I just watched a thrilling lecture by the researcher Jordan Maxwell, and boy did it open my eyes.
He has essentially looked at historic symbols and it's usage over the course of humanity and shows how they have been melded and manipulated by religion and other forces of power.
I'll just try and summarize some of the stuff so you get an idea what he's about.
The bible mentions that Abrahams people picked Manna from the heavens in the morning. When they ate it they could talk to god. This was in fact nothing more than Magic Mushrooms.
This is why we have European kings, Islamic leaders, Catholic High Priests and plenty other religious leaders and powerfull men wearing mushroom shaped head pieces as the crown, turbans etc. They were the ones that talked to god.
Some of you may know that sun moves 1 degree on the sky each day of the year, making us go from summer to winter. Except for 3 days in December, 22-24, when it stands still. Ie. it's 'dead'. Then on the 25th it rises again marking that summer is coming, ie. it 'lives'. In the bible it says Jesus was dead for 3 days before he was ressurected. That's not a coincedence.
And you the Jews celebrating Easter, which is a play on words with the pre historical god Ishtar.
You have god and the devil, another play on the words good and evil.
You may have seen the nazi cross (not the swastika). It's a circle with a cross in it. That's an ancient symbol from Egypt depicting the worship of the sun and the cross depicting north, east, west and south. The divine god. You see this symbol being used by the nazis, islam, the pope and catholisism etc. This is also where the word N,E,W,S stem from. The happenings of the world.
You have the fasces symbol. A bundle of sticks wrapped around an axe. It symbolises the saying "where one is weak, together they are strong". This was used by the roman authority. It was adopted by Hitler and the nazis, Mussolini used it. Now you can see it in US House of Representatives and on US coins.
Imagine looking at a typical church from above, what does it remind you of? That's right, the male penis. It's the symbol of male power. It's not supposed to be a cross, it's a dick! That's where the cross comes from. This is also why you see spires all over the world. Christianity uses spires, Islam does, Judaism does and you might know of a huge spire in Washington DC. It's simply symbols of male power.
Then you have lucifer. It means venus, the day star. Symbolising that the day is coming (venus rises on the sky a few hours before the sun). That's again where the word and meaning of enlightenment comes from. Lucifer equals enlightenment. Now you may understand why the church has made us believe lucifer is bad and evil.
You have the ancient god of El. The master of wisdom and power. That's why you have elderly and elite.
Jahve, believed to be the name of god. It's not. Jahve stems from hebrew and means something like the release of the forces of nature. Something that builds up and releases itself. It's basically sex, the act.
I could go on, but I recommend you hear it from him. What he's basically saying is that all religions and beliefs on the world has it's basis in worship of the sun. Christianity, Judaism, Islam is all the same thing. Leaders and rulers have since day one adopted symbols and traditions so they can rule the people that belive in them. It's manipulation, nothing more.
Check it out here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8394844811105390386&q=maxwell