By Kelvin Saliu
The most potent human emotion is known to be fear. In fact fear is the only natural emotions as said by scientists because newborns are proven to demonstrate fear for loud noises and falling off a height. All other emotions are learnt over the course of life.
It is said that fear kills even faster than death and literally this is true.
There are several reported cases of people living with HIV without knowing it for years but the moment they get tested and told, some lose all their zest for living as their spirit gets broken and fear of death gets a grip of them and they eventually die a short time afterwards.
That’s the power of fear, such a powerful psychological weapon has been made out of fear to the extent that the founders and leaders of religious faith have deployed it relentlessly for centuries to hold their adherents in perpetual captivity.
The three worst fears of an average man today are the fears of poverty, and the fear of pain or injury and the fear of death and religious leaders exploit all three to entrap their sheep.
poverty rips people of their sense of self worth and dignity. So they threaten their followers to bankroll their luxury lifestyles or be cursed with poverty.
The threat of untimely death or sudden death jf they stray away from the faith and finally an even worst fate that awaits them that involves continuous burning in an unquenchable fire forever, is a major reason why most adherents remain in the bondage of religion.
It is even much harder to disagree or question when one has been raised and ingrained with these set of ideas from a tender age. Infact they are inclined to hold and defend them as well as pass them to their own coming generation as the false beliefs keeps succeeding and gaining more believers and empowering and enriching the purveyors of them.
The second most potent weapons which religious leaders have used is the weapon of guilt. They talk about the original sin. All man being born stained by the Adamic and might I add, the “Eveic” sins at the garden of Eden. A laughable concept by all stretch of imagination but the most defended single idea by billions of people across world.
It is believed further that a God running out of options had to send his son to die tragically on the cross at Calvary to redeem man of those blemishes hence man owes his devotion, life and worship to God and his son without any other options.
The most popular and leading verse of the Bible John 3:16 says “for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life”. One phrase that contains very strong and compelling words wrapped in fear and guilt. This has been deployed for centuries to capture many hearts and win many followers and still as effective as ever in doing so.
The counterpart Religion of Islam is even more forceful and ruthless in it’s employment and deployment of the two pronged forks of fear and guilt in it’s proselytizing, retaining and keeping followers in line. Killing is not violence if done in the name of Allah and his Prophet, Muhammed.
You can not easily leave the fold of Islam or speak against their doctrines without a threat to your life, as the case of Mubarak Bala proved to us. To live under the peace and tolerance of Islam, you must not criticize the religion, or else the consequence could be very dire.
So as we can see, both the Religion of Love and the one of Peace are employing dear and guilt to keep faithfuls in check. It’s more like a case of false imprisonment.
(c) Kelvin Saliu 2021
Leave a Reply