Musaazi NAMITI | SUNDAY THOUGHT
Rugby player Sydney Gongodyo died a violent and extremely painful death that anyone with the capacity to save a life of an innocent soul being stolen by a mob would prevent immediately.
Social media is awash with clips of gruesome videos of a mob hurling missiles of all kinds at him, some so heavy they had to finish him off in a flash. He had been falsely accused of snatching a small bag from someone. He succumbed to his injuries soon after being rushed to hospital.
At 27, Mr Gongodyo still had his life ahead of him. He was in his prime. Men generally “take off”—as in transforming their lives socially and economically—in their 30s. He was only a couple of years away from that age bracket.
The unspeakably painful death and the fact that he was innocent raise serious questions about religious people’s claim that God is all-knowing, all-loving, cares about and protects all people.
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If God is all-knowing and all-loving, it means he knew Mr Gongodyo was an innocent man as the mob set violently upon him. He already knew the mob was going to kill him. Crucially, he knew the culprit who should have been targeted—and he had the capacity to prevent the mob killing Mr Gongodyo.
But the mob killed him anyway. Mr Gongodyo’s father told mourners: “I went to Mulago very early in the morning at around 8am, stood around there and around 8:30am, they brought my son. I looked through the mirror, and I almost collapsed because I got now to this reality that my son had died. From what I saw, he died a very painful death. The attacks on him were vicious, very savage.”
You have got to remember that the mob killed an innocent man. The culprit is still alive. Mr Gongodyo’s children are now orphans. Each one of us reading this article would prevent the mob from killing Mr Gongodyo if we were as powerful as God is said to be. But he did not prevent Mr Gongodyo’s death.
His death was not the first. Mobs have killed innocent people since time immemorial. They have killed women accused of witchcraft. God does nothing. And you have to wonder: Do we live in a universe with an entity that really cares about us?
If Mr Gongodyo is in heaven and has met with God, how can God justify his violent death?
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🔴 Sunday Thought cuts through the noise of prayer, piety and superstition to ask the questions most people avoid. It discusses God, faith and religion—not to preach, but to probe, challenge and sometimes unsettle. Whether you believe, doubt or have stopped looking altogether, Sunday Thought will make you think, question and maybe even rethink everything you thought you knew about the divine—and about life itself.