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..Omonoba...
Our people say:
Eng: The man who jumps from the ground onto an ant-hill is still on the ground. - Ijaw proverb.
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I thought I would do surveys periodically - say, every Tuesday, or so - for us to discuss issues that pertain directly to us. Honestly, I am glad to bring this 'forum' on here because we need to talk then act. Especially act. Thank you for participating.
I asked the question,
'What Role Does Religion Play in African Countries?'. By religion, I was referring to those outside of the African Traditional Religions and I think every one of us caught up on that.
57.9% of respondents said
Many religious Africans are hypocrites.
57.9% of respondents said
Africans need to act more than they pray.
15.8% of respondents said
If the leaders were more religious,
countries will fare better.
10.5% of respondents said
A prayerful country is a successful country.
5.3% of respondents said
Religion has nothing to do with development in Africa.
[Note, respondents were allowed to choose more than one option to best describe their opinions]
Have the Church and Sunni/Shia failed us?
Nigeria -let's take her as a case study - is a very prayerful country as a whole. Our people know how to bring down rain and raise the dead. Yet, we have been unable to solve our very basic problems of corruption and division. Perhaps, the fact that we have refused to give up the desire to be right over another plays a big role in our chaotic state of nation. So, what have Nigeria's two biggest religions done for it? When our former president, Umar Musa Yar'Adua was critically ill [we all knew he was in critical condition, but that is story for another day], he sneaked pastors and imams into Aso Rock to pray for him on two occasions. Of course, no African Traditionalist was invited - such religions have been relegated to the background. So, despite the imam(s)' and pastor(s)' prayers (and those of millions of Nigerians), the man died. I must note though that the religious leaders were brought in at the last minute when ALL ELSE (silly lies, strange ambulance visits, hidden medical trips, etc) had failed. So, granted, the prayers could not bring Yar'Adua back to office but it seems like they have solved many things else...including cancer. I have even heard that the prayers of the 'righteous' solved Nigeria's problem of Abacha. Did it?
Despite all of this, the African's religion may be his curse. A blessing and a curse.
I have heard Christians and Muslims alike say, 'when I get into power, I will also chop oh'. So, these days, I do not expect that just because a man or a woman claims to be a born-again, Bible-reading, Church-going, Rosary-counting, Head-covering, Mary Amaka Dress-wearing, Pork-forbidding, Qu'ran-believing religious, they will successfully withstand the wind of corruption. This wind, of this I am at least sure, is strong.
This is not to ignore the men and women who have stood true to the religions of their fathers and fore fathers and have had the decency to admit human-ness. I, for one, do not think many of us understand the religions we profess. If we did, we may have been able to tame our current state of nation.
But, the religions of our colonists have brainwashed us enough that we do not even know for sure what they teach.
Perhaps, if a man took time to open the Bible for himself or a woman took time to read the Qu'ran for herself and we all took time to actually pray to a God who is ever-listening, then many of our religious leaders will not be able to swindle us.
Our leaders (both political and religious) know our weakness and boy, have they used it against us!
And to the African Traditional Religious, I learn from you that the world is ever alive. If I cannot be trusted with a piece of land or a herd of cattle - to tend to it and be caretaker of it -, then woe betide me if a 'mansion planted on streets of gold' be given to me.
Blessings,
NakedSha...
