It is worth noting that every religion requires adherents to be true believers. This is a cardinal principle that ensures faith is unquestionable. As true as it might be, there are certain historical occurrences which cast doubt on blind faith and belief.
I am trying to imagine how those who murdered Galileo for his hypothesis that the earth was round, yet the religious thinking at that time was that the earth was flat must be feeling in the after life.
It must have been absurd for this fellows if they finally got to Heaven(if at all they made it there on account of murdering an innocent soul) and found out the truth, that Galileo was actually right!!!
Under such circumstances, do those people stand accused of murder? Faith is an aspect of religion, it is actually necessary to energize belief. However, faith can turn dangerous if it starts becoming blind. This is the reason we have seen prayers for resurrection of bodies that have undergone postmortem and organs removed, we have heard of people going atop hills with wings sewn and jumping to their deaths on account of faith.
This kind of faith is usually hinged on the perceptions of an influential person of leadership position within that religion.It is more often than not devoid of the actual teachings of such religion. For instance, if Christianity, it is said that no one knows the day nor the hour when the Son of Man shall descend, that he will come like a thief.
How on earth then can one believer allows him/herself to be led atop a hill to go to Heaven, or burn themselves to death like the case of David Queresh and many other such cases?
The answer lies in the fact that when faith becomes blind, it leads to fanaticism, when a religion harbours fanatics, it becomes a cult, the followers then start believing everything and anything the leaders say without question.
This usually starts slowly, it is a process of indoctrination which culminates in brainwash or programming. The result is a cult which delves dangerously onto the periphery of the teachings of that religion. The dogma is deliberately twisted to complete the indoctrination process and the eventual result is walking zombies.
As people of different religions, we need to watch for what our religions teach, cross check with the good books of our religions.
Religious dogma is open to misinterpretation especially by selfish clergymen, not all clergymen are Heaven bound nor do they adhere to the teachings to bring flock closer to God.As is said, the days of the end will see many such false prophets.
Otieno Sungu.
Juba-Southern Sudan.
This article calls to debate the very essence of existence. Most beliefs we hold dear to heart are without basis in reality. Yet they are the seat of prejudices and all types of biases. We asume superiority over ‘them’ and they don’t like ‘us’ because of our supposed superiorty (or riches). As a boy I believed the luos are the smartest among other Kenyas. They spoke english as englishmen do and some of them laughed like the whiteman. Jaramogi’s pet name by those around him was ‘odiero. apala wuod lando’. This may not be religeous but the mind make up to accept this type of thinking and then belief is identical. Once you believe in the superiority of some cause and relate that cause to a leader then there is your deity personified. A religeon or cult is born out of that unquestionable belief. The pope is infallible so was Malkio Ondeto, His Holiness John Pesa of the Holy Coptic Church and the list is endless. My point is freedom is resident in the ability to question all and any idea before adhering to it. Don’t give me the ‘dont -you- trust- me’ tired line of recruiting victims of suppression.