and massacre of each other as well as members of their own faith who stressed the creed in a slightly different way.

As you know, the Strugs were persecuted by the Mashers and the Peelers -- mostly they felt the anger of the Peelers who held the Strugs responsible for the Peeling of the Holy Idaho.

However, after the War to Make the World Safe For Whatever, helped by a fluke of history and the bad conscience of the Peelers, the Strugs formed a new nation. Unfortunately, their new country was smack dab in the middle of Holy California. For some reason, the people who had been living there for nearly two thousand years felt that they had a right to live there and were somewhat disgruntled having to flee to refugee camps. That most of these people were Mashers did not make matters better.

Being only human, the Strugs did exactly what had been done to them over the centuries and millennia -- they persecuted the Mashers, grabbed their land, took the water rights and herded them into crowded ghettos. Many of them felt that it was only proper because, according to the Book of the Great Potato, the Spud had given Holy California to Broken Wingh and furthermore had told Foundling to lead the Strugs to this Promised Land and make sure that they ethnic cleansed it.

Unfortunately, the Book of the Great Potato also told that the people who believed in the Masher and his Reading of the Eternal Book were also descendants of Broken Wingh -- therefore, one could very well have different opinions as to whom the Book of the Great Potato provided a land deed to Holy California. Not only did they have different opinions they carried out their discussions with wars, bombs and terror from all sides.

The Peelers, on the other hand, were now rooting for the Strugs. This was partly because of their bad conscience at having tried with such great success to exterminate the Strugs. More pertinent was their strange belief of the Peelers that, before the Holy Idaho could return to earth and establish his Kingdom in the Great Colander in the Sky, the Strugs would have to reclaim all the land which had been promised them by the Great Potato. Then, there would be a great series of wars and all the Strugs would be killed except for a few hundred thousand who had accepted the Holy Idaho as their personal Spud and Savior.

When you consider that the Mashers as well had similar ideas where it was they who would come out on top when the Masher returned, you can well understand how it was that some very heavy shit was bound to come down the tube. Even if Rexona had not become Supreme Hole of Arrogance things would have surely gone from bad to worse.