Forcing Religion On People, Right Or Wrong? [ Lesson To Learn ]

Forcing Religion On People, Right Or Wrong? [ Lesson To Learn ]

Forcing Religion On People, Right Or Wrong? [ Lesson To Learn ], this is just one basic question that the answer is deeply rooted in us, so what is your own answer. Sometime between 2009 and 2010, I was president of the YCSN (Young Catholic Students of Nigeria) in my secondary school. Membership of this organization was compulsory for all catholic students since it was a missionary school owned by the Catholic Church. Now, through out my years as a junior student, it was customary for seniors to flog and punish juniors for refusing to attend YSC meetings. I was flogged too as a junior student for failing to attend or coming late to meetings. I hated being forced to attend church activities against my will. So when I was elected president of the organization in my senior year, I decided to do things. differently.






I therefore adopted a pacifist and liberal stance in running the affairs of the YCS. On that fateful Sunday, I stood before the whole school and announced that I was not going to be forcing anyone to attend YCS meetings anymore because I did not believe religious association should be by force. I urged everyone to follow their hearts and worship God willingly. The junior students cheered!

The next Sunday after my announcement, attendance dropped by about 10%. I did not care. I did not flog or punish anyone. The Sunday after that 30% I still did not do anything about it. Then 50%, then 80%... It kept dropping drastically. Halfway through the term, you could count the number of students in the chapel as you walked in during YCS meetings. It was then that I realized the organization was going to crumble and die under my leadership if I do not do something about the dwindling number of student attendance.

So I started giving out rewards to students who attended. I picked them at random to represent the school at YCS sectional days. Sectional days are like Christmases for students back then. They got to go out and get a breath of fresh air outside the walls of the boarding house. They also got to meet their girlfriends from other schools and socialize for a few hours, collect phone numbers, exchange love letters...you know, all the stuff that made secondary school fun back in the day. It was heaven for them basically.

This system seemed to work for a while, but they only attended during sectional day periods which only lasted a term. After that, they lost interest again. It then dawned on me that there can be no pacifism, democracy or liberalism in religion. Now, I have always been a pacifist and have never believed in coercion to achieve my objectives. But I had to do something to save my empire and I needed to do it fast.

So on that fateful Sunday night, I decided to take the hard line. I organized my fellow prefects and took them on a rampage round all the classes during night prep to punish everyone who had failed to attend meetings. They were more than overjoyed to join me. They unleashed their fury on the junior students without mercy. I had released a pride of hungry lions on a herd of sheep and it was carnage.

Nobody saw it coming. There were no teachers around to save them. Only a few faithfuls were spared that night. The whole school was literally set on fire. This was judgement day, It was hell!

We taught them a lesson they were not going to forget until they left the school. Next Sunday, attendance was back to maximum. The chapel was packed full with worshipers once again. Hallelujah! The kingdom of God reigneth once more.

What Is The Moral Lesson Of This Story?

If you eliminate reward, fear, terror, and punishment from Christian doctrines, a lot of people would not be Christians today.

If you removed the hope of heaven and salvation, the fear of Satan, death and hell/damnation from scripture, 99.9% of the people who went to church today, would rather stay home sleeping, go tennis playing at the club or beer drinking at the pub.

Happy Sunday everyone. Hope you all went to church today.