The Danger of Religion Devoid of Reason!

It is safe to say that religion just like democracy is madness of many for the benefit of few! It is also a fact that it is opium of the people. I did not invent the latter saying; I think Karl Marx did. Religion could also be a recipe for a disaster if not cooked well with reason. It seems to me that I know exactly what Marx meant when he opined that religion is the opium of the people.

When it comes to religion, the lack of that courage and power to go beyond the boundary of reason and then the presence of devout madness of the followers benefit the few who are the leaders. Often these followers are brainwashed, hypnotized and incited to hate, fight, war, destroy, demolish, bomb and kill in the name of God in order to reap an eternal reward in heaven and hate, fight, war, demolish, bomb and kill they will surely do and often carry it to the next level. The saddest part is that they often believe these rubbishes from their religious leaders for religion itself has beclouded their sense of thinking and reasoning. Do not get me wrong! There is nothing wrong with religion, only that one not tampered with reason is akin to a high-speed train without control! And I do also recognize that there are genuine and outstanding men of God worthy of emulation! I stand in awe of them and eulogize their good works, determination, honesty and zeal!

For these unsuspecting followers, they have to believe because these are the words of their religious leaders who speak in the name of God. This is interesting because these religious leaders who are cowards and are aware of these loopholes will never stop using them to achieve their ulterior motives. These religious leaders will send these poor souls to war but will never go themselves or even send their families as an exemplary act of dedication, sacrifice and service. If they do go to the war at all, they will cowardly be at the back while their followers are in front to receive the bullet for them. They will never lead these wars, for these wars cannot be justified. They are conceived out of selfishness, ignorance, and hatred and for other ulterior motives, just to massage their hopeless and selfish egos. I do not need to prove this, for you need to see these religious leaders and their followers to know that something is wrong. By their fruit, thou shall know them! They are wolves amongst the sheep clothing.

These religious leaders are often very rich! They are rich beyond human comprehension! But they are also very crafty and delight in brainwashing their poor tithe-paying followers into believing that the riches are from and for God and that they should pay more tithes otherwise they stand accused of robbing God. And the poor souls easily believe this balderdash even as these religious leaders enjoy life in the fast lane! They dress well, own expensive cars, have all their families including wives and concubines ordained as pastors and imams as if it is only their family that God found worthy to be bestowed with the mandate to lord it over these poor gullible souls. They have fleet of cars, private jets and houses in various parts of the world whereas their flocks are the poorest of the poor. Even their kids are sent abroad to receive the best education, courtesy of the tithe paid by the poor ignorant followers.

If that is sad, wait until you hear the saddest part, which is that these followers do not even believe that their leaders are exploiting them. In fact, they are ever ready to spill the last pint of blood in their body to defend 'their man of God'. This is exactly what happened when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran placed fatwa on Salmon Rushdie in 1989 for writing the 'Satanic Verses'. Suddenly, every Muslim wanted to kill him in the name of Allah. But it might interest you to know that most of these people do not even know who is Salmon Rushdie, where he came from, where he is living, what he looked like and what the book is all about. In fact, I bet you that most of them did not actually see or read the book in the first place, but they all wanted to kill him so that their reward will be great in heaven. And the Ayatollah was busy living life in the fast lane in a secluded mansion somewhere in Iran.

This type of madness is not peculiar to Islam. It is everywhere. In Africa, religious leaders in Uganda and elsewhere are in full support of the campaign to either imprison or annihilate homosexuals wherever they are found in the continent. This type of call do not often lack support and under the guise of doing the will of God they have taken the law into their hands and began to mete out jungle justice to their own brothers and sisters in the name of God.

This is sad! I therefore call upon governments everywhere to distance themselves from religion and work towards separating the state from religion. Democracy is a public affair; religion is not. It is something that is very personal and therefore should begin and end in the bedroom. Africa is still very much mesmerized by the idea of fusing religion and democracy. That should not be for it is even irreligious to combine religion and democracy. The recipe for human rights abuse is allowing religion to dictate to democracy or be a cornerstone or yardstick by which a country is ruled.

These governments should also monitor closely these religious leaders and if need be regulate them and be ready, bold and courageous enough to bring them to justice if they contravene any law of the land for nobody should be seen to be above the law. The beauty of democracy is better appreciated when everybody is under the law!