Killing for God

There is too much bloodshed all around us in a clime that is deeply religious. This is something that every reasonable person should worry about. Killing is the highest form of cruelty one can unleash on another human being especially now that we all have received one form of religion or the other, and are striving to please the supreme being whom we acknowledge as the creator of heaven and earth.

 

The most bizarre fact about these dastardly killings is that most of them are done to please this same Supreme Being that we are striving to please. People sit down for hours under the tutelage of teachers and preachers receiving speeches that incite hatred and provoke anger against the other religions and other peoples and groups. These other peoples and groups are then marked for destruction. I don’t see how this scenario differs from what cult groups do. They also meet and agree on who to kill and maim in their senseless wars of supremacy.

 

Something is seriously amiss when religious groups that should be preaching and ensuring love and peaceful co-existence begin to carry weapons and glory in the pain and suffering they have caused in their perceived enemy’s camps. The most likely cause is that the interpreter failed to understand the message of the flute, so he interpreted wrongly. For whatever reason, the men who are custodians of these tenets of faith misunderstood the precepts of God. Whoever told them that the expansion of their own brand of religion is all that matters to God sowed this evil seed that has grown to destroy mankind. All over the world, the most peaceful climes are those where the dominant religion is calm, peaceful and non-proselytizing ( i.e. conversion by persuasion).

 

People should practice their religion privately and quietly. Worship is a solemn activity that should be approached with all reverence. It should not be noisy by its very nature. The idea of coercing, pestering, persuading and forcing people to embrace one form of religion is completely out of the question. That is exactly the bone of contention. These militant religions assume that they are in charge of the universe and have to decide on how everyone must live their lives. They feel a personal affront when someone does things outside the codes they have developed to guide their members. In some cases, they arrogate to themselves the power to take away the offender’s life or freedom. This has gone beyond religion. It is a severe form of tyranny that has a gentle appearance on the surface.

 

A peep into these religious bodies reveals just how much tyranny they exhibit. We have the worst forms of gender discrimination in religious groups. The women who adhere to these groups either willingly or by force are subjected to all forms of abuse and slavery which the male folk perpetrate and promote.  Even the children are not left out of the abuse that comes in various forms. One then wonders what percentage of godliness the prevailing religions of today contain.

 

Godliness should be the crux of religion. Godliness should drive adherents of religious creeds to pursue equity, fair play and justice. Women should find solace from a harsh culture in the various religious covens. Can the women of today who form the pillars of many religious congregations say they have truly found equity and fair play in these places of worship? Why do we still hear about women being driven out of their husbands’ homes the moment their spouses die? What about child marriages that are actually life-threatening? How far has the church or the mosque gone in making sure women are treated with dignity and not with contempt in the area of inheritance, widowhood practices and unjust cultural inhibitions? I am aware that in most cases, their burdens have rather been doubled in these religious covens. If one cannot find true godliness in the place of worship, I wonder where else one can find it.

 

The height of the aberration is for the religious citadels to be mentioned when the discussion is about indiscriminate shooting and bombing of unarmed persons or the lynching of a person who is accused of one wrong-doing or the other. Committed loyalists of one religion or the other will spearhead the heartless burning, clubbing or stoning of another human being because he stole something or was found to be a homosexual. Some even utter words of thanksgiving to God while doing this evil because they think they are pleasing him. After all, one verse of the holy book said this or that. I think this is appalling. This idea of following dictates of a book that go contrary to common sense and good judgment is the bane of our society and the root cause of the madness that has enveloped us.

We should find the courage to question some of these instructions contained in the holy books we adhere to. I implore the various religious authorities to scrutinize their holy books, emphasize the parts that preach peace and review the ones that promote violence. We cannot find growth and development in the midst of violence and rancour. The truth is that there will never be a time when everyone in a city or country will agree to adopt one single mode of worship. It should actually not bother us how our neighbour chooses to pray, as long as he does not disturb the peace of the neighbourhood by so doing.

A cursory look at creation tells us that God loves and enjoys variety. He created people and animals in various colours. Trees, grasses and other plants are in various species. Why do you think this God would not enjoy worship in various styles? Keep your religion godly and I am sure God will be honoured. Killing fellow human beings, keeping them restless or making them uncomfortable just because of how they choose to worship God is not only evil but very foolish.

Nnenna Ihebom