IS RELIGION REALLY EVIL? - (originally published in Vanguard)
IS religion evil? Wait, don’t crucify me yet. Read below and make up your mind. Even Jesus Christ had a sham trial before Pontus Pilate before he was crucified. I contend that religious wars have killed more people than AIDS, malaria, famine, holocaust all put together.
That is a fact. People have committed atrocities, discrimination, murder, hatred, rape under the disguise of religion and in the name of God. Osama Bin Laden is killing people in the name of God. Mullah Omar and the Taliban have denied women education and freedom in the name of God. David Koresh, “the last prophet” of Waco Texas, raped and physically abused young children in the name of religion.
Bob Jones Christian University refused to enroll black students until 1971 and forbade interracial dating until 2000 based on religious beliefs; “that God intended segregation of the races and that the scripture forbids interracial marriage.” Pat Robertson and Jeremiah Wright preached hatred, intolerance, discrimination all in the name of God Almighty!
Esther my friend has avoided her mom for over 10 years. “Witch craft is not my portion” she insists. Their relationship has been strained ever since her 83-year old father passed away. Their pastor insists he was killed by his wife, Esther’s mom .
“That is what happens when a Christian marries a Muslim, light and darkness don’t mix” he explains. It didn’t matter that he was elderly, diabetic and with a bad heart.
Between 1933 and 1945, six million innocent people including children were tortured, and massacred by the Nazis in Germany. Some sent to humiliating concentration camps where they were subjected to agonizing mental maltreatments.
Their only crime; they were Jews! On September 11, 2001 the landscape and mind set of America were changed forever when 3000 innocent people were murdered in their primes by fanatic lunatics fighting the “holy war” jihad in the name of Allah.
In 2009, Nigeria saw a blood bath, again, in the name of God when some idiots decided to kill innocent people in an attempt to stop the advancement of western technology. The leader of the faceless cult Boko Haram was “accidentally” killed in a crossfire by the Nigerian Military. Found in his possession were 6 or more different cellular phones… the same technology he was fighting to abolish!
A friend once proudly told me that he knows Nigerians could be fraudsters, con artists, drug peddlers, 419s but that “they will never blow themselves up.” Those were the good old days before Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, a privileged son of a wealthy Nigerian decided to upgrade Nigerian CV to include international terrorism when he attempted to blow up flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit in the name of Allah. What a shame!
There is no ideological justification for strapping explosives in your underwear; just plain craziness and stupidity. AbdulMutallab can now meet his 70 virgins without his balls! Since he has successfully castrated himself, he should be a beautiful bride to his fellow inmate Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber. Underwear bomber meets shoe bomber.
The fact that he still has any teeth left speaks volume about American kindness. Were that to be in Nigeria, there would have been rubber tires around his neck and his burnt corpse deposited along the road. Better still, his body would have been ridden by “accidental discharge” by the Nigerian Police.
May be religion is not the problem after all, just a few deranged criminals using the name of God to commit atrocities. Food for thought.
That is a fact. People have committed atrocities, discrimination, murder, hatred, rape under the disguise of religion and in the name of God. Osama Bin Laden is killing people in the name of God. Mullah Omar and the Taliban have denied women education and freedom in the name of God. David Koresh, “the last prophet” of Waco Texas, raped and physically abused young children in the name of religion.
Bob Jones Christian University refused to enroll black students until 1971 and forbade interracial dating until 2000 based on religious beliefs; “that God intended segregation of the races and that the scripture forbids interracial marriage.” Pat Robertson and Jeremiah Wright preached hatred, intolerance, discrimination all in the name of God Almighty!
Esther my friend has avoided her mom for over 10 years. “Witch craft is not my portion” she insists. Their relationship has been strained ever since her 83-year old father passed away. Their pastor insists he was killed by his wife, Esther’s mom .
“That is what happens when a Christian marries a Muslim, light and darkness don’t mix” he explains. It didn’t matter that he was elderly, diabetic and with a bad heart.
Between 1933 and 1945, six million innocent people including children were tortured, and massacred by the Nazis in Germany. Some sent to humiliating concentration camps where they were subjected to agonizing mental maltreatments.
Their only crime; they were Jews! On September 11, 2001 the landscape and mind set of America were changed forever when 3000 innocent people were murdered in their primes by fanatic lunatics fighting the “holy war” jihad in the name of Allah.
In 2009, Nigeria saw a blood bath, again, in the name of God when some idiots decided to kill innocent people in an attempt to stop the advancement of western technology. The leader of the faceless cult Boko Haram was “accidentally” killed in a crossfire by the Nigerian Military. Found in his possession were 6 or more different cellular phones… the same technology he was fighting to abolish!
A friend once proudly told me that he knows Nigerians could be fraudsters, con artists, drug peddlers, 419s but that “they will never blow themselves up.” Those were the good old days before Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, a privileged son of a wealthy Nigerian decided to upgrade Nigerian CV to include international terrorism when he attempted to blow up flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit in the name of Allah. What a shame!
