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 chris ozougwu on
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Girl, you are the toughest for the year 2010 but I have a note of warning for you. For if it were in the north you were based doing this ignoble write-ups, they will sanction you and probably send you to an untimely beyond by now. You are thorough in your presentation but don`t forget in a hurry that RELIGION IS THE OPIUM OF THE MASSES. When we say opium, it connotes that it intoxicates and could make a man do what he does not intend to do, after all that is what happens with drunkards and those that push dope: some sort of mental delusion.
Perhaps you have not heard of Rev Jim Jones of Guyana? This man terminated the lives of 6000 faithfuls and this he did in the name of religion. Religion is fantasy and for those caught up by the spirit of extremism, the sky is the limit to what they can do in that disguise.
In religion, you don`t question anything you do, instead you believe. There was a certain christian sect in Nigeria that preached so much innocence that you burn your electronic gadgets the day you become a member, yet the same group uses satellite downlinks to preach today. It is all a world full of double standards.
Finally, if you are good girl, you will be good and if you are bad, you can be the pope or whosoever, you will still be BAD.
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Permalink Reply by F G on
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Angela,
You have earned my respect. It takes a lot of guts to take responsibilty and tender an apology. You are forgiven. Your intentions were good, that is to share the articles with as many people as possible. I applaud you for showing courgae when it matters. Bravo. Remain blessed. FG.
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Muyiwa,
You have clearly demonstrated that you know your facts and what you are talking about and for that you have earned my respect. I appreciate your intelligent contribution to this discussion. Your facts are backed by facts. I see your point of view and respect this. As for Angela, she is completely forgiven. We should let this go. Thanks. FG.
Shams O'Muyiwa said:i am baffled that Angela has not responded and in clear terms apologised. Whereas, I am inclined to think her action was an oversight or act of ignorance, her silence and absence of apologies to original author and this forum could lead to other conclusions.
F.G: Well, sorry that your articles has been spread is this way. However, I want to pick you up on the content. Since you have published this article and possibly sent it far and wide and I want to also assumed that you are an academician adequately guided by ethics of research, can you please justify your claim that "...religious wars have killed more people than AIDS, malaria, famine, holocaust all put together..." Is this true? I didn't see your footnote to justify this fanciful but false claims. This is exactly what the security agencies with big-budgets want us to believe to take away all our civil liberties, justify their big-brother agenda and subjugate our intellect.
According to Wiki: "The total number of casualties in World War I, both military and civilian, were about 37 million: 16 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 6.8 million civilians." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties)
Further, "World War II casualty statistics vary greatly. Estimates of total dead range from 50 million to over 70 million. The sources cited on this page document an estimated death toll in World War II of 62 to 78 million, making it the deadliest war ever. ...Civilians killed totaled from 40 to 52 million, including 13 to 20 million from war-related disease and famine. Total military dead: from 22 to 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties)
And some statistics on Malaria: "Malaria is one of the planet's deadliest diseases and one of the leading causes of sickness and death in the developing world. According to the World Health Organization there are 300 to 500 million clinical cases of malaria each year resulting in 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths. Children aged one to four are the most vulnerable to infection and death. Malaria is responsible for as many as half the deaths of African children under the age of five. The disease kills more than one million children - 2,800 per day - each year in Africa alone. In regions of intense transmission, 40% of toddlers may die of acute malaria."
This list might help you with your calculations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_disasters_by_death_toll
It will be interesting to see your facts: the list of death caused by religion. By the way, you sinisterly refer to the Nazi's gassing of the Jews as if it is part of religions' fault. That event and the world wars were not caused by religion. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_II)
Indeed religion has been used to cause death and destruction and these are inexcusable and I agree with the rest of your article. But don't let us unintentionally make religion the devil it is not and give munition to people who hate religion anyway for whatever reason.
F G said:Angela Ofomola, You should be really ashamed of yourself! This is plagiarism at its best, and people go to jail for this. You completely lifted an article written by Dr Olufowobi Gbadebo and took credit for this. That is called stealing and it is very disgraceful. It is one thing to share articles with friends but give credit to the original author; it is another thing to steal and claim credit I will suggest you pull this down immediately or face legal actions Thanks. Fowobi Gbadebo, MD.
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Permalink Reply by Hamzat Kadri on
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Now that Angela has spoken, I really don't see any need to get uncivil with her anymore. Oh my God, some people are writing theses and dissertations on plagiarism already. She brought the message to the limelight for many of us (though some of the "executors" might have read it somewhere else before). The topic/message generated different points of views and participation, probably beyond the imagination of the article's author. Kudos to the author of the message that Angela conveyed to this online community and I really don't think that she laid any claim to the authorship of the writer-up. As far as am concerned, Angela deserves a "thank you" from the author for beaming a shining light on his article which was obscured to many of us. Instead of spending time and effort in trying to pull Angela down, that energy should be focused on bringing relevant issues to the table for discussion. Don't get me wrong, I don't condone plagiarism at all, but in this case Angela is not guilty of it. Please Angela, if you have or come across relevant issues to share, I encourage you to throw them out for people to chew on.
