Religion, we
hear the concept most often, we dwell in it day in – day out but ever since the
curiosity of man, it still remain the core of moral sense and spirituality. Religion
is the belief in and worshiping of a supernatural controlling power, especially
a personal god or gods.
As metaphysical
as religion is, man has not attain a uniform understanding of the phenomenon.
Up till this moment the phenomenon of religion operate in relativity to what is
the right religion or wrong religion to be practiced.
Religion a grass
root vehicle of societal development is in most cases a regulator and conduit
and conduct of societal norms. It nullifies abhorrent behaviors like sexual
promiscuity, theft and fraud etc.
However, as
valuable religion is it so malignant to the detriment of man. Every culture is
ingrained in one or more religion, a culture often referred to as a total way
of life, plays an essential role in defining/determining our behavior. All moral
and belief system aims at controlling the individual and as such, the society
at large. This Sigmund Freud realize in defining the term super ego.
Culture which is ingrained in religion
provides us with moral conduct which we internalize the so called conscience aspect
of super – ego, which determines the basis of our behavior. How often will
religion continue to be binding on the part of man? Religion restrict, control,
forbid not only abhorrent acts considered by it but also daily life styles as
common and simple as choice of dress, food fashion even haircut.
Hence
the conscience seems to be always in conflict with the ego ideal, the real us.
Hence when an individual conscience is in conflict with the ego ideal and the
conflict is not resolve, the super ego becomes maladaptive, and when the
individual is ruled by the maladaptive super ego, then there will be no
appropriate means for the expression and gratification of the ID –{} demand and
once there is no means for of expressing and gratifying the wants of the ID,
anxiety sets in what Sigmund Freud termed “neurotic paradoxical” otherwise the individual begin to express the
demands of the ID perversely.
Hence
any religion governed with strict code of conduct and places high sanction (either
psychological or physical sanction) on deviating from the rules and regulation of
such religion is capable of being a psychosocial stressor for the development
of neurosis in an individual. For example, imagine when the religion you belong
to forbids you of marrying someone outside your religion and it happens that
the one you love belongs to that religion as a result all your family member are not in your support. Hence such an
individual begin to experience what is called psychological tension.
Therefore
any religion that is not setup for the psychological betterment of man which is
characterized by the imposition of strict and rigid rules – the so called
religion dogmas, reducing the sense of self (ego), self-esteem and reducing the
decision making to amplify the dictate of such religion causes psychological
discomfort e.g. eating disorder, severe stress which could result in
depression, dissociative disorder.
Also
the interacting effect of strict code of conduct by various religion and
culture could be seen responsible for sexual dysfunction such as sexual desire
disorder, sexual arousal disorder, organismic disorder etc.
Culture
and religion has also serve as the basis of foundation which ethnocentrism
prejudice and discrimination are built upon which in turn has fueled conflict
at all level of human existence up till this present moment as culture and
religion do not only provide us the code conduct but also provide us with the
belief that only our culture/religion is right and every other one is wrong and
should not be tolerated.
Imagine
when a religion preaches that it is only your religion that is right and every
other one is wrong and should be curtailed.
Now imagine you have a brother/sister or even a child that fall follow a
religion that falls within the those your religion told you are wrong and
should be curtailed, then the question is what will you do to him/her? Well I
get the point you said you won’t kill him/her, what you don’t know is that you
don’t have to point a gun at a person for you to kill an individual. The moment
you have deprive the individual of all human treatment you have killed the
individual psychologically and this (ethnocentrism, prejudice and
discrimination) has being fueling conflict at all levels of human existence.
In conclusion for us to solve the problem of
psychological discomfort or better still avoid this discomfort, one need to
alleviate the superimposed religion and culture dogmas there by do away with
the feeling of right and wrong in religion and culture as a result we will be
able to minimize conflict and maintain human connectedness.
Arthurs: Awujoola Olaoluwa
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