Religion is a tool of oppression

| Wednesday October 15, 2014 16:08

However, the rise of new religious sects and urban preachers who wear silky suits and have shiny curly hair has led to religion losing its significance.

Modern preachers are using it as a tool of psychological oppression to milk members of their congregations of their hard earned cash.

These pastors are taking advantage of religion’s teachings and functions of socialisation to playing psychological stunts that make one to believe that their teachings are legit. By so doing these new school clergymen are oppressing the minds of the masses, in shot these pastors are using religion for financial gain.

German born scholar Karl Marx has stated that religion is an opium of the masses and even though he was explaining it in an economical sense his theory simply illustrates how certain individuals could use religion to brain wash masses especially the low class in order to enrich themselves.

If you take a close look at today’s clergy man all they preach about is the ‘give, give, give you will receive in plenty gospel, poor congregants have been brainwashed to the extent that they just give, give, give all their wealth to the “man of God”

Some have even donated their retirement homes to the clergymen.

After reading and understanding Marx’s perspective on religion one will be quick to realise that new school pastors are nothing but oppressors who are in the game for money.

A good number of these modern   pastors live large, spend lavishly while their followers are eating crumbs for supper. While they do not put a gun to a congregant’s head to submit all his wealth, their tactics of making false promises that “giving will bring more” might have equal effects.

Jesus himself shared a few loaves of bread and fish with a multitude of followers that were gathered at his sermon. He did not take from them.

Thousands and thousands of people have been deceived by pastors some even save money to travel miles beyond their borders and spend money worshiping and giving offerings of large sums of money to the pastors.

Pastors such as TB Joshua, ZCC’s Barnabas Lekganyane and Pastor Chris are some of the world’s wealthiest clergymen.

While most of their followers remain poor and worship under trees these clergymen have made it into Forbes rich list. This scenario gives more sense to Marx’s theory.  Add to that the fact that some of these pastors are proven sex pests then you have a really exploitative environment in the church.

It is believed that controversial prophet Mboro performs sexual acts on his female congregants as a way of healing them. In one of the incidents the prophet is said to have plunged his fingers into a women’s private parts to banish demons that would have possessed them. Under normal circumstances one would expect these women to object to such an act but because they would be under religious duress they accept it.

What used to be a tool of maintaining order in the society and instill norms and values is now a tool of oppression used by the capitalists to oppress the masses. Religion has been changed into a money making scheme by the new school pastors who use their charming skills to blind fold a number of individuals.

 

Dumisani Ncube

Gaborone