RELIGIOUS DOGMA IN RATIONALE PERSPECTIVE:

They say when one person is delusioned, its madness and when many are delusioned its religion. You cannot put this better if you are a keen observer of today’s religious society. Sometimes some people take me wrong when I hurl asperity on the so called opium of masses. I have tried severally and every trial I make attracts dogmatists who come out breathing fire. The passion with which they come out is incredibly scarily. They might make you feel headed for limbo the next moment you raise your finger.

  

My little experience has taught me not to question faith but my rationale advises me otherwise. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use at the cost of the deceptive heart. I am a rationalist who believes in the Bible the same way I belief in the sun not just because I often see it but by it, I am able to see all other things. That is not to mean that the Holly Quran, the Bhagavad-Gita, the book of Mormon and assorts are lesser of books.

We believe in supernatural beings for spiritual nourishment that eventually makes us better people, not holier than though as fundamentalists would suggest. Our spirituality should not make us at any point stop applying our rationality. It is obvious that you cannot trust your spiritual element over your rational element. Accepting this simple fact is in itself rational. That is my rationale but all I see, all I hear every day is dogmatic religious selfishness which does not make things any better but worse.

Rationale is not selfish; it inspires love and understanding for all humanity. Rationale is not the opium of masses but a gift for every individual human being. Rationale does not segregate the human race. In religion, I have seen people kill in the line of defending their faith. I have seen religion impoverish people; I have seen it turning people against each other. I have seen religion selectively prohibiting people from intermarrying. Some have fought each other for superiority, power and control. That is not love, it is cancerous selfishness.

In religion, sect groups have emerged and caused anarchy in societies. The Mungikis the Al-Shababs, and the Al-Qaida of this world have something to do with religion, don’t they? Albinos are being hunted and killed in Tanganyika by some believers for spiritual remedy, that’s religion for you. How moving would religion be had it united the world and not divided it. How encouraging would it be had it been one and not segregated and confusing as it is today. How amazing would it be had it inspired love for all and not hatred for some as it is eminently evident today? Quite frequently, religious fire begets ashes but occasionally it spawns more fires. I will stick to my rationale.

By Duke Mwancha.