By By Philip Amiola
I have observed with strong feelings of embarrassment, the degree to which people can be so enslaved by religion that they would go to great lengths to defend their religious views.

People have been known to mutilate their bodies and engage in other forms of unseemly behaviour in the name of religion. Some members of a religious sect even go as far as committing such heinous crimes as arson, murder and rape all in the name of religion! How debased can the human mind be to commit such dastardly acts in the name of God! Such is the power of religion to condition people’s minds. As I pondered events surrounding Pope Benedict’s resignation and misleading rumors of his subsequent conversion to Islam, I was awestruck at the magnitude of influence wielded by religious personages and religion itself.

A classic illustration of what religion can do to people’s minds is a story which recently made the rounds in Nigeria about a baby who was born clutching a copy of the al-Qur’an from the womb! I first got wind of this news on an online forum for university students where I expected the story to be greeted with some skepticism, but to my dismay, the supposed intellectuals fell for it hook line and sinker. With such comments as “Allah is mighty!” my friends went all the way against every principle of nature to prove that the “supernatural incident” was, among other things, an evidence of the greatness of Allah and a warning of impending judgement to the infidels.

I had earlier read a similar story about a commuter bus being caught in an inferno with everything destroyed and all the passengers roasted to death while a copy of the Holy Bible remained untouched by the fire. It’s amazing how quickly we employ such misguided stories as groundless evidence to support our faith. Religion is indeed the opium of the people! Now, I’m not disputing the fact that such incidents could have happened by chance or careful manipulation, but it defies all sense of justice and truth to attribute them to an act of God. Perhaps it would have been a more plausible story if the Bible had saved the vehicle from burning and the lives of the passengers from being wasted. Truth be told; the Bible and the Quran in and of themselves are just like any other book. You may not really get the raison d’être of any book simply by reading the letters. To grasp the message, you must understand the spirit of the author.

It is high time we stopped fooling ourselves and subjecting ourselves to needless mental torture by means of propagandist ideas and religious hype. With the heightened awareness of the supernatural world that has characterized the past decade globally, one will have to be either sincerely ignorant or deliberately dishonest to deny the existence of God. But God and religion are not the same! Religion does not make us relevant before God. True religion is a vital relationship with God which causes His life to be reflected in us and through us as we personify His attributes, the core of which is love. We need not discard logic to substantiate our religion or faith. Faith and logic can actually agree. Our life of faith must be a response to God’s power at work in us, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by anyone, regardless of who they are.

Philip Amiola is a teacher, writer and a campaigner of empowerment. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

http://247nigerianewsupdate.com/god-is-not-a-muslim-hes-not-a-christian-either-by-philip-amiola/

Wow, a fine skeptic in the making.

Logicboy03: Wow, a fine skeptic in the making.

Nothing like scepticism here. If religion and logic cannot coexist then why did God himself said he created man in His image and likeness? Any religion with doctrines bedevilled in spiriticism smacks of human invention and manipulation. I totally agree with the source.

Everfrank: Nothing like scepticism here. If religion and logic cannot coexist then why did God himself said he created man in His image and likeness? Any religion with doctrines bedevilled in spiriticism smacks of human invention and manipulation. I totally agree with the source.

Calm down. I dont believe in religion either.

Also look up the meaning of "skeptic"

This is one of the reasons I enjoy Nairaland. We still have some brilliant minds here not religious bigots

What really is the defination of religion? If it is the act of believeing and worshiping a god and acting according to some obligations expected to be defined/sanctioned by their god, can we assume atheists assume themselves to be god-whereby they define what obligations they want for themselves, and live in their own world as they want to? ......its just a thought but i think there must be a defination foir religion and even those who claim they dont belong to any already created one for themselves (those that dont believe)

The world was made somehow, sometimes and the pattern of things dont make it look like a fluke. Trying to establish a reason for creation and understanding there is a Maker for these beautiful entity is just common sense.

Does it make sense for Man, with the claim of being the most intelligent creature on earth to assume he has no responsibility to this creator? It is possible, yes but does it make sense for man to assume that? Imagine an organisation having a leader who thinks he has no obligation!........ MAN IS LIKE A LEADER AMONG CREATIONS

These and many other things are what a reasonable human should ponder about. then think if there are answers to his questions.

Religion has answers to so many questions but it has also proven to be rivalry (though we will wonder why if the target is a relationship with the Creator). But the fact is it does not make religion less relevant in the Life of a reasonable man.

If religion tries to define who the creator is with the outcome of one creator for every religion, it is only reasonable for Man- if he is really intelligent to find out who really is this creator, what is the true religion, and what is the essence of creation. If there truely is a cre3ator, then miracle should not be doubted. but logic, human reasoning, use of intellect is important in sorting out this puzzle.

@ OP, you know what you expect of religion if truely there should be one. I think it should be championed towards peaceful coexistence (and Man with the best of characted is an important factor for this). To know the right religion is hard due to the rivalry created betwen them today. A group generate information to decieve people about the other, a group kill the other... the atrocities are just endless so it is important for a seeker of truth to do a personal and holistic research with informaton in its purest form.

(how can a civil right activist come to lagos and with the intention of knowing what is done there immediately. In that quest he goes to the "PDP" to get information about what the rulling party "AC" does and based his conclussion on that? While the rivalry group will want to give a wrong impression, the group itself will want to glorify itselve, so it is important for such person to get botn information and live in Lagos a while to confirm which is true. It is important to live it himselve and experience it)

I believe there is a reason for existence and i hope we all perform to expectation.

.....live happily, enjoy yourselve and dont inconvenience your neighbor..... as the most intelligent, find out your responsibility. at least confirm there is none!

like the topic, God is not a muslim nor a christian but i think we all should believe that if there is God, a creator, he must have expectations.