Manipulation is using psychological influence over a person or situation to gain a positive outcome. According to Yusuf Bala Usman, in His Book “The Manipulation of Religion in Nigeria 1977-1987” defines manipulation as “essentially controlling the action of a person or group without that person or group knowing the goals, purpose, and method of that control and without even being aware that a form of control is being exercised on them at all” (Usman, 1987).
Dr Yusuf Bala Usman of the Blessed Memory is a radical, leftist, scholar, and historian who positively influenced young students at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Bala Usman succinctly captured the essence of manipulation in the book which contains very revealing analyses of the specific ways in which various groups within the Nigerian political class have continued to manipulate the inherent religious sentiments of the people in their bid to capture or retain power.
Furthermore, It was with an exceptional erudition that Usman, who was a famous lecturer of History at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and whose arguments were products of rare intellectualism, exposed not only the sinister motives of the religious manipulators but also the consequences or effects of their actions on Nigeria.
By this scholarly definition, Usman believes that people can be indoctrinated and manipulated to achieve a particular target or objective. Therefore, our “belief systems” and “world views” are traps if you follow their roads to an end. They create exponentially greater division the longer you travel on them.
Manipulation will always occur through the evoking of emotions. If someone appeals to any emotion inside you, such as fear (threatening you), anger (trying to enrage you against something or someone), lust (trying to seduce you), vanity (trying to make you feel special) and so on, this person is most likely trying to manipulate you.
Originally, religions formed out of unsatiated curiosity— people were curious about how the world worked, but since the scientific method hadn’t been invented yet, people were not equipped with the train of thought to produce proper explanations of natural events. And so, they created religion to explain why it rains, why humans live on Earth, why there are seasons, etc.
Emotional manipulation can happen for any number of reasons: a problematic leader, a toxic positivity culture, an identity in more power, money, or members, etc. Regardless of how these things happen, here’s the ??? of emotional manipulation in religious communities. Religion, whether it be found under a steeple or in an office, is inherently dangerous. It's edgy living for the truth. And everyone's “truth” can wear a different face. But I will say this, there is a moral code. And the narcissist strangles that moral code.
There will be some who abide under that code in the churches, and others who have their hands on its throat, allowing just enough breath to retain some semblance of life and decorum. Nobody gets off the planet without having to learn discernment. And it's a hard, hard lesson to master. Jesus himself dealt with the narcissistic religious. He called them sons of snakes, white-washed sepulchers full of dead men's bones. We are challenged to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. We are encouraged to know the enemy and yet remain free of him.
Today, organized religions rely on innate human fears and desires such as those of death, ignorance of our origins, and that we are alone in an infinite universe. They promise that these ancient spirits, now called gods, will look after us in life giving comfort and help when needed, and that after our death these same gods will enable part of us to live on for eternity in peace, love, and harmony in an idealized place called heaven, where we’ll also be reunited with our already dead loved ones.
In this vein, religion should never be more important than life. The biggest religion is Humanity. If Humanity ceases to exist then there is no meaning of religion in this world. God created Humans and Humans formed Religions. When Religion is given more importance than anyone's life then it's the death of Humanity. And if Humanity dies chaos is inevitable. Part of the government's responsibility is to safeguard the weak against manipulation.
Today's Africa is highly religious but remains largely the same land of a people who generally prefer not to write or read, the culture of a people is what marks them out distinctively from other human societies in the family of humanity. Africa is the least wealthy continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate, tribalism, colonialism, the Cold War, neocolonialism, lack of democracy, corruption, and religious extremism/manipulation.
In conclusion, permit me to share with you the golden words of Gloria Marie Steinem, an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Gloria profoundly posited: "The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn."
Finally, every religion claims that another one is the most intolerant religion in the world. It’s the world’s biggest blame game. No religion takes it upon themselves to make sure there are no intolerant elements within their system. They all have radical sects that they for the most part ignore, and rarely condemn. However, as the two largest and most powerful religions, Christianity and Islam probably tie for first place, if only by sheer weight of numbers. Also, Nigerians are a bundle of contradictions as they display external religiosity without the fear of God.
THIS ARTICLE IS SPECIFICALLY DEDICATED FOR HEALING PROCESS TO ALL VICTIMS OF RELIGIOUS MANIPULATION, GASLIGHTING AND LIES.
Richard Odusanya
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