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05.01.2019 Feature Article

Two Wrongs Might Make A Right In A Fictitious Jungle

The AuthorThe Author
05.01.2019 LISTEN

In a fictitious and fake jungle of eat-or-be-eaten, with countless ungovernable and untouchable creatures, two wrongs may make a right. Let’s get it clear: you are going to hell according to my religion; I will go to hell according to your religion; thus we are all going to hell according to someone’s religion. It, then, appears reasonable if we make friends with one another so that we can share together our pains in hell.

The common danger that looms large on the horizon, today, is the product of the laxity of our laws plus the laxity of our law enforcement agencies to enforce law and order. It is the inability of present and past governments to underscore the thin line between State and religion. In recent times, in Ghana, the depth of fear and panic is the metric for judging the success of our prophets. What a pity! Maybe if we identify that our character and behavior is what trigger the manifestation of the greatness that God has kept in us, we could weaken or break the bond or nexus between us and the cynics who cash in from the fear and panic of the upper echelons or the men in positions of power. We could also retract the allegiance that we pay to violent youths whom we mistakenly think are the forces behind our political victory.

Let’s face it, throughout ages the Negro appears to have evolved no organized and celebrated religious creed. Yet with the courage of a hustler and the spirit of a fighting lion, the Negro has done far more than Napoleon could do to impose the beliefs brought to him (Negro)—if not forced on him—by the ‘superior’ races on his fellow Negros. Before I conclude on this, let’s address this: what makes a man believes that it is his inalienable right to foresee, and loftily, and publicly herald the death of a senior political leader? We all know the answer. But the question is why are the law enforcers being gagged, for so long, from commenting on religious practices that have continuously caused fear and panic in the citizenry? The deafening silence is a tacit consent that two wrongs can make a right, at least in a fictitious jungle. I will like to believe so. But in a potential banana republic should we vilify the irate youths who stand on the deficiency of the law enforcement system to redress evitable challenges in a way that they (the irate youths) understand? As a patriot who sees peace as the most vital amenity in human society, I will choose to vilify and praise them (the irate youths) in equal measure, but will criticize completely our institutions mandated to make laws and those expected to enforce same.

There is this esoteric knowledge that we fail to uncover which could help us control the manner in which we flaunt our religious creeds and how we seek to shove our beliefs down the throat of others— a posture which is a catalyst tool of anarchy: About ninety nine percent of us have been indoctrinated to believing in whatever creeds we believe in today—the very few people outside the bracket are the converts who might have genuinely searched and found the right path, that is if there is only a single path to heaven. You were born into a family which belongs to a certain religion. From your toddler ages you were exposed to the beliefs and practices which your parents share. Consciously and unconsciousl, your parents and society got you to accept their way as the unique way to salvation, they beat some fear into you.

For the fear of hell fire, you grow up not wanting to learn about other faiths so that you may not be swayed away from your perceived right path. And if at all you have ever showed some interest in some other faith it was because you were merely interested in identifying the pitfalls of the that faith to enable you add validity to the faith that has been foisted on you by your parents and society. This is our story, the story we share in common. However, in the cold light of day, in whichever position you lie to think, supine or prone position, ask yourself ‘‘would I be patronizing this religion I am in now if I wasn’t indoctrinated and was allowed choose a religion at an age that I could sufficiently, adequately and justly judge between wrong and right, truth and false, a conman and a man of God?’’ I bet you 99.9% of us wouldn’t reason with the various religions we currently belong to if were not conditioned during our tender ages. Nothing is, therefore, more puzzling and dispiriting than seeing conscious men being cowed and bullied by another mortal using religion as a proponent. Government and government institutions succumbing to bullies can never be more dangerous.

No thinking man should condone violence particularly that which has the propensity of deepening the fissures among people of the dominant religions in this country; neither should thinking men continue to gloss over the awful prophesies seeking to slice and dice this country. It will only take a thinking country to enact laws biting enough or to enforce existing laws which support the harmonious coexistence and guarantee the welfare of its citizens. Until then two wrongs might make a right in a fictitious jungle!

Rahim Newton

[email protected]

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