STATE OF THE NATION – RELIGION: IMPACTING POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY?

-By Arthur Mgbokwere – 234734198888.

Email: arthurmgbokwere@ymail.com

According to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, religion is defined as the belief in the existence of a god or gods and the activities that are connected with the worship of them.

Religion itself is as old as man because man is religious by nature.

Going by the Biblical, Quoranic or Torah accounts, the first man on earth, Adam maintained a form of religion because he knew of a superior power than him whom he always communicated with but could not see. Naturally, he knew that this Ultimate power, whose presence he felt, created the things around him and beyond.

Based on this knowledge he (Adam) therefore revered this power. His offspring, Cain and Abel also continued with the knowledge of the existence of God as shown in Biblical account of their burnt offerings.

It is therefore right to argue that religion started from Adam.

__ A church and a mosque

A second school of thought has it that religion started during the

Primitive era when man lived in caves and practiced hunting and

gathering as a means of livelihood. The early man drew pictures on walls, did theatrical performances aimed at calling the benevolent spirits to see him through in his daily activities and to protect him from the forces of nature or to call down rain.

However, this form of worship gave rise to Paganism, but thus, religion was born and has continued to this day.

__ Buddha

Before the turn of the Common Era, religions such as Paganism,

Hinduism, Buddhaism, Judaism, Taosm and Confucianism had been in existence. Christianity and Islam, the two most popular religions in the world came later, in the 1st and 6th centuries respectively.

__ Confucius

Religion has always played a big role in the social-cultural lives of the people, the world over. It has also influenced people either positively or negatively. The later is the norm as religion has been known to cause a number of uprisings, chaos and wars, claiming an unprecedented number of lives while at the same time causing an unquantifiable damage in property.

Religious wars have also been a contributing factor in change in the world map today.

After the ascension of Christ, the early Christians were reported to have marched off in different directions to spread the gospel and the new faith. While some survived, a lot of these early disciples of the faith were killed, spurred by the leadership of an already existing religion which sometimes turned out to be the state religion. Some were thrown into dens of hungry lions while the crowd watched cheerily.

After the founding of Islam, Mohammed met a stiff opposition from the local populace who were idol worshipers. Because of this he set out on a Jihad to conquer them and install the new religion that bothered on the belief in one God, as against the backdrop of his country men who worshiped a number of gods, representing them with inanimate objects and idols.

__ Michael Servetus

After his death, the Jihadists continued to spread the Islamic faith. The Jihad continued for centuries, spread to many countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. Taking over Jerusalem and denying Christian pilgrims access to the Holy City. The matter got to a head that the Holy Roman Empire, under the directive of the Pope launched an attack against the Jihadists, giving rise to The Crusades.

The war which started in 1076, spanned through to 1270 and became known as the Holy War or the war between Islam and Christendom. The last being the Children’s Crusade, many of who were either killed or sold into slavery.

Before a truce could be reached between the Christians and Moslems for an end to the inter-religious war, the Reformation had already started in the 1220s in Christendom. The reformers who were protesting against certain Catholic doctrines (as the only church then) met with a lot of obstacles and persecutions. Their effort at reform saw them being branded as Heretics. Subsequently the Inquisition was instituted, which led to the massacre of thousands in different European countries, some being burnt alive on stakes.

__ Jan Haus

The reformation and persecution went on for centuries, claiming the lives of a number of important reformers, burnt alive at the stake as heretics.

Men like Jan Hus (1369-1415), Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498),

Michael Servetus (1511-1553) etc., where either burnt to death or

hanged.

Later, the Lutheran Movement which gave rise to Protestantism would disagree with the Catholic doctrines, resulting into an interdenominational war in Germany in the 16th century.

In the same vein, Islam is not left out in this struggle for doctrinal

supremacy. After the death of Mohammed in 1632 there were bloody wars between the Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims and the Shiah Muslims.

__ Martin Luther

The quest for religious reformation, supremacy or doctrinal change has led to the formation of groups like Maitatsina which held sway in northern Nigeria in the 1980s and the deadly Boko Haram sect. currently menacing the North Eastern part of Nigeria. In Afghanistan there is the Taliban. There is also the Al-Qaeda which cuts across different countries. Somalia is besieged by Al-Shabab. In Sri Lanka there is the Sinhala Buddhist terrorist group. Aum Shinrikyo in Japan which used gas weapons to kill a lot of people in the 1990s. The list continues.

This calls to mind the statements made by these renowned men in history:

We have just enough religions to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.-Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).

Men never do evil so completely as when they do it from religious point of view. -Blaise Pascal (1623-62).

Men will wrangle for religion, write for it, fight for it, die for it; anything but live for it…Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a pretext for a thousand.-Charles Caleb Colton (1825).

__ A masked terrorist

We may now reflect within ourselves on the positive or negative impact religion has and is still playing in the lives of people and draw an inference; if it should be allowed to continue or abolished.