“No weapon formed against you shall prosper…” (Isaiah 54:17)

Unless that weapon is in the hands of those you are told to trust to lead, guide and mentor you for the ‘better’.

The weaponising of religion – Christianity in this context – is a real thing. Many have varied opinions of religion – its successes. Its failures. Its pitfalls and purpose. One which stands out to me is how the very leaders of what is pitted to be a holy, welcoming, uplifting place use religion to manipulate the wills and thoughts of their believers.

One such way that this is done, is using the Word of God to engender believers to doubt their very being. To question and resent who they are under the guise of being something they clearly are not.

Religion can so heavily be rooted in denial of self to a point of self-resentment. Now, if anyone knows anything about meditation, this is contrary to the premise of acceptance. Meditation teaches us to accept what is – even though uncomfortable, unpretty or painful. Because only when we accept can we release and get on with our lives. Acceptance leads to peace. Denial leads to anxiety.

Acceptance leads to peace. Denial leads to anxiety.

So it begs the question – “do some religious leaders benefit from our anxiety as believers?”

I believe so (pun intended). In feeling unworthy and lesser than, we are told to look elsewhere for an example of what is right. Sometimes to Jesus, but often to religious leaders who dictate what we should wear, how we should conduct ourselves and how much we ought to tolerate. The latter being a very scary sentiment which took a lot of inner work for me to awaken to its dangers.

We see this in the Netflix documentary, ‘Dancing for the Devil‘, the leader of this ‘church’ created a very deep sense of self-judgement, mistrust and co-dependence in his church so followers could see no way out. Some are still stuck in there to this day.

This is an extreme example of the dangers of religion to the unknowing. The unfortunate thing is religious groups often target the young and naive to mould them to what they want them to be – stripping them of their sense of self. And, in the process, tarnishing the reputation of what was rooted in goodness and light.

One such way that this manipulation is conducted is through sermons. Another is through prayer.

Do you know how warped it is to have people on bended knee praying against ‘evil spirits’ of ‘disobedience’ and ‘selfishness’ etc? When, the reality is, the disobedience could be a cry for clarity or help? When setting boundaries is portrayed and punished as selfishness? When autonomy is being stripped of you and, at the end of the prayer, you are expected to ‘Amen’ your surrender and agreement.

Do you know how much of a mind F* that is?

This then filters down to families and inner circles, especially in African households. Where you can’t be yourself at home in fear of discipline being dealt through the Word of God, passive-aggressive prayer – and if that doesn’t work – the belt because, you know “spare the rod and spoil the child“. Where you lose your voice and sense of self in order to placate elders as being wiser, all-knowing and the just controllers of your life. I understand it is done at times because they don’t know any better or feel like it’s the only option. It still does not make it OK.

Christianity – inherently – is not rooted in evil. It is rooted in love. Light. Acceptance. Kindness. Open-mindedness. Community. Collaboration. Freedom.

So how far have we distorted this as humans? It is really scary. And twisted.

Hence the deception. The lies. And heightened ‘misdemeanours’ when – it becomes too much – followers seek to break out in rebellion because they can no longer tolerate the cards they’ve been dealt.

The world stays throwing darts at us each and every day, unprovoked. Why then do we throw more darts at each other in our purported religious communities? There are definitely bigger fish and more important battles to face. Like adultery, misogyny, violence, inhumanity, racism, patriarchy – just to name a few.