Religion, Politics, and the Damnation of America

Karl Marx once declared that religion “is the opium of the people.” Yeah, right!  This is because he may have surmised or discovered that “religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.” Within this context, it means that religion prospers when social conditions are deplorable, and the ordinary citizen is hopelessly searching for meaning in a society whose leadership has for generations obfuscated the citizenry rather than liberate their minds and collective will while galvanizing a people towards socio-economic greatness. In this sorry state, religion becomes the balm the oppressed desire when they seek comfort in the face of the “soulless conditions” imposed on them by their slave masters! In other words, the multiplicity of places of worship in any society is a direct response to the failure of state agencies that are in cohort with the epicentre of capitalism in a calculated drive to suffocate the average citizen with oppressive machinations. Sadly, in many ways than one, America is guilty of this charge as she genuflects before the altar of unscrupulous gods whose kingdom is the dark crevices of Wall Street.

Just a few days ago, as I drove down one of the American streets, I spied a not yet middle-aged Caucasian woman shedding tears silently seated on a dilapidated bench in a roofless bus stop under a searing sun. Her quiet lamentation jarred my heart as tears swelled in my eyes. My tears – if I had cried – would not have been for her, but for America whose weakness has empowered private institutional instrument of oppression to exploit the ordinary American citizen. In my view, the callousness of the few who control the wealth of the American state is a stranglehold that can only be dismantled by revolutionary ideas which can only germinate, watered, and harvested on the streets of America where the Congress does not hold sway absolutely.  While most of the people are clobbered with unreasonable working conditions, I fail to understand why the state does not allow the people to rise up in unison and stand up for their rights under the umbrella of labour unions. Can you imagine that the country that preaches equality for all is the kingpin of oppression? The American Union, as my crystal ball reveals, is a nation in a quandary as she flounders socially just because there are many interests wrestling for the soul of the US and the politicians cannot bark or bite.

In the face of this debacle, where are some Americans going to seek succour? At the devil’s den! As you may have heard two moons past, the opium of the people in the face of tyranny in this great country is a recklessness that equates spirituality with drug-induced evanescence. And, in this irrational condition, the polity is mute as politics define what is acceptable when it is obvious that illogical schizophrenia is abroad in the society under the aegis of civil liberties and wokeness. Thus, as reported by Fox News, “a 9-foot, 2000-pound statue of a goat-headed occult idol named Baphomet” comes to town in its full glory in Detroit as believers of other faiths like Kim Davis in Kentucky are run aground, mocked, and persecuted for their beliefs. With this, politics trumps religion while Amendment IX takes the back sit in shackles.  While a certain U.S. District Court Judge, David Bunning, is of the view that allowing a public official to stand up for her religious belief in the course of her duties “would be inconsistent with basic principles of justice and fairness,” it is generally acceptable to take a swipe at constitutional provisions that declare that “[t]he enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

By the way, if the U.S. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” as enshrined in Amendment 1, then why should the judiciary become the arbiter in any dispute over a perceived law that Congress will not give its blessings? I think I know the answer to this question: Here comes the Wild Wild West where lawlessness is supreme and the weak is at the mercy of the villain. This damnation kills me with hopelessness. Where lies the American salvation?  To save America, I will suggest that the nation should embrace the words of Frantz Fanon as she fights to regain her soul: “We need to use the lash if we want to take this [country] out of the Dark Ages.”

Civil liberties should be abridged when generational lunacy threatens a country.

Twitter Handle: @jariole