Good day,
I would like to comment about the article written by Abimbola Adelakun. I have read a few of her articles and I often feel confused about the subjective , insensitive , poorly-researched and generally unconstructive views the very reputable Punch newspaper permits her to disseminate.
I am a Christian , but I know we all live in a world where the right to freedom of speech is sacrosanct. Not everyone will agree with or believe all that the bible , other religious books or other religions espouse. But we manage to live peaceably because the respect we have for each other, and peoples` right to freedom of religion/faith, causes us to accord respect to the religions they cherish and hold dear, even if we don’t share those beliefs.
In the said article , what started as criticism of Pastor Oyakhilome , rapidly devolved into scathing criticism of a religion that millions of peaceful people in Nigeria and the world believe in. Here are some excerpts from her article:
“In many other churches, women’s roles revolve around their “submissive” positions. As the second sex, they dutifully sweep the floor of the church, clean toilets, decorate the altar, populate the choir, take up “welfare” roles, occasionally take the offering, and if they are married to the pastor, they get to preach about marriage during youth and singles’ meetings.”
No Church reserves specific gender-roles. I have heard of male and female business owners and bank MDs who carry out most of the church responsibilities listed . Most people who clean church toilets are in need and are paid for their services. How swiftly Abimbola Adelakun equates voluntary church responsibilities to gender discrimination is amazing !!!
” Come to think of it, Oyakhilome’s views are in consonance with the Bible that puts all the blame for what is wrong in the world today on women and their appetite. They say if Eve had not eaten the apple, we would all still be in the Garden of Eden and we would not be feeling the recession! A number of creation myths that originated in the same culture that produced the Bible parrot each other in heaping all the blame on the woman. The problem with uncritical readers like Oyakhilome is that they conveniently forget that the Bible was written and curated by men who put their bigoted opinions in God’s mouth.
Here she conflates views expressed in a message from a Pastor as the view of the bible. Though many terrorists claim allegiance to the muslim failth , no unbiased person will say the Islamic faith unreservedly endorses violence. The quickest indicator to the inferiority of an article is its lazy agreement with unfair stereotypes.
“Pastors should stop acting as if the Bible was devoid of any human interference. There are a number of critical works by scholars who have dug into religious history and shown us the agenda behind Bible creation…… However, they should also be reminded that there is a reason we do no longer follow many biblical commandments anymore. If we did, we would marry our daughters to their rapists, stone people to death, and carry out genocide in the name of God.”
All these statements about the bible are inaccurate and ignore much historical detail. Science and religion have never agreed and never will. But if the Punch Newspaper believes that the Christian religion is utter rubbish then it should come out to say so boldly. Such disrespect for other peoples` beliefs encourage violence and religious extremism.”
I believe much more is expected from those who write for the Punch news paper. I believe that your news paper does not promote religiously bigoted views.
Kind regards,
Dr Nkanor
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