God existed a long time ago, before the emergence of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, ad infinitum. God cannot be domesticated or hogged by a section or groups of people. God is for all of us in this world, not for one religious grouping. God’s divine knows no boundaries; we may belong to various religious groupings, but our God is one. We know other groupings had weaponised God against other forms of religious groupings. Any form of religion is just another form of humans’ search or link to their God, which is a single God. God cannot be used as an instrument for oppression, dominance, power play and segregation. Some religious groupings claim exclusive ownership of God, which is a pure fallacy and a lie. Lying is a sin.
Some religious groupings were used to massacre non-white nations, colonialism, conquest, theft of land, minerals, the slave trade, racism, patriarchy, caste groups, economic deprivation and exclusion. Liberating theology confronts this fallacy and distortion directly, and the maligning of other religions using God’s name. God has always been on the side of the poor, oppressed, the dejected, not for the powerful nations and religious groupings. God never built a church, a mosque, a temple, or any other sacred site; God is always present to advance humanity. God’s duty is the affirmation of human life as the mighty creator of the universe.
Christianity had arrived behind the wagons of the slave trade, land grabs, mineral grabs, apartheid, colonialism, genocide, massacres, subjugation, economic exclusion, racism, white supremacy, and the erasure of African culture. African ways of living and praying were called backward, barbaric, demonic and hedonic. It was never God’s sanctioned atrocities; it was a certain section of religious groups using God to commit evil against God’s people. They misused God’s name, a demonic and hedonic act of the tallest order. Colonial Christianity was a criminal cartel or enterprise. With evil intent.
We must remove God from the evils of colonial Christianity to the pure and real Christianity that advances humanity, irrespective of colour or place of origin. We must reclaim God’s divine force towards freedom and self-determination for all.
Let all religions, including Christianity, know that God’s name cannot be used to undermine women, marginalise non-whites and minorities, stigmatise the poor, or sanctify unjust political and economic systems. Let us curse any religion that dehumanises other people in the name of God. We must fight religious domination and arrogance. Religion is not God; it is accountable to God. What about the genocide of the Palestinians?
By
Dr Sefoko Ramoshaba
A Social Justice and Liberating Theology Proponent
