The phenomenon of how people still respect the sacredness and sanctity of their religious places of worship is a mystery and forces out the debate as to whether the church, mosque or any religious edifice can be used to enforce discipline and order in the larger society.
Some people are of the view that religion is being used as a tool by some superior elite group to keep the masses in perpetual ignorance, poverty and slavery of some sort. They always quote the old theory propounded by the well known ancient Psychological and Political Scholar, Carl Marx who said “Religion is the opium of the masses”. This saying suggests that the ordinary mass of people are being manipulated by religion. However, there is an expanded perspective from a scholar known as Zafer Yilmaz.
In his article titled “Religion As The Opium of The People”, Yilmaz believes that Carl Marx’s short writings on religion stay at the very center of his critique of modern political and economic relations, and of the dominant form of political community in modern society. This means, Marx made the popular statement about religion being the opium of the masses based on the political and economic situation at the time when politicians were oppressing the poor masses and covering their acts with religious quotes to win the sympathy and ignorant loyalty of the people because they believed so much in religion.
Religion is defined by the belief in one supreme God and has principles that keep believers in perfect order and moral balance. A person’s religion often determines to a significant extent his or her morality, worldview, self-image, attitudes towards others, and overall personal identity.
There have been several historical events where faithfuls of certain religious groups were persecuted, tortured, imprisoned and even murdered by political authorities who wanted them to renounce their religions. In the first years after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Muslims enjoyed relative religious freedom in that country. However, during the chaotic early years of the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1969, mosques were defaced, copies of the Quran were destroyed, Muslims were prohibited from going on the religious pilgrimage of hajj and expressions of all religious beliefs were banned by the Communist Red Guards.
In the early 4th century, the Roman Empire persecuted Christians. We hear of stories of Christians who were stoned to death, fried in hot pans of oil, crucified or hanged just because they proclaimed the gospel. The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians’ legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices.
We still hear of such religious attacks on mosques and churches by extremists in the news but these kinds of attacks and persecutions have never been able to stop people from worshipping in churches and mosques. There is a mysterious attachment people still have with their religion and that cord cannot be broken.
For instance in ancient Rome, the persecution failed to check the rise of the church. By 324, Constantine was sole ruler of the empire, and Christianity had become his favored religion. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, the majority of the empire’s Christians avoided punishment.
In his introduction to Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Marx declares that “religious suffering is at the same time an expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the spirit of a spiritless situation .” Religion structures the emotional dispositions of its believers as a system of belief, imagination and meaning.
It is at this juncture significant to declare that religion can still be used to restore social order and peace in a world that has seen so much hatred, violence and chaos. Believers of any religious group have so much respect and allegiance to their religious authorities that they strive to abide by the teachings, doctrines and principles taught them.
It is important for all religious leaders to understand the allegiance of their worshippers and strive to inculcate in them the need to allow the teachings they learn on morality and peace reflect in their daily lives in order to make the world a better place. It is of no use if people play sainthood only in church or the mosque but misbehave when they are out there in the secular world. That would be interpreted as hypocrisy.
It is about time religious leaders enforced the principles of applying the wisdom and discipline they teach their followers to the world because the humans who go to these places of worship are the same ones who mingle out there with those of the secular system on political, economic and social levels.
BY Mahir Adam Appiedu