From Infidel753:
“…you’ve already broken the law. There’s only one way out.”
By now you’re getting just slightly nervous, so you ask, “And what’s that?”
“Well,” he explains, “a long time ago another guy got sent to prison for something he didn’t do. And because that was so wrong, the courts decided that from then on, people who commit crimes could get out of going to jail for them — so long as they believe that this guy went to prison back then.”
By now you’re figuring this person is totally nuts. “That’s ridiculous. No sane court would do things that way.”
“Oh, there’s one other thing,” the stranger says, pulling a thick wad of paper out of his pocket. “That guy who went to prison had a long list of things he didn’t like people to do, and you need to promise you’ll never do any of them for the rest of your life. Then you can get out of going to jail for wearing that belt, because he went to prison all those years ago.” He pushes the wad of paper toward you.
You don’t take it. “Look, just go away,” you demand. “I don’t believe you can go to jail for wearing a belt, I don’t believe you can get out of it just because some other guy years ago was wrongly imprisoned, and I don’t see why I should care about all these things that guy didn’t like people doing. None of it makes any sense.”
“But,” he replies, “it’s a year in jail if you don’t believe me and do what I say. Do you really want to take that risk?”
o o o o o
This story is obviously ridiculous, but as I’m sure all readers noticed, it has the same basic “logic” as the central myth of a religion which is dominant in large areas of the world.