This is Admiral Bishop, Minister and Theologian from Planet X on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy. I have been commissioned by officials on my home planet with traveling to earth to study the religions of that world. On my planet, religion is a way for our government to control the citizens of our world. Our religion requires total submission to the government and leaders of the planet. We want to know if earth has a similar system in place and it is my responsibility to examine behaviors and beliefs there, determine the function of religion on the planet, and report back to those who have sent me.
I am going to be looking for behaviors from the earthlings such as belief in a creator or creators of their race. The citizens of Planet X believe that our world was created by beings called Zenids. The story we have given our people says that the Zenids came from another world to Planet X when it was uninhabited and spawned life there. Our leaders beleive that life on our planet was a result of natural phenomena and evolution. I will be looking for a similar belief in higher power on earth. The citizens of Planet X pray to the Zenids and adhere to the scriptures handed down to them that detail the story of creation and the laws that the Zenids require our people to follow. To us, religion is the belief in higher power, prayer to this higher power, and belief in scriptures handed down by the higher power or through those inspired by the higher power. As I travel this blue planet at speeds that these fleshlings could never comprehend, these are the things I will be looking for.
My first stop brought me to the country of India. Here, I came across something called Hinduism. These people believe in many gods, in fact over 330 million of them. This meets the belief in a higher power requirement I am looking for. Prayer...