Article originally written by me and posted on my brother's blog: :owww.olivernwankwo.com/guest-posts/




I was having an argument with a
colleague a few weeks back. Bored and
unable to get him to view the bone of
contention from my own perspective. I
decided to let the argument die. But how was I to end the debate without beingthe loser and appearing not to know what I wanted to say? So I said to him:

“We don’t know everything. God does
and only he can explain things beyond
the scope of our limited understanding”
Of course the debate died a natural
death without either one of us being the
loser and our individual egos intact.

This illustration shows, to an extent, how much dependent the human mind is on the super natural and why we cannot
exist wholesomely without religion and
all its tenets. At this point I will like to
state that I am a skeptic -a baptized
skeptic, if I might add. Regardless of how much doubt I have about the existence of God, I still agree, from a sociological perspective, that our existence is anchored on something which I cannot name, but for the purpose of this article I shall call it God and religion.

As a rebellious first year student of social science, angry at the world for no just reason and dabbling in the sticky river of moral justice, perfect world and
socialism (even communism), I formed a theory that I could neither substantiate or verify the accuracy. The theory saw religion as a system set up by a group of wise government men to control the people. To force the acceptance of law and subsequent relinquishing of certain parts of human freedom and action. Strangely in all my young wisdom buoyed by the writing of German economist, Karl Marx, I had failed to consider the ‘universality’ of religion and Its variability from place to place.

No matter how primitive, salvage,
backward or underdeveloped a society or country is, a form of religion must exist. And it serves to lubricate the wheel of the socioeconomic and political activities of each society. With some societies basing their laws, in totality, on the tenets of the religion they profess. Religion in itself becomes a social concept not just in its modus operandi but in its function which may include, but not exclusive to, bringing family and community together in spirit and in thought, serving as a source of law and social control, supposedly linking man to an ultimate being who hears, sees and cares for his children. An eternal bond between man and God. A bond that satisfies the longing of man and the sweet taste that someone, like big brother, is watching eternally. Because human life is inundated with
uncertainties, that science in all its
wisdom cannot dissipate or give a
futuristic explanations, humanity has no
option but to seek recourse to a being,
who for all intent and purposes, His
existence cannot be verified much less
explain.

Closing our eyes in prayer and in direct
communication to heaven provides a
source of security (being a basic human
need) and although prayers may not be
answered immediately, man become
more confident that someone
somewhere had actually listened -even
though it cannot be proved.

It becomes convenient to define religion
as a communion between people who
aspire for the same things bearing in
mind the similarity of their societal
values, norm, culture and community
sense (which is more often than not
influenced by the religion they profess). I take more liberty in saying that religion is the identity of every society.

It becomes imperative to say that
religion is a necessary part of a society,
its development, function, future and
maintenance. Due to its wholesome
appearance hinged, more or less, on the
doctrines of holiness and truth, religion
becomes an important tool for social
control. Serving to curtail the excesses of one’s thought and actions. And if
peradventure, a thought or idea
becomes ingrained in the subconscious,
the fear of sanctions (both spiritual and
physical) which will be imposed for such
transgression keeps a person in check.

The Igbo’s of south eastern Nigeria prior
to the colonial interference in their
mode of governance had a system of
government that primarily resonated
around God (chukwu) and the deities
who were viewed as an mediators
between man and almighty God
(chukwu). The fear of the wrath of
deities, who were believed to punish in
terrible and swift ways like thunder
strike, famine, drought, locust invasion
etc- kept activities of errant individual’s
in check. Communal decision revolved
around the tenets of chukwu’s teaching
through his priest and seers.

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed
creature, the heart of a heartless world,
and the soul of soulless conditions. It is
the opium of the people”- German
economist Karl Marx wrote.

Religious institutions such as the church,
mosque, shrine etc becomes social
institution and structure, which like
democracy is built for the people and by
the people. It does its function by being
the conscience of the society and in a
way making religion a veritable tool for
control of human behaviour and society
at large. Thus manipulate religion, which by extention is like manipulating the security of people, then you control the people.

Because it is an accepted truism that
human being is fallible and we cannot
answer certain question dangling and
taunting and challenging our existence,
we begin to hope in something and have
a change in the direction of the pointers
of our faith towards God and religion.
Thus we long for something larger than
life in which we can lay our problems at
its feet. A sign of hope that the unknown
tomorrow will be blessed. Something to
believe in as a sign of our redemption
and something we can trust as the hope
of the future.

In his most darkest moment, when it
seems his world is back pedaling instead of going forward, the most confirmed of atheist begins to believe in something ( Something superior and controller of all things and maker of all things). He may
not necessary call it God, he can
conveniently termed it ‘nature’. But he is
afraid, frustrated and in need of a sign of hope and something to believe in. So he goes down on his knees in prayer. His being soon finds release and peace as he willingly embraces his new faith. The release comes not because of the divine but because the over burdened
subconcious begins to relax as it upload
or rather onloads its burden on
something superior.

Finally, in some ways, religion is the
answer to the problems of mankind. Not
that it explicitly states solution to the
principle of projectile motion or other
scientific, sociological and psychological
problems rather it provides a solution by advocating its own version of don’t ask, just believe. And because man needs an answer to everything –and man mustn’t
know everything-, religion cautions man
not to tamper with what the Gods hasn’t
made clear to him. Religion does this by
making its message largely esoteric and
wrapped in a huge foil of philosophical
and theological reasoning that leaves the brain of mere mortals constantly afraid, in awe, and in respect of whatever it is that religion hides. An attempt to unravel this mystery -which may not actually be a mystery but an ordinary thing wrapped in mysticism to awe the human mind- leads to sanction by the religion and its representation.

Despite the fact that we rejoice at being
the dominant of all living and non-living
things, humans find comfort at the
thought that there is someone bigger
than us. Someone watching over us and
eternally on guard to protect us. Thus,
religion came into being to fill this
vacuum and religion will be here to fill
the vacuum as a path to the creator,
protector and lover of man and other
things.

Atheist are anti-human

saintvc:
Atheist are anti-human

So also is commenting without reading

Cc: Ymodulus