There is no ideological justification for strapping explosives in your underwear; just plain craziness and stupidity. AbdulMutallab can now meet his 70 virgins without his balls! Since he has successfully castrated himself, he should be a beautiful bride to his fellow inmate Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber. Underwear bomber meets shoe bomber.
The fact that he still has any teeth left speaks volume about American kindness. Were that to be in Nigeria, there would have been rubber tires around his neck and his burnt corpse deposited along the road. Better still, his body would have been ridden by “accidental discharge” by the Nigerian Police.
May be religion is not the problem after all, just a few deranged criminals using the name of God to commit atrocities. Food for thought.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Wilfred Ogoma CHIME on
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Nigeria is such a nice country where people accept anything they see,and brand it 'supereb'. However, let me start by asking both Angela 'the intellectual property thief', and the original author of the treatise if they actually understood the meaning of the term 'religion' .If they do, or, rather think so,then let them tell me the place of religion in the stated atrocities. Chrisianity preach love,peace,and forgiveness; likewiseIslam.I am yet to read a portion of the holy Bible or Qur'an that preach violence; rather,it preaches submission. The fact that Mohammed was forced into fighting wars during his time must not be misconstrued into suggesting that He preached violence. The situation prevalent at that time constrained Him into defending by attacking. The criminals are enemies to whatever chrstianity and Islam stand for, and can not be said to represent or, come close to what 'religion' (spiritual consistency) stand for.
I also do not think that my brother Onyemechi is abreast with the person and character of Malcolm X;an Islamic activist who never saw anything good in christianity and was unable to substanciate his postulations with any emperical evidence .
I therfore submit that those who are involved in this should recant same and tender public apology. This is pure HERESY.
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Permalink Reply by IMADIYI OSAS EGHAREVBA on
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this is like a babber who claim there was no God, he said if there was then why are people suffering. suddenly he had some one said their are no babber in town, he said you lie cos i am one. them he was told if there was while are there poeple walking the street with thier hair unkept. he replied cos they never came to me for a clean cut. so he provided answer to this believe. every body see from where they stand the diffrent is perception.
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Permalink Reply by JIMOH OMEIZA TAIWO on
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Please, let forget the topic and forge ahead with another new one. Everybody knows that, there is no religions that preaches violence, all what is happening is PURE hatred and political.
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Permalink Reply by Shams O'Muyiwa on
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Wilfred: Where have you been that is a good defence of religion. In reality we cannot all agree on everything, but we must learn to tolerate our divergent beliefs. Those who do not believe in religion should tolerate those who chose to. Those who believe in one religion should tolerate those who do not and all religious leaders should ensure their religion is not hijacked by those with hidden agenda.
Well I'm sure people will pick you up on the statement that you are yet to read from both Bible and Quran where violence is advocated. Both scriptures encouraged what many might term "violent actions" like war or an eye for an eye etc as actioned by the prophets.
Let it be known that those religious scriptures served as spiritual guidance as well as constitution to manage societies. Therefore, since there was no separation between state and religion, the scriptures set out rules to manage and organise societies like our national constitutions today. No constitution is complete without setting out directions in terms of crime and punishment (eye for eye, cut of hands of thieves and execute murderers) as well as national defence against external aggression (like military actions like Jihad etc). This is the context within which religious books should be understood. Indeed, some misguided individuals could take on state responsibilities (jihad, vigilante etc) without authorities. Don't blame the religion, blame those individuals and their religious leaders should do something about it.
Wilfred Ogoma CHIME said:Nigeria is such a nice country where people accept anything they see,and brand it 'supereb'. However, let me start by asking both Angela 'the intellectual property thief', and the original author of the treatise if they actually understood the meaning of the term 'religion' .If they do, or, rather think so,then let them tell me the place of religion in the stated atrocities. Chrisianity preach love,peace,and forgiveness; likewiseIslam.I am yet to read a portion of the holy Bible or Qur'an that preach violence; rather,it preaches submission. The fact that Mohammed was forced into fighting wars during his time must not be misconstrued into suggesting that He preached violence. The situation prevalent at that time constrained Him into defending by attacking. The criminals are enemies to whatever chrstianity and Islam stand for, and can not be said to represent or, come close to what 'religion' (spiritual consistency) stand for.
I also do not think that my brother Onyemechi is abreast with the person and character of Malcolm X;an Islamic activist who never saw anything good in christianity and was unable to substanciate his postulations with any emperical evidence .
I therfore submit that those who are involved in this should recant same and tender public apology. This is pure HERESY.