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Permalink Reply by JIMOH OMEIZA TAIWO on
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Hello House, You people should leave Angela alone! If you have an article that most important and can do public good why cant you post it. Am not saying what Angela did was right but, she saw that the article is very important to the community that is why she did what is suppose to be done.
Am appealing to the Original author to please forgive her.
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Permalink Reply by Akamelu Michael on
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This is actually a case study. I willingly kept my eyes on the discussion of Angel's topic , commenting little , with a view to clarifying my proposition about the behavior of an average Nigerian. My proposition has accused most Nigerians as unfocused people who can be easily be distracted by any form of characteristic nuisance. Our political leaders are very intelligent enough to identify this behavior in us and they use it as tactise to do whatsoever they want in the office. For example, they may bring up a case where the governor of a state in Nigeria is kidnapped and people will abandon their duties and be talking about that. Before they would bring up a conclusion on the cause of the kidnap, they will spark off another issue where the Senate and the house of Rep are dragging for the venue of budget presentation. But actually, these politicians are using these issues to raise dust knowing that an average Nigerian can be easily distracted. When their job is done, then they would be transporting the public money from their state and local govt puss to their individual puss. This is why Angela brought up a critical issue that worth discussing and the distracting minds abandoned the main crux of the matter and turned the topic to another APOCALYPSE. I am sorry if I have wronged any person in this my proposition.
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IN ALL RAMIFICATIONS, Religion is not of EVIL at all. Whether
christian or Islam no one out of these two religion that is preraching violence, if you look at 'ISLAM' itself it means 'PEACE', so, one can differentiate bewteen evil and peace. If you look at what have been happening in the North, the crises, kano, Jos, Bauchi, etc they are fighting for their own selfishness which will later tranform to religious crises.
PLEASE REGION IS NOT OF EVIL, IT IS HATRED AND POLITICS c** bad governance as well as insecurity in Nigeria. I dont see any reason why Hausa and cannot live with other tribes without conflict among them, all these have been caused by HAUSAS, thank God the elite in the northern states knew that the problem is from them.
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Angela, dont allow people to pull you down the track of this honourable online community, as far as you are member of this site, you can post anything that is of beneift to the public in genral not limit to house alone.
Please Angela, keep it up.
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Permalink Reply by emmanuel emeka mordi on
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I will like to appreciate miss angela ofomola for this wonderful topic on( religion really evil?).In my own contribution i will like to say that alot of people prepertuate alot of evil under the name of allah or jehovah.According to one of my muslem friend,there is what is known as holy anger(holy evil), when the bible says that do not allow the sun go down on your anger;in otherwards when you are anggry, dont let it stay for so long(2min).
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Permalink Reply by Olusheni Fredrick-Owoaje on
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Michael, All we are saying is whatever anyone is puting in the public domain that is not originally written by us should be properly referenced to acknowledge the original owner of the intellectual property. Since the owner of the write-up has forgiven Angela, I will just suggest we BACK-OFF!
Akamelu Michael said:This is actually a case study. I willingly kept my eyes on the discussion of Angel's topic , commenting little , with a view to clarifying my proposition about the behavior of an average Nigerian. My proposition has accused most Nigerians as unfocused people who can be easily be distracted by any form of characteristic nuisance. Our political leaders are very intelligent enough to identify this behavior in us and they use it as tactise to do whatsoever they want in the office. For example, they may bring up a case where the governor of a state in Nigeria is kidnapped and people will abandon their duties and be talking about that. Before they would bring up a conclusion on the cause of the kidnap, they will spark off another issue where the Senate and the house of Rep are dragging for the venue of budget presentation. But actually, these politicians are using these issues to raise dust knowing that an average Nigerian can be easily distracted. When their job is done, then they would be transporting the public money from their state and local govt puss to their individual puss. This is why Angela brought up a critical issue that worth discussing and the distracting minds abandoned the main crux of the matter and turned the topic to another APOCALYPSE. I am sorry if I have wronged any person in this my proposition.
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Permalink Reply by john ojamiren on
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wao! this a wondaful peice. thank God for your likes.i love ur conclusion' few deranged criminals using the name of God to commit atrocities'. its great. these guys are indeed nuts.thanks for bringing this to us. its a job well done
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Permalink Reply by Wilfred Ogoma CHIME on
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Valentine Chinonso Onyemachi said:A really good one. You remind me of the words of Malcom X: " Christianity is an instrument of subjugation coated with religious ornaments and sanctimonious rhetorics, to delude the level headed... "
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