Religion: the Bane of Our Society, By Uju Obii-Obioha

Religion should make you a better person not an insensitive person with the inability to think through issues analytically. I think the problem could be that people think critical reasoning and analytical skills should only be used in school and the workplace.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, religion is a personal set or institutionalised system of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices. Most people become part of a religion through their families; your parents are the ones that usher you into whatever faith you believe in. As you grow older, you get to have a personal set of beliefs or deeper understanding of your religion, and at that time you can decide to continue with the religious faith or switch to a different one. In essence, religion is passed on from generation to generation, which is why some families have always been Catholics, Anglicans, and Muslims etc. The focus of this article is on Christianity because as a Christian, it is the religion I am most familiar with.

Nigeria is a very religious nation where the majority of Nigerians are either Christians or Muslims. According to the Pew Research Center, Nigeria has the largest Christian population of any country in Africa and according to World Values Survey, about 90 percent of African Christians (in Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe) said they attended church regularly. Belonging to a religion is a good thing because it promotes character, self-control and discipline, etc. when practiced right. One would think that a nation that is as religious as Nigeria will have much more discipline, honesty and character but unfortunately the reverse is the case. For some reason, religion in Nigeria has led to intolerance and a loss of common sense. For instance, a lot of practicing Christians feel it is wrong to criticise a pastor who has clearly done something wrong because the Bible says, “touch not the anointed and do my prophets no harm”. Common sense should tell anyone that just because someone is a pastor or general overseer does not make him all knowing or blameless. It has reached a point where Nigerian Christians will castigate any member who points out the wrongdoings of a pastor. A few years ago, I was at a get-together and we were having a conversation about churches, so I criticised a certain general overseer for having two private jets, unbeknownst to me one of the people I was talking to was a loyal member of his church. The moment she heard my statement, she jumped to her feet and aggressively warned me not to ever say anything negative about her pastor, without trying to constructively look at the facts I had presented.

More so, some people will read a verse in the Bible that is very clear but when a pastor comes and tells them that it means something totally different because of a “revelation he received from God”, they instantly believe him without questions. In the Bible, Apostle Paul actually commended the Berean Christians for searching the scriptures to ensure that what he preached was actually true (Acts 17:11: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”). If Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for verifying his message, then it is only right for Christians today to do the same. Another problem I have noticed with some Nigerian Christians is that they don’t study the Bible for themselves; they focus only on the passages from the pastor’s sermon.

Every nook and cranny of the country is littered with churches of all sorts but yet you can hardly do business with a friend and not get cheated. It is almost impossible to come across a politician that doesn’t loot the nation but a good number of them are active members of various churches.

However, I believe Christians ought to study the Bible in detail to get a strong grasp of some of the teachings. A lot of times when you are too lazy to study the bible yourself, any preacher or person can easily deceive you. For instance, a few weeks ago the big buzz on Nigerian social media was Daddy Freeze’s perspective on tithing and the ensuing reply from Pastor Adeboye. The thing that puzzled me was the fact that a lot of his arguments (whether you agree with it or not) were backed by biblical passages, such as Deuteronomy 14, but some people were viciously attacking him like he is the Devil, instead of doing a thorough research on the different scriptures he quoted. The Bible can be confusing sometimes, so it is not uncommon for people to have different interpretations, but when we do I think the sound thing is to srespect each other’s viewpoints, as opposed to passing judgments. If you are practicing a religion and it is making you less sensitive and impractical in your reasoning, there is a high chance that you are misinterpreting some of the information you read. Religion should make you a better person not an insensitive person with the inability to think through issues analytically. I think the problem could be that people think critical reasoning and analytical skills should only be used in school and the workplace.

There are some values that most religions espouse, such as love for one’s neighbour and honesty, but as deeply religious as Nigeria is these universal values seem to be seriously lacking in the country. It makes me wonder if we are truly committed to religion or if we just like it for its emotional value. Countries that are not that religious seem to have much more of the aforementioned values than Nigeria. Every nook and cranny of the country is littered with churches of all sorts but yet you can hardly do business with a friend and not get cheated. It is almost impossible to come across a politician that doesn’t loot the nation but a good number of them are active members of various churches. It is amazing that these core values that are existent in most religions are what we really need to turn our country around because we are already blessed with the human capital. What we need to experience some significant progress as a nation is to match up our talents with basic values such as love and honesty.

Uju Obii-Obioha, a procurement professional and contract specialist, writes from Maryland, USA.

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