Religion As Tormentor Of The Soul & Negative Refuge - An Essay

Foreword I wrote this essay as an assignment during my university days which was in the late 70s. Go Tell It On The Mountain was the first novel I read by James Baldwin, and I enjoyed it immensely.Religion was very much a part of my life while growing up. My parents were practising Christians, so I had to attend church Sunday morning mass and Sunday school at midday and occasionally participate in evening service. In early adolescence, I became a choirboy. Then, as a young man and after leaving Guyana for Great Britain, my church attendance became infrequent, and finally, it faded. I'm not sure why I turned my back on the church. Perhaps I might have become disenchanted with indifference or mild hypocrisy that appeared in some churches I attended in London. Or, it might have been my infatuation with atheism. But memory can be unreliable, owing to its dynamic nature. However, I can honestly say that I have invariably regarded myself as a Christian — if not a practising one, which probably entails regular church attendance.James Baldwin's novel inspired me to choose two themes for the academic essay—namely, religion's role in some folks' lives. The function of religious faith can be twofold: positive and negative, which I try to show in the essay. Lastly, I have omitted page-number references.