“Don’t bring up religion,” say Secularists, whenever one tries to raise awareness, be it about historical, political, or social matters, “because it divides us,” they argue so hypocritically and foolishly. As an Albanian, I have been lucky enough to live in a country that has applied the purest form of Secularism. The regime of Enver Hoxha outlawed any religion which promotes the belief in God, specifically, Islam and Christianity, precisely on the basis that they divide people.
As a result, in 1967, the regime banned totally all religions by a constitutional article, such as Article 37, “The state recognizes no religion whatever and supports atheist propaganda for the purpose of inculcating the scientific materialist world outlook in people, as well as in Article 55, “The creation of any type of organization of a fascist, anti-democratic, religious, and anti-socialist character is prohibited. Fascist, anti-democratic, religious, war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities and propaganda, as well as the incitement of national and racial hatred are prohibited.”
Albania became, thus, the first atheist country in the world. Without doubt, what happened in Albania might have been a political experiment to see what the effects of removing religion from people are. The conditions of the experiment couldn’t be more optimal.
What was the result?
In 1990, when the religion ban was removed from the constitution, our people were the most humiliated nation of Europe: poor, spies of each other, with bad morals, eagerly to destroy everything and they hated their own country like a prisoner hates the cell. More importantly, our people were divided like scared sheep which run away from wolves. There are no words to describe the way our people looked and behaved in 1990. To this very day, the symptoms of Secularism are evident in the divided Albanian society.
So, we tried a situation when Secularism was practiced fully and without any barrier. We saw and experienced first-hand how Secularism destroys people. Every honest person, who has a certain level of dignity, can reach the clear conclusion that if there is one thing Secularism is good at, that is the division of people. Secularism does not unite people. It aims at exactly the opposite. Secularism is a political model of ruling and controlling people by dividing and conquering them.
I am not going to argue who invented Secularism and who is benefitting from it, but we know very well what Secularism does to people.
Next time when Secularists say, “Don’t bring up religion because it divides people,” they deserved to be asked this question: “Do you mean the religion of Secularism because it is the best religion which divides people?”
To Secularists: “Shut up! Don’t bring up your corrupt religion. We tried it in Albania, and the result was catastrophic. Our nation continues to suffer the horrors of your corrupt and devilish religion, so please keep it at your homes.”
Sabri Lushi
