We need to revisit how we worship

THE ARTICLE “Charlatans rising in the church” (Daily News, March 12) refers.

When I was a child, my dad told me that religion is there to guide you in life and to make you a better and a responsible person in society.

He also said religion does not make you rich.

It does not provide you with a job or help you in getting your childhood sweetheart to be your lifelong partner.

Religion does not provide you with material benefits; you have to work to earn them.

I also remember that people used to go to church to pray. The pastor used to be a humble ministry leader, living a simple life and driving around in a skorokoro car.

Today Christianity is big business, with many pastors enjoying the high life, driving fancy cars and living in palatial homes.

Like businesses that have Black Fridays to attract customers, many pastors are also trying new “tricks” to entice worshippers into their churches – congregants are made to eat grass, sprayed with insect poison and made to drink petrol. To show that they have miraculous powers, they resurrect the “dead”.

Some pastors also prey on young girls, make them pregnant and then refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

Surely this is not religion? Surely this is not faith? How can this be spirituality? How can this be Christianity?

As a society, we must engage in some brutally honest introspection about how we worship and what shape that worship should take. SAGREN NAIDOO | Shallcross