The Sedate Faith...

edentu OROSO

Rally against the 2023 Christmas Massacre of more than 200 Worshippers in Jos (Photo: Plateau State Government)

I’ve yet to envision, even in my wildest thoughts, a world untouched by the grip of religion—a world where faith hasn’t burrowed into the deepest recesses of human consciousness. I often wonder what life looked like before religion’s first incursions into the heart. And sometimes, I ask myself: is religion the most dangerous creation man has ever conceived?

Undeniably, religion is an opiate—a drug nations endlessly refine. It numbs, blurs rationality, and holds the mind captive in a blissful delusion. Under its spell, we smile, cling to hope, and endure unimaginable pain, all while praising the very thing that keeps us bound.

Religion, in its most seductive form, can become a potent elixir—an intoxicant that dulls the senses and clouds the judgment. For some, it is not just a source of solace, but a drug that induces a dangerous delusion: they are no longer mere mortals, but divine beings worthy of worship. Elevated by the unwavering devotion of their followers, these self-appointed deities perch high above the masses, basking in the glow of adulation. From these dizzying heights, they see themselves as a different breed—untouchable, immune to error, and cloaked in an illusion of invincibility.

Their influence is pervasive, spreading like wildfire through communities, through nations, and their words carry the weight of unquestionable truth. The faithful are enthralled, their souls bound to the edicts of these self-styled gods who wield belief as both a weapon and a shield.

Karl Marx, with surgical precision, captured this manipulation in his timeless phrase: "Religion is the opium of the masses." It pacifies, numbs the pain, and offers escape—but at what cost? Mao Zedong understood the devastating potential of this opiate when he declared, "To kill a people, don't give them guns, give them religion." With faith as their weapon, rulers can conquer without ever drawing a blade, as the minds and hearts of the masses are subdued, not by force, but by fervour.

This is the insidious power of belief—when faith becomes a tool of control, and the faithful are lulled into submission, their eyes no longer on the heavens but on the earthly tyrants who wear the mask of divinity.

Countless distorted calibrations of the religious opiate permeate global affairs, each more insidious than the last. Religion pulses through the political veins, its arteries thick with the lifeblood of deception, fuelling systems of control. In our world, it has taken flight as the favoured mantra of the oppressor—a tool to dominate the impressionable souls of the oppressed.

With every sonorous chant, this mantra reshapes the painted devil of fear and submission. The oppressors wield it to stampede the vulnerable, who, in their confusion, retreat into the shadows of their closets. Faith, once a beacon, now serves as the weapon of their subjugation.

The deadliest weapons in man's arsenal are not the atomic, hydrogen, or helium bombs. Nor do stealth bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, armoured tanks, or chemical weapons hold the crown as humanity’s most destructive creations. While these have indeed wrought devastation in our time, they pale in comparison to the unchecked carnage unleashed by religious extremism and fanaticism.

As the opiate of the masses, religion serves as a perpetual brew of deception from which mankind drinks. It intoxicates beyond the point of redemption, inflating egos to dangerous extremes and dulling the mind’s capacity for reason. In this stupor, humanity is shackled by a predictable mass conformity—a modern slavery, where blind faith reigns and critical thought perishes.

Slavery is the inability to question the foundations of one's faith or the natural order of things. It is when mere mortals, through persuasive oratory or cunning, elevate themselves to the status of gods and craft the very doctrines that entrench the mental lethargy of the less discerning.

This mental laziness—hostile to the inquisitive spirit that challenges outdated beliefs and embraces deeper, more enlightened truths—becomes the fuel that sustains the egos of faith’s slave masters. It is the energy that keeps the wheels of this oppressive system turning, stifling growth while feeding on the unquestioning submission of its followers.

In a poetry class during my undergraduate days, we studied a satirical poem by one Zimmerman titled “The Day I Lost Religion.” It was a sharp and witty piece that explored the poet persona’s growing disillusionment with the manipulative tendencies inherent in religion.

I find myself increasingly disenchanted with the cacophony of voices rising from this religious quagmire—voices that continuously assault the collective consciousness with mercantilist imagery, instead of making genuine efforts to rekindle human spirituality. Whether through the incendiary diatribes pouring from pulpits, the self-serving grandiosity of certain preachers who defend their enlightened self-interests, or their behaviour as self-proclaimed deities immune to critique, the arrogance is unmistakable. The outright disdain they show for their congregants, treating them as mindless, unperceptive beings, reveals the depth of manipulation these followers are subjected to. It's a hackneyed playbook, one that exploits the very faith it pretends to nurture.

The unabashed display of such arrogance is infuriating. In carefully crafted sermons, these preachers manipulate their congregations, sowing fear at the mere thought of questioning their teachings—even when those teachings are flawed. With selective amnesia, they cherry-pick scripture that conveniently aligns with their agenda, silencing any voice of dissent or meaningful enquiry from those who recognise doctrinal errors.

Such are the times we live in. Such is the religious air we breathe in pursuit of spiritual edification. Each denomination offers its own brand of intolerant, subversive doctrines. Each fosters a herd mentality that blinds its followers, preventing them from seeing beyond the narrow, distorted lenses of subservience. Each new day brings more of the same—greed and self-interest masquerading as sermons of salvation, painting over truth with a veneer of sanctity.

No nation can rise above the collective psyche of its people. Similarly, no religion can transcend the unquestioning minds of its adherents. We are the architects of our own religious and cultural reality. Nigeria is a reflection of our collective consciousness, a society shackled by the chains of religion. We’ve become by it slaves—slaves to our beliefs, our emotions, and our unchallenged convictions. But as Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Old mannequins, stubbornly clinging to their outmoded mindsets, are back in the fray, their influence once again permeating the spiritual and political arena. Their egos thrive facilely in the swirling discordant echoes of greed and the opiate of religion. We’ve journeyed the full cycle, only to find ourselves back at the starting point of this rollercoaster ride.

If we once again entrust our spiritual and political fortunes to this senile and morally bankrupt breed, we risk allowing the nightmares of the past to seep back into our collective psyche. They disregard the fresh perspectives of the younger generations or the right bearings from revivalist spiritual teachers and the holy books, remaining oblivious to the digital divide and the unbundling realities that defines our era. Instead, they wield the weight of transient power, flaunting their ill-gotten gains in the name of religion and politics.

The masses suffer from these spiritual and political misadventures, reduced to pawns in a game of greed. They are expendable on the political chessboard, sacrificed for the ambitions of their leaders. Without a narrative shift, we’ll soon hear of grand larcenies again, as the predators of corruption sharpen their fangs.

It's tragic how round pegs end up in square holes. This misalignment leads to despair that drowns out cries for change. Religion numbs the masses, blinding them to their plight while those in power pursue their self-interest relentlessly.