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Permalink Reply by Hamzat Kadri on
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I applaud you Dr. Gbadebo for taking the path of honor for recognizing Angela's good intention of sharing the article with so many people. Angela brought you more glory on top of being the author of the article that generated spirited and diverse views and opinions because your name is no more obscured to so many people anymore. Your backing off from the chorus of anti-Angela commentators is highly commendable. This forum should not be turned into a dog-eat-dog arena of spitting fires at each other, and we should all learn to be cordial and respectful of each other when pointing out people's oversight, omission, mistakes or whatever. FG, please if you have more stuffs for the forum, let them out. Let others, the critics of Angela, show the same wisdom in "applauding her for showing courage when it matters."
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Permalink Reply by chuma obodoeze on
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If any of you here is ready for the Truth,there is no religion at all, there is only one true God, He is Yahweh and Yahweh is our salvation.Yahweh's message to mankind from the begining through all the prophets is that,He,Yahweh is the creator of the Universe and that all mankind should obey His word, worship and serve Him alone.Religion came into our world because mankind misunderstood what the creator wanted from mankind.The creator came in human form as Yeshua Messiah to save the whole world from their sins because of His love and maintained His message all over and all over that there is no other God, Savior, Lord but He, Yahweh alone.Nigerians has never been in the right of anything ever but quickly jumping into matters that they never understood it's root, for those who claims to be christians, they never know uptill now that there was never a Jesus as Messiah who lived in Israel and that jehovah can never be God of Israel or the creator of the Universe.All of you here are mistaking for just being religious that originated from devil the liar.
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Permalink Reply by aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa on
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What it does matter is that you're deluded and it doesent mean nothing to GOD if you dont belive in HIM or not he will exist without you but you wont...i can say this dont blame GOD for man doings for it is a deed of man and the way of men are sinfull.You are deluded.it doesesnt mean a thing if you and a million idiots dont belive in THE HOLY BIBLE and JESUS CHRIST,and before you came with such a smart thing read the bible first becouse if you didnt know its about peace and GOD yeah Glory to GOD from here to heaven and his son JESUS CHRIST THE MESSIAH
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Permalink Reply by Edwin Aka on
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Hi all
What an interesting discussion .
Lots of you are crucifying our dear sister Angela..
Even though, she mentioned the original source of her Article "IS RELIGION REALLY EVIL? - (originally published in Vanguard)". Hence I did not see any Plagiarism.
Knowing fully well there are different way one can make references.. Harvard etc..
Back to the topic .
Religion is Man made period. Religion can be Evil if enters into the wrong hand.
E.g When Galileo defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition(Roman Catholic Church), found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died prisonment.(Wiki)
"When it comes to b*******, big-time, major league b*******, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion.
No contest. No contest. Religion.
Religion easily has the greatest b******* story ever told.
Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day.
And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.
And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!" (George Carlin On Religion)
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Religion has nothing to do with Yahweh Elshaddai,the Only True God who Himself is Yeshua Messiah..People of this world used the word religion but that was never in accordance with the Word Of Yahweh the God of Israel and of all mankind.There is One and Only True God whose name is Yahweh who came to save mankind in the person of Yeshua Messiah and He has no equal..Yahweh so love the world that He saved it by all means by Himself for all His beloved sons and daughters on earth as whole.
Edwin Aka said:Hi all
What an interesting discussion .
Lots of you are crucifying our dear sister Angela..
Even though, she mentioned the original source of her Article "IS RELIGION REALLY EVIL? - (originally published in Vanguard)". Hence I did not see any Plagiarism.
Knowing fully well there are different way one can make references.. Harvard etc..
Back to the topic .
Religion is Man made period. Religion can be Evil if enters into the wrong hand.
E.g When Galileo defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition(Roman Catholic Church), found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died prisonment.(Wiki)
"When it comes to b*******, big-time, major league b*******, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion.
No contest. No contest. Religion.
Religion easily has the greatest b******* story ever told.
Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day.
And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do.
And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!" (George Carlin On Religion)
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Permalink Reply by Timi-Odiase Kings U. on
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All you have said poster is a FACT. Religion is a bane on the society. But we must not forget also that for a fact too there is one God but MANY misconception about this very GOD. For as must as there has been this one GOD, killings will definitely continue. What civilization should have done for us that we a failing to realize is that this religion was before it and will continue afterwards so, All must be conscientious to this noble FACT. What we really lack is it is enshrined in all the religions of the world is LOVE and it is the first commandment of commandments. i.e. YOU MUST LOVE YOUR GOD THEY GOD... YOU MUST LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS THY SELF. DO UNTO OTHERS WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO UNTO YOU. as simple as a b c . Yet Very difficult to do.
Our various religion have derailed and are no longer preaching this. They now preach self righteousness, love of money " and Back to sender lukeworm preaching. IF ALL OF THEM PREACH LOVE, this world would be a better place.
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Permalink Reply by edward chike on
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''Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.''
Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize winning Physicist.
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Permalink Reply by Amobi Edoh on
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Good article. I did not read all the replies to this article, but I want to point out that the leader of the Boko Haram sect was not killed by nigerian army. He died in police detention.
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