The publishers of Christopher Hitchens’ best-seller God is not Great used the subtitle How Religion Poisons Everything. Karl Marx, of The Communist Manifesto fame, is often quoted as saying that religion is the opium of the masses. The famous or notorious psychologist Sigmund Freud went a little further and hinted that religion had much in common with neuroses or, simply put, religion was a form of madness.

The popularity of religion from ancient times to ours argues eloquently, however, for a passionate love affair between humanity, poison, drugs, and madness, if we go along with the paradigms of Hitchens, Marx, and Freud. Religion has always been and continues to be one of the indestructible foundations of human societies.

During the French Revolution, a valiant effort was made to totally obliterate religion from the French geographical landscape. Thousands of priests were either killed or exiled. Church property was confiscated and the taxing power of the Church was cancelled. The Catholic monarchy was abolished, giving way to a new republican form of Government in France. Perhaps the most revolutionary change introduced by the revolution was the installation of a female celebrity as the goddess of reason in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

The human love affair with religion is reflected in the expeditious return of the institutions of religion as the French revolutionary flame dimmed.

The Bolshevik Revolution, which in many ways was the heir to the French Revolution, waged a more extensive campaign against religion in the Soviet Union. This revolution persisted for about 70 years, then fell victim to what renowned Catholic scholar Malachi Martin called the Black International or the power of the papacy.

At a time when the human family stands in dire need of the medicines of tolerance and compassion, many religious ideologists are doubling down and digging to the bottom of their barrel of nefarious ideas and concepts and spewing from their mouths some of the vilest sentiments imaginable. The verbal bile emanating from the bowels of faith communities has added new animus to an already-raging culture war.

Perhaps one of the most tried and proven low-down, dirty tactics used by religious zealots past and present is the association of a target group of enemies with something loathed, dreaded, and hated by the majority of humanity. A contemporary analogy would be the labels of terrorist, racist, and anti-Semite. Branding someone as a terrorist, a racist, or an anti-Semite immediately cuts the individual off from public sympathy.

The greater the loathing, dread, and hatred associated with the label, the greater the likelihood that people will not care when the target group begins to be persecuted and victimised. Thanks to religion, nothing is loathed, feared, and hated more than the Devil and his minions. The religious lobbyists know exactly what they are doing when they frame issues against the backdrop of the cosmic controversy between good and evil.

Once an issue enters the framework of the great controversy between good and evil, it becomes a no-holds-barred battle royale in which there can be no compromise, no grey areas, and no hostages taken. The only acceptable outcome is total victory, even if total victory means a scorched-earth policy that destroys everything in its path. The assurance of victory in the sacred texts nerves religionists for the fight, and promises of reward in the hereafter provides all the motivation they need.

Religious zealots in Africa and the Caribbean who have not been sufficiently schooled in the double-talk of the Abrahamic faiths are going for the jugular in the ongoing culture war. Abortion is being rebranded as child sacrifice to Moloch and other demon deities. Extending human rights to all is labelled as a gateway for paedophilia, incest, and zoophilia. Comprehensive sexuality education is being morphed into a diabolical plot to seduce heterosexual children into the gay agenda.

Members of the LGBTQ community are classified as abnormal, deviants, and worst of all, demon-possessed. This kind of excessive rhetoric from church pulpits conditions the faithful and prepares them for battle with the enemy. Regrettably, when the same kind of rhetoric is embraced by the State (pardon my pun), all hell breaks loose. Citizens of all stripes take it upon themselves to channel their displeasure against LGBTQ people.

Faith communities walk a thin line between sound doctrine and hate speech. As a firm believer in freedom of speech, I believe that faith communities should be allowed to freely communicate what is demanded of them by their faith. Calling members of the LGBTQ community abnormal, deviants, and demon-possessed is a bit much, but I suspect that sound, scientific, opposing arguments can effectively counteract such juvenile name-calling.

Faith communities should be mindful, however, that their rhetoric can lead to some unexpected outcomes, especially in an era in which there are so many mentally and emotionally unstable individuals in the pews, in Parliaments, and on the streets.

State legislatures, on the other hand, lack the moral authority to define citizens using the same moral monikers utilised by faith communities. State-enforced morality beyond those precepts which are universally accepted as contrary to the best interest of societies inevitably leads to abuse of power by the State. When faith-based abuse occurs, resulting in human rights violations and harm to minority groups, faith communities must share in the collective responsibility and guilt.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the author of The Future of Africa and the Caribbean: Challenges and Possibilities. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or rodneynimrod2@gmail.com.