One of the harshest criticisms of religion comes from the German philosopher and social theorist Karl Marx. In his critique of capitalism as an economic system, Marx identifies some of the evils that have led to inequalities between the rich and the poor and he sees religion as playing a central role in sustaining such inequalities. In short, his argument is that the rich use religion to pacify the poor and to keep them in places of destitution. They have to forget about worldly pleasures for their real treasure is in heaven.
Indeed, religion has become the main organising force in many societies. Almost every society had their own religious belief from time immemorial, but overtime, some religions have gone on to triumph over others. In our part of the world, Islam and Christianity have prevailed, mostly as faiths of conquest. Christianity was introduced to us by colonialists who came to steal our resources and scholars have discussed how they used their faith to kill the minds of the colonised. As Bishop Desmond Tutu puts it, “when the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘let us pray’. We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land”.
The point that both Marx and Tutu are making is that there is so much potential for manipulation in religion. Human beings want to believe in something because the world does not make sense. With all the evil and suffering around us, one can find relief in believing in the hope for heaven. Unfortunately, some crooks have taken advantage of this and they use religion to manipulate others. This is a big problem in Africa and other colonised places. While initially it was white colonialists who used religion to rob us, today, it is our own people who are doing this. You should see how self-acclaimed prophets across the continent have made billions of money at the expense of their poor followers. We have closed our eyes to pray while they take everything.
The problem with approaching religion uncritically is that it robs you of any agency. One stops thinking and makes absurd decisions that are out of this world. Recently, a 40-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly killing four children in Kasungu in the name of religion. This woman allegedly got instructions from a four-year-old prophetess to flog the children, who had sickle-cell anemia and down syndrome, so as to heal them. A normal person cannot imagine how such an adult can be misled by an infant, but religion was involved and all rationality was gone. We have also heard of stories where religious leaders have killed entire congregations–instructing them to take poison in order to go to heaven. A recent incident was recorded in Kenya.
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While it was supposed to be a normal social institution that helps to build the nation, religion in Africa has mostly worked negatively in that belief is often abused. The rise in evangelical Pentecostalism has seen some faiths turning into cults, where certain individuals are revered and become gods on Earth. Some will tell you that there is something off about most people who believe in prophets. The moment they start seeing a fellow human as some god, they lose all critical faculties and become irrationally adamant. They will believe whatever the prophet tells them and some end up losing everything. Such is our sad reality and we should not be surprised to see people committing heinous crimes in the name of religion.
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Normally, we would ask the government to intervene on these issues. Maybe if the State put some restrictions on religion, some lives and brains would be saved. But this cannot happen because even politicians benefit from religion. We have seen how they tell us to pray against hunger when we know that praying is not the solution. Politicians in this country and in other African countries tell us to pray for the economy, and some pastors gather their flock and close their eyes. For as long as religion is used as a drug to relax the minds of the masses, some of these problems, including poverty, will remain with us for life.
