Beware: blind faith can lead to bodily harm

Fundamentally and ostensibly, all religions in the world are supposed to be forces of holiness and goodness. Generally, human beings tend to look at religions as reservoirs of love and kindness.

This is the case despite the fact that throughout the long history of human endeavour, we have seen some human beings using religion to justify the perpetration of evil.

Many wars were fought in which plenty of lives were lost, especially in cases where two religions collided.

Slavery and colonisation were justified, at least in part, on the notion that certain races had no souls and needed to be converted to a religion that would humanize them. That kind of thinking has receded with the passage of time.

There is of course the blight of the so-called Islamic State that has seen public beheadings of people and killings using other cruel methods in the name of Islam.

Human settlements are being invaded and people and property wasted using the vilest methods imaginable. Most Muslims are truly horrified by that spectacle and denounce it as an affront to their religion of peace and human dignity.

The above is a detour to arrive at the current South African scenario where the descent into exotic and eccentric Christian "worship" has reached the pits.

It seems the craving for the bizarre in religious practices knows no bounds in the current period.

The latest outrage involves one Lethebo Rabalago, of Mount Zion General Assembly Church in Modimolle, who sprays his congregants with Doom, infamously claiming God instructed him to do so.

While all of us know Doom as a poison designed to kill insects, Ralabago sprays it on the faces of the sickly, ridiculously asserting that the insecticide would cure them.

He follows in the footsteps of other so-called "pastors" in places as far apart as Soweto and Soshanguve, who, in the name of God, fed their congregants rats, snakes, grass and petrol and ordered some of them to lie down on the floor for the "prophet" to walk over their prostate bodies. It seems the motto is: the more bizarre, the better.

It is a perplexing spectacle for those of us watching from the sidelines. It is just as baffling to see some people overlooking churches in this country, travelling all the way to Nigeria in pursuit of one T.B. Joshua of The Synagogue Church of all Nations.

The phenomenon and its scale were brought home to us when scores of our compatriots tragically died under the rubble of a collapsing guesthouse in Lagos while on their mission to make common cause with Joshua.

Although issues of faith are often difficult to discuss since they are not necessarily based on logic but belief, it is hard to ignore the role of money in most of these recent goings on. Often the followers are required to part with a lot of cash for their church, a sizable portion of which goes to the pastor.

People casually quip that if you want to be rich quickly in South Africa, open your own church. No wonder there is a proliferation of churches in this country and there is a legion of "prophets" from many countries who start their churches here or open branches of their Christian franchises here.

There are oodles of money being made through religion in this country and many "pastors" are cashing in, and they look the part.

But why are we like this? Why is it so easy for people to abuse us, con us easily out of our hard-earned money and generally get us to submit to cruel and inhumane treatment?

Is it poverty or ignorance or a serious affliction of inadequacy and self-degradation? Are we in a desperate craving for affirmation?

The Limpopo Department of Health and Tiger Brands, the makers of Doom, were horrified by the insane actions of Rabalago and ordered him to stop forthwith.

The department obtained a court interdict to stop the belligerent and unrepentant Rabalago from continuing with his dangerous antics.

We all know that Doom is dangerous.

We do not need the health department to tell us that nor do we need a court interdict to protect us from being sprayed with it.

Surely the community of Modimolle knows what we all know. Why do they allow it to happen in their area?

In particular, why do the congregants of the Mount Zion General Assembly allow injurious practices to take place in their church at all?

There are more questions than answers.

However, what is clear is that there is something seriously wrong with some of our people that leaves them susceptible to religion gone bonkers.