I read the piece on the existence of God by Mr. Sabella Abbide titled, God to His Children: There is No God, with great amusement and curiosity. I have known Sabella for a while now – going three to four years and have read him for may be a couple of years longer. There is no doubt in my mind that he swings between agnostic to atheist and sometimes to downright pagan; none of his views about God and religion stuns me. But I was more than surprised by the vitriolic response his article got. How can we be regarded as intelligent creatures when we fail to reason with our brains?

Out from the shadows came the defenders of God. Of course those who make profession of defending the honor of God always come across as hypocrites and history is unkind to them. From the crusaders who swore by the sword rather than the vain glory of conquest and precious metals (or political strategies of the deeply corrupt royals on both sides of the Christian-Islamic divide that commissioned these bloody adventures) to the current day Holy Jihad and its not so distant cousin called war on terrorism coordinated from Crawford Ranch, scoundrels have found comfort in fighting God’s fight. Pray tell, why can’t God defend himself?

Is God not potent enough to strike down the heretics/infidels/gentiles amongst us? So why did the Popes need to spill the blood of dissidents? Why was Galileo arrested and imprisoned for clarifying the shape of the earth? Why were Africans enslaved and punished for their skin color all in the name of cleansing the earth of “paganism” and civilizing a civilization that civilized Europe? Why? Why did heaven and earth not collide when those infidels decided to give the land of his chosen people away and drive them to the outermost ends of the earth? Why are his own chosen people now mistreating their own cousins, doing so with such impunity that will shame the perpetrators of apartheid and genocide in South Africa and Rwanda respectively?

It is on record that the greatest killer in the world for time immemorial is religion. Religion more than hunger, disease and tribal strife is responsible for more deaths in the world we live in today than ever before. From Kosovo to the Middle East to Kano, echoes of death by religion reverberate. Brothers turn on brothers without recourse to reason because they subsumed their common sense to religion and some illiterate cleric. Religion and its fundamentalist followers abandon rationality and subject common sense to murderous instincts. Two sides of the same coin: George Bush and Osama Bin Laden are today driving the world to the precipice of an all out nuclear war because of their theological vision of the world we live in. The sooner we realize this, the better for us- the scum of the earth who do not get a sit on the table where they pound away with sheer recklessness and gusto.

It is for this reason I make bold to say that even if there is God, none of the world religions will lead you to him. God is in our hearts, our fellow human beings and us. Hence, any world religion incapable of serving God in a sustainable fashion (like most of the world religions today), preserving peace and love in the process, cannot be regarded as one that serves God. The world religions- be it Christianity, Islam and Judaism in its formalized sense is only an avenue for political organization and for the purpose of survivorship. Its variant practiced in Nigeria is a business organization and social club with its ethos of greed and gullibility ingrained in the pulpit and laity respectively. With this in mind, I doubt if any Nigerian or even anyone living in this century will see the Holy God (so long as He is a God of love and of peace).  Hence, if you sincerely seek to reach to God, the best way to do so is a direct interaction with your conscience and perhaps you can be among the tiny percentage that will not be hell bound. Do not get me wrong, religion has its role to play in a number of of our personal lives (emphasis on personal). To some it serves as a potential psychological balancing system, to others it is a form of socialization (room full of gossips and backbiting); to many it is a forum to develop public speaking, leadership and charisma. To quite a few, religion serves as an abiding moral compass in the absence of sturdy grounding at home and a strong will.

However, personalized religion is devoid of idol/pastor/imam/rabbi worshipping and the glorification of material possession by the ordained. The absolutism that dominates religion is dangerous. Like Pope Benedict will tell you, many think theirs is the one and only true religion and every other person is going to be damned. Is this Catholicism or Pope Worship? Some even say my great grand father who was a man of peace and love but a worshipper of Osanyin will end up hell while slave hounding, human slaughtering George Washington has a glorious sit on the right hand of God. I don’t know who is deceiving who, but I sure will be damned if this is true.

At this instant, the pressing question is how does religion affect you? How does religion affect the African and Nigerian? What role does religion play in your society? Why should you as a Nigerian care about the trend in world religion and the upsurge of violence in your homeland all in the name of religion? Ever heard of the middle/dark ages? Ever read about the renaissance period of Europe? If we care to look back as Africans, we will note that the abstraction of religion and sublimation of its effect from the realm of public policy and academia preceded the rebound of Europe from gloom to a period of boom, advancement and prosperity. Hence, could it be that our religiosity is hampering the development of Africa? What good is our religion if we die in penury and poverty? What good is God if untold sickness and diseases kill our children while the White and Arab man that gave you His religion has since discarded of its use in the form you preserve? Why cry more than the bereaved?

Hell bound or heaven bound, what difference does it make to the living? How many roads, bridges and hospitals have religion built in your villages and hamlets- for those that are still lucky to have one? Is it not high time we consider having the religious bodies taxed or at the minimum become tax collecting agencies on behalf of the government at the rate at which they exercise power over the people? Nigerians are funny, at the rate they mumble the phrase, “God is good” one will think their ready love and admiration of God will make them want to see him with quick dispatch. But alas, many are scared stiff of death enough to watch shitless dictators and looters pee over their children all in the name of demon-crazy. Wake up my people and use your brains. It is an obligation you owe your creator- be it divine or mortal.

Robot  Villager

# 1 I read the piece on the existence of God by Mr. Sabella Abbide titled, ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 08.11.2007 18:56