Hello everyone in the Hive Ghana community and Hive in general. I am excited to learn my voice on one of the matters for this week's prompt.
I see lots of religious folks, many lots of fuss about people accepting their religion and worshipping their God. Many go to the extent of mounting pressure on people. While some try everything possible to convert others to their religion. I think all these are irrelevant. Forcing someone into your religion is an unwise decision.
It doesn't matter how potent and powerful your God is, accepting any religious affiliation should be borne out of personal conviction and not through coercion.
Using Christianity as an example, a lot of them use gimmicks and mind games to persuade their mark to convert. Some go to the extent of using hellfire to instil fear in them so that they could, as a matter of the fear of being burnt in hell, make them have a change of heart.
Whenever I hear most Christians evangelising on the street, I usually pay attention to the message they proclaim. The majority of them portray an ever-angry God who is always at loggerheads with the people. A God that can only be appeased when you believe and trust in him, and he's ever ready to deal with you when you disobey him, and he has prepared a place of torments for everyone who disobeys him.
Whether true or not, it is wrong to want to coerce another into your religion through fear and intimidation. The constitutions of most countries have given citizens the right to freedom of worship. Some might choose not to believe in the existence of any God.
Beyond coercing people into any religious affiliation is the issue of demonising another religion because you do not believe in the God they worship. I have seen cases where people talk down on another religion, emphasising that theirs is the best, while others are seen as mundane and evil. Very pronounced in this aspect is the traditional religious practices which have been dismissed as evil and paganistic by the Christian folks.
In Islam, it's a taboo to denounce your religion. This is the reason most people who attempt such are persecuted and most times they are annihilated. What's the big deal about allowing someone to choose what to worship?
I know that not all religious folks are guilty of these, but the majority of them take it upon themselves to ensure that they help their God in actualising his purpose on the earth.
Whenever I see people bent on carrying out these atrocious acts and insisting on it to the people. I usually wonder why they're making a big deal out of it. To me, it doesn't make sense.