Opus Dei

Religion is a many headed beast, like the Hydra.

There is no end to the varieties of bizarreness religion can offer up.

Opus Dei is an organization, a lay organization, founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer. The published goal of Opus Dei is to "spread throughout society a profound awareness of the universal call to holiness and apostolate through one's professional work carried out with freedom and professional responsibility."

Sounds innocent enough, at least within the framework of predictable religious intent.

In the real world, the intentions sound a bit grandiose and pretentious, exhibiting the typical assumption that this organization has all the answers and everyone else must be educated.

That is not unusual when you filter religious dogma through the lens of rationality.

The intent was to achieve spirituality through everyday life, to make religion a lay person's experience rather than experiencing it through priests and holy leaders.

Opus Dei "recruits" young people initially by offering them a way of life, a place to go. They organize activities, classes, and trips that are interesting to the young and spark their curiosity.

The organization focuses only on attractive people, intelligent people, charismatic people.

Once a person shows an interest, the real recruitment begins. A "friend" is assigned to them who coaches them and gently nudges them towards becoming a member. The "friend's" progress and opinions are communicated to higher ups who continuously evaluate whether or not the person is worth the effort.

At some point if the decision is made that the effort is not worth it, the candidate is cut off.

Completely.

After having established friendships within the organization, no contact whatsoever is allowed.

When members offend the organization they are cut off in the same way.

Vows of celibacy are required at certain levels, and certain levels of membership require......................... corporal mortification.

Corporal mortification is physical suffering. Members whip themselves with a knotted rope, some wear a cilice - a spiked metal chain bound to the thigh as a reminder of Jesus' suffering.

People like this would be quick to condemn sexual fetishists as perverts, even though logic might suggest that the short term goal of an orgasm through pain might make more sense than the long term goal of redemption.

But what the hell do I know?

As if that wasn't weird enough, please note that Opus Dei was recognized as an organization by the Catholic Church by Pope John II in the early 1980's, essentially welcoming them into the Church's mainstream.

Even though Opus Dei members are forbidden to confess to Catholic priests; they can only confess to Opus Dei priests.

The Hydra was a terrifying monster in mythology with the body of a serpent and many heads. According to pantheon.org, the number of heads deviates from five up to a hundred, but generally nine is accepted as standard.

It's good to have standards.

None of the heads could ever be harmed by any weapon, and if any head were severed, another would grow in it's place.

The stench from the Hydra's breath was enough to kill man or beast.

In some ways, the definition of the Hydra could be substituted for the definition of many religions and religious practices.