There is a quiet war unfolding across human history, one not fought with tanks or missiles, but within the fragile corridors of the human mind. It is a war between reason and unquestioned belief, between compassion and doctrine, between the instinct to protect life and the dangerous conviction that life can be sacrificed for something unseen.
Recently, in the Prophet’s Mosque, a deeply unsettling incident shook the conscience of many. A pilgrim attempted to strangle his own sick father, believing that death in that “holy place” would grant the man immediate entry into paradise. It was not an act born of hatred. It was, perhaps more disturbingly, an act born of faith, faith twisted into something unrecognizable, something terrifying.
This is the tragedy at the heart of the world’s dominant belief systems, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. These traditions, collectively known as the Abrahamic religions, preach morality, compassion, and the eternal consequences of one’s actions. They warn of hell for wrongdoing, yet paradoxically, their interpretations have too often justified actions that turn this very world into a living hell.
History is heavy with their contradictions. Wars have been waged in their names. Terror has been justified through their scriptures. Societies have been divided, economies destabilized, and countless lives shattered, all under the banner of righteousness. What begins as a call to virtue too easily becomes a license for cruelty when filtered through unquestioning minds.
The man in Medina is not an isolated anomaly; he is a symptom. A symptom of a deeper moral dislocation where belief overrides instinct, where dogma silences empathy. When a son can be convinced that ending his father’s life is an act of love, something has gone profoundly wrong, not just with the individual, but with the ideas that shaped him.
Abrahamic religions have done more harm than good. They have succeeded in creating a war that cannot be won. Not because reason is weak, but because negative belief, once deeply embedded, resists correction. It becomes identity. It becomes sacred. And anything sacred is shielded from scrutiny, even when it leads to harm. Many people are living far below their financial potential, waiting for an unseen force to do what they are fully capable of doing for themselves. Meanwhile, they continue to give away, and ultimately lose, their hard-earned wealth to so-called “representatives of God on earth,” whose appetite for unearned riches can never be satisfied.
The damage is not merely physical, it is intellectual and moral. It reshapes how people think, how they judge right and wrong, how they value life itself. It replaces critical thought with obedience, and in doing so, it creates a world where the unthinkable becomes justifiable, turning thinking individuals into unthinking followers. A mannequin that happens to breathe.
Religion can make truth seem offensive, and turn obedience without inquiry into a way of life. Some people go further, using violence to silence views they dislike. Hard truths are censored, while toxic ideas foster submission to ignorance. And blind faith, when exploited, can leave people poorer, sicker, and, at times, lead to preventable loss of life.
Please, switch on your critical thinking. We are left with a haunting paradox: the same Abrahamic religions that preach an afterlife hell as eternal punishment for evildoers are the ones making this naturally sweet life a hell.
– Ambassador Ezewele Cyril Abionanojie is the author of the book ‘The Enemy Called Corruption’ an award winner of Best Columnist of the year 2020, Giant in Security Support, Statesmanship Integrity & Productivity Award Among others. He is the President of Peace Ambassador Global.