Religious Bondage

I’ve always suspected churches and mosques to be one of the problems affecting people who are all about “church,church, church” or “mosque,mosque, mosque”… it was something I wasn’t so sure of till I bumped into a video online. This video contained various people, both young and old, who were now living in regrets because of what their pastors and imams had told them to do… I kept on concluding I had heard the worst of them all till the next person spoke and I was in so much awe. It made me wonder: “is this the same religion the foreigners had introduced to us??”

PS: I don’t usually do this (I mean, speaking against people’s belief, culture e.t.c.) but then I realized that we have a lot of young and ignorant people and as a matter of fact, they’re growing in numbers.

Religious bondage is the oppressive, rigid or restrictive practices WITHIN religious institutions that refuse humans their autonomy and freedom. In my last article, I brushed past a belief that refuses blood transfusion, even when it is about to cost a human’s life. It’s not even the belief that pissed me off, it’s those who believe and act upon these beliefs that piss me off. Some other ways religious bondage take place without us even knowing include:

l  Dogmatic interpretations: this is a rigid and ignorant adherence to doctrines. This could arise from a misquoted or MISUNDERSTOOD part(s) of the holy books used in the various religions we have. (I’d be citing instances from Christianity because I’m a Christian). 

Growing up, I was taught that whenever I see a Bible verse, the best way I could understand that particular verse was to read 2-3 verses before and 2-3 verses after and to be honest, this really shaped my understanding of the Bible.

l  Manipulation by religious leaders: I get so triggered when I hear men of God use lines like “come and sow a seed in your life”… abeg, when you sow a seed, what next? Continuous watering, weeding and the likes, but my question is: when does the harvest come??? 

Some even craft more manipulative lines that lure members to deprive themselves of the life they deserve and put it into their religious lives. 

l  Authority and power dynamics: this is another manipulative way religious leaders oppress members, without these members even being aware. This is when there’s abuse of power within religious institutions, resulting in dictation and control and most times, members do not even realize because all these are done through manipulation. 

 

These and many more are the various ways humans suffer from religious bondage, most times, without them even realizing. We can tell the consequences of these actions, obviously but what are the ways we can address and break free from religious bondage?

l  It is important to promote critical thinking: if you have about twenty thousand left for your school fees or to complete a payment for your laptop or anything at all that is meant to aid and ease your life and your religious leader comes to talk to you about “sowing a seed”, it is your duty, as an adult especially, to question your chances of being successful whether or not you sow a seed at that particular time of your life. It is one thing if you have to spare and decide to donate to whatever service ON YOUR OWN WILL and it is another when you barely have enough for yourself, talk more of sowing a seed you won’t be able to look after. 

l  Encourage empathy and understanding : if the religious leaders decide to play blind to the financial state of their members and economic state of the country at large, then there’s nothing wrong in refusing certain things. Sometimes, you do not owe no one an explanation for being unable to participate in some things; adults should be able to decipher when or not a person is capable of doing anything 

l  Encourage questioning and foster dialogue/ discussions: personally, I think there should be sessions where people ask questions. For instance, a religious leader just said something that doesn’t sit right with me or maybe misquoted a part of the holy book or even making mention of a doctrine that looks impossible for you to practice, the simplest you can ask is “Why?”. This would open the ground for various ideas, truths and even a way out of whatever must have been said. 

By practicing these and some other ways not mentioned in this article, we all could start breaking free from religious bondage because it may have eaten really deep into us without even realizing it yet. 

 

P.S: this post was not made to speak ill of religious leaders or religious institutions, it was only made to raise awareness on this topic and to ensure it doesn’t eat deeper into the society than it has already.