Are Religious Institutions The Bane of Our Existence?

A story is told that a middle aged man went to visit an old man in the village. He found a well cultivated land with everything that a man could want from a small farm. After greetings the man said “wow, I see God has been gracious to you; you have a very beautiful garden over here with everything a man could want.” The old man, knowing what this man was saying, replied “you should have seen this land ten years ago when I only had the grace of God.”

Reading a speech given by Dr. Wale Akinyemi in January 2009 on “Poverty Sells” got me inspired to voice my opinion on the issue of the church and the role it plays in exacerbating poverty among Africans. Religious institutions have the best distribution of infrastructure, the best communication avenues, and are well placed to program a community’s way of thinking.

So the question we should be asking ourselves is; have we been programed to fail by our religious institutions? Could it be that the people we have entrusted with our lives, our eternal lives, have been leading us astray? Is it possible? Before you answer the question, consider that almost 90 percent of Kenyans are religious people; further, 90 percent of them are poor. If God wants us to succeed, which I believe he does, why then is it that so many of those who believe in him are poor?

The only reasonable answer is that we have been taught the wrong things. We are not told how to “conquer” the world nor have we been taught how to “fill” it, which are the main aims of creating man.

The society we live in believes that questioning our beliefs is a sin. Looking back in history, even in the bible, the only thing that brought salvation to mankind was to question the current state of beliefs. Jesus, the greatest teacher, dared to question the way people were being led by religious leaders. The bible itself tries to change a belief system while introducing another.

So my question is, is questioning what we have been taught evil or is it something we are expected to do? I have studied the rich and the poor, and the biggest difference is in their beliefs. Beliefs about money, about success, and about winning.

So I still ask this question again, are our religious institutions the bane of our existence? Are these institutions misguiding us? Leading us to a promised heaven but condemning us to a life through hell?