INDOCTRINATION

"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes naturally to the human heart than its opposite"- Nelson Mandela

  

I never realised the strength of this word(indoctrination) until yesterday when a group of people ganged up against me because I am in the minority.They thought that just because they are in the majority,they are right.Some couldn't even have an argument but resulted to insult,name calling and total disrespect.Some messaged me privately with hate words.Good ole was only having a good laugh.

How did we get here?
When we were born,We were devoid of any religious belief.But as we were growing up,we were introduced to various ideologies and religion being one of them.We went to school from Monday to Friday and we sang hallelujah every morning.We waved our hands to Jehovah because we were told that he is loving and cares for little children, afterall we knew nothing..As we were progressing,the bible was handed to us to read.We were  taught religious studies where chapters and verses are often cherrypicked to suit the purpose of a topic.We were told to be humble,prayerful,to love and not steal.We were taught the ten commandments.
Now when we started reading the bible ourselves and we saw some gross writings that can best be described as inhumane,we asked questions in school,at home and inside the church.We asked questions like who created God,the best answer we were given was that nobody created God,we also asked why God killed people but said humans shouldn't,again they said he can't be questioned.Later we were spanked for being stubborn and for being too inquisitive.We were scared to continue asking these questions for fear of being beaten.so we sticked to what we know.

We got to secondary institution and its was still the same thing.Some of us stopped thinking about it altogether.We have accepted that since everybody says it is true then it is but some couldn't  just believe though we kept going to church but the questions still lingered in our minds even though we were afraid to ask them.

Now in tertiary institution,we are alittle bit free to ask these questions but all our mates are either Christians or Muslims who are ready to threaten us with hellfire,who are ready to disown you because you have a different ideology and because you want an answer to the questions that you are asking.They forget the love that Jesus Christ preached and they also start quoting abusive scriptures.They pretend as if they love you when all they do is hate you for "causing dissension".The abuse can sometimes be too much and might result to emotional trauma.Then you have a feeling you have had again that are you the only one who is right?No, if all of them say it is true then its must be....you become confused again.They usually end such parade with God loves you, but they don't!!!.They thought you are an "interesting character"and not a truth seeker and most of them cannot even answer one question thrown at them without reading it from the bible.The age of reason is lost! All these from colleagues and coursemates whom you are supposed to be thinking of how to develop and better your community.

Ideologies can be very dangerous.A man who committed murder,stole,raped and pillaged might still go to paradise if he accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and saviour on his deathbed  but a man who lived an upright life will go to hell if he doesn't accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and saviour.A dangerous ideology....giving us freehand to do as we wish because we are in the "time of grace".Guess what....people really believe this because they have been told over time and time again.Repeated lies often become the truth.The bible says "but if ye know the truth,ye shall be set free".

How to get away from here?

*To think critically and lets empathy take control.Afterall morality doesn't come from religion but from empathy

*As a parent,avoid enforcing religion on kids...give them arrays of books(including religious books) to read and allow them to make a choice

*Government should declare neutrality of religion in Education.This means that there is no more singing of halleluyah in schools assembly ground.If pupils  were to be taught CRS and IRS in school...they should also be taught how to think critically

*An experiment can be made;children can be separated into 2 groups.The first group should be indoctrinated into any religion.Into believing without evidence.The second group should be taught critical thinking.After some years,lets see who will better their community.The indoctrinated or the free thinker.

  TAIWO IBRAHIM writes from AAUA
  E-mail:linpreccy@gmail.com