If You Still Want To Blame Religion After Reading This, Then I Won't Stop You
The world is in
chaos… and the only remnant of order there is left is being preserved by
religion. But we have abused religion long enough to ignore this fact.
Yes, we have laws. But laws are formulated within the
boundaries of religion(s).
This is not just because the lawmakers are adherents of one
religion or another; nor because the stronghold of human religious rights are
too sacred to be breached. But also because the lawmakers know very well that
the influence religion has on humans could strip law completely of its powers.
Without doubt, the law respects and employs religion. But it
does not respect the worshipers. Why?
Because of the innate characteristics of humans, in which
case, is the cause of all our misery.
All religions teach morality. And as far as morality goes
these religions agree to a certain extent - the extent to which the whole of
humanity can live together in peace and harmony. But humans- in their defiant
nature- define their own limits of morality, which vary from one human to
another. Consequently, the notions of right
and wrong as well as good and bad
are distorted.
If, for instance, you were asked to pass judgment on a man
who had just murdered all the corrupt politicians in Nigeria, what would be
your judgment?
Murder is unforgivable; will you sentence him according to
his crime?
He had just cleansed the country of all the corrupt
politicians and hence paved a path for a better Nigeria; will you let him go free? Or
Will you just give him a lighter sentence since he had committed
a big crime, and at the same time you cannot ignore his “heroic” act?
Well, I asked my elder sister and she chose the third
option. She said: Since he committed a crime, BUT didn’t kill the GOOD people,
I will give him a lighter sentence.
I won’t state whether she is right or wrong, because I
honestly do not know. But I know very well that the idea of good and bad is subjective. While some
considered the politicians bad, some thought highly of them.
Trust me 90% of Nigerians- particularly the religious ones-
would either go for the second or the third option. Now let me ask: Do their
religions encourage killing? Why then didn’t they sentence him according to his
crime? Why did they differ in their judgments afterwards?
Just like the murderer, the Christian crusaders, the
Islamist militants, the Buddhist monks, etc., all justify what they do as
necessary violence in the name of a greater good.
Practically, this is what happens when someone or a group
has a strong sense of the overriding moral superiority of their worldview. The
need to protect and advance it seem like the most important duty of all. And in
order to find a moral justification they summon religion- whose teachings they
neglected- to cover for their actions.
The rest of the world are like the judges. They know these
religions do not encourage violence. Nevertheless, a huge amount of them give
in to prejudice. As a result, they put the blame on the perpetrators’
religion(s) - perhaps in order to establish the superiority of their own or maybe it's just hatred. But
what they fail to realize is that their unfair judgment is against the
teachings of the religion they so want to elevate.
Some would even resort to the use of false flags in order to
make the religion of other people pay for their own crimes.
I’ll give you examples. In order to protect its name while
furthering its scandalous agenda, and at the same time portray itself as the
victim, series of terror bombings were staged by Israel. For example, the Lavonaffair, the king David’s massacre, etc. Also, in 2005, bombings were staged in a bus stop
and an underground subway line in London. As a result, the persecution towards
Muslim citizens saw a dramatic increase. Evidence surfaced in the following
years which proved that the four Muslim suicide bombers accused by the government
had nothing to do with the incident and the operations were carried out under
the control of the deep state. And many more like that.
Basic human relationship, to a certain extent, has been reduced to mere religious connectivity:
Basic human relationship, to a certain extent, has been reduced to mere religious connectivity:
“That man needs a lift. I would love to help, but he
is holding a bible.”
“A lot of Muslims were killed in the terror bombings. Yes!
Serves them right.”
“I would have given the stranded man some money, but my mom told me she saw him wear a masquerade.”
Gradually, we are losing our humanity. Yet we assure
ourselves that we are just being religiously conscious.
Even family ties is no exception in this case.
During a holiday my folks and I spent at her place, my aunt
would treat us with contempt whenever it was time to fulfill any of our
religious obligations (particularly the five daily prayers). She would force us
to pray on the veranda, a place where she kept her shoes… I knew she had a low
perception of Islam, but I was more inclined to think that it was because of
her position as a deaconess in her church.
But then again, another aunt of mine- a full-time pastor’s
wife- didn’t seem to have a problem with Islam. She would playfully reproach my
brother whenever he read his dawn prayers late. And although she received more
Christian visitors, we were not restricted when it comes to reading our Solat.
Obviously, my first aunt thought she was protecting her creed. But in
the real sense she was breeding hatred in her heart, and at the same time
weakening the bond that binds us together as family.
With all these in mind and more, it is obvious that we haven’t used
religion in the most responsible manner possible. It seems as though we are
still not able to catch up with its true nature. Against all odds religion is responsible
for keeping us humans away from our baser animal instincts. If not, chaos would
be an understatement for what we would have experienced on earth. Then don’t
you think it is unfair to blame religion for our folly?
5 comments
There is a popular saying that 'religion is the opium of the people'. Everyday that seems to be the case. People just stereotype and find it difficult to find out the real reason why they do the things they do but then what can we do but try to educate people. Hopefully people get to read this and change their views and that of others on jumping into conclusions lazily
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right Giddy. I hope we change for the better.
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ReplyDeleteThank you very much Ayan. You words mean a lot
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ReplyDeleteThank you for reading. Please leave your comments.