I  will  like to  start  this  rejoinder  by  examining some of  the numerous contradictions in the article by Onyeka Nwelue titled: The Transformation: How Religion Started.

These contradictions, to my  mind  also attest to the fact that the author has serious limitations that  have  made  it  impossible for  him understand  what  he sought  to explain.

I kept  wondering : if   he cannot avoid contradictions in an article of eleven paragraphs and three pages how can he convince anyone that he has  the cerebral capacity to understand, God, Religion etc.(no pun intended  please)

A few examples of the contradictions:-

In the first paragraph he wrote   “To find the origin of religion, science is not necessarily needed, but commonsense and reasonable thinking. And it is only through this finding that one can be able to come to a conclusion that there is no Existing Being called God”

and in the last paragraph he wrote “But in a bid to discover the origin of religion, which I boldly say is from the soil, the sand and the earth, science, commonsense and reasonable thinking should be applied, because man is science; science is religion and religion is man with reverence to earth.

In paragraph one he also wrote that “ Atheists are correct when they believe that there is no God, no personal Supreme God that lives in the sky” yet a  large portion of your article was devoted to celebrating   the efficacy and prowess of Ibo gods namely Amadioha,Ogbuide etc. to the extent that you concluded in paragraph  four that “Faith was (and is still) all that matters in religion, whether traditional African religion or Western religion.

With these points I make bold to say that his article is without any foundation, thrust or focus.

It is also curious that he failed to define the word Religion in an article in which he defined other terms in including metaphysics.

This could have been deliberate because such a definition would have rendered useless the entire article; the article will be meaningless.

It is also curious that no basis was established for the adoption of the stand of atheists.  If atheists did not use the word God, did they use other terms to represent a super being?

However, as far as he is concerned, we should accept the declaration of atheists and should not subject their conclusions or declaration to any test;  only those who believe in God should face such scrutiny. Is that science or common scene ? .

Did  it  ever  occur  to  him that  some  atheists  have indeed  accepted  that  there  is  God.   In  my  article  titled “Is  it  Rational  to Believe in God”  published  on  27^th August, 2006  I  devoted  a  small  section  to  an  article in  the  Sunday  Punch.  Excerpts:

In an article titled Faith, reason, God and other imponderable, the writer reviewed the books written by three scientists namely Francis S. Collins, Owen Gingerich and Joan Roughgarden.

“In the language of God”, Collins the geneticist who led the American governments effort to decipher the human genome describes hiss own journey from atheism to committed Christianity, a faith he embraced as a young physician.

In God’s universe, Gingerich an emeritus professor of astronomy at Harvard tells how he is personally persuaded that a super intelligent Creator exists beyond and within the Cosmos.

And in “Evolution and Christian faith”, Roughgarden, the child of Episcopal missionaries and now an evolutionary biologist at Stanford tells of her struggles to fit the individual into the evolutionary picture – an effort complicated in her case by the fact that she is transgender, and therefore has views at odds with some conventional Darwinian thinking about sexual identity. Richard Dawkins, who in his book “The God Delusion” likened religious faith to “a disease” and sets as his goal convincing his readers that atheism is a brave aspiration, provided another interesting perspective.

Then the challenge which was presented as follows: Of course just as the professors of faith cannot prove (except to themselves) that God exists, the advocates for atheism acknowledge that they cannot prove (not yet anyway) that God does not exist.

It is also pity that his research was limited by time and place of birth. It is  evident as  most of  his deities can  be  found  in the south-eastern zone of  Nigeria.  These conditioned his thought process thereby denying him the opportunity to look at the history that existed before the coming of slave masters to Africa.

Matters  arising

Firstly let us define religion.  Religion is an English word and according to Wikipedia , it is defined as  “a  social institution  that  includes  a  set of  common  beliefs and  practices  generally  held  by  a  group of  people, often  codified as prayer,  ritual  and  religious  law.

Religion also  encompasses ancestral or  cultural  traditions,  writings, history  and  mythology  as  well as  personal faith  and  mystic  existence”

It is clear from this definition that religion is not an abstract.  It is a form with clear characteristics  such  as  common beliefs, practices  and  laws.

I  make  bold  to  say that  from  this definition and whatever may be the reason behind the belief in  religion (fear etc) the origin of religion in terms of where it started is  irrelevant.  In  financial  management  some projects  will  last  for  such  a  long  time  that  we  often  discount  their  cashflows  to  infinity  to  be  able to  arrive  at  a  rational  basis  for  taking  decisions today.  In  the  same vein  we  will  have  to  look  beyond  Amadioha  and  Ogbuide (in  south eastern  Nigeria)  to  find  the  answer to  the  question :  what  is  the origin of  religion.

It is generally accepted that everybody descended from Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve  received  clear  instructions from God  and  the  Quran  specifically stated  that  he  will  send guidance  to  them.  Quran chapter 2 verse 38. We said: "Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you Guidance from me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. “

It is also on record that great flood during the time of Noah destroyed everything save the inhabitants of the Ark.  And it is these people that gave birth to all of us that are inhabiting the physical place called the earth today.  We are  all  descendants of  Noah.

It  is  clear  from  Quranic  verses that  religion  was in  existence  before and  during the time  of  Noah, perhaps  in  a  limited  form as there  were  no  revealed  books  at  this  time  but  mere  proclamation of  God.

In  chapter 71 of  the  Quran : 1. We sent Noah to his People (with the Command): "Do thou warn thy People before there comes to them a grievous Penalty.  2.  He said: "O my People! I am to you a Warner, clear and open: 3. "That ye should worship Allah, fear Him and obey me: 4. "So He may forgive you your sins and give you respite for a stated Term: for when the Term given by Allah is accomplished, it cannot be put forward: if ye only knew."

There  is no  doubt  that  idol  worshipping  in  one  form or  the  other  existed in  these  times.  The  turning  point  for  organized  religion  came  during  the  time  of  Abraham (who  is  generally  accepted  as  the  father of  all  faiths)  when  he  prayed  -  Quran  Chapter 2 :129 "Our Lord! send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse Thy Signs to them and instruct them in scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them: For Thou art the Exalted in Might, the Wise."

The  prayer of  Abraham  tallies  with  the  definition of  religion  in  so many respects. It is therefore my  considered opinion that  religion, in  the  true  sense  started  with  this  prayer (common belief,  scripture etc.)

Chapter  2 continues  130.  And who turns away from the religion of Abraham but such as debase their souls with folly? Him We chose and rendered pure in this world: And he will be in the Hereafter in the ranks of the Righteous. 131. Behold! his Lord said to him: "Bow (thy will to Me):" He said: "I bow (my will) to the Lord and Cherisher of the Universe." 132. And this was the legacy that Abraham left to his sons, and so did Jacob; "Oh my sons! Allah hath chosen the Faith for you; then die not except in the Faith of Islam." 133. Were ye witnesses when death appeared before Jacob? Behold, he said to his sons: "What will ye worship after me?" They said: "We shall worship Thy Allah and the Allah of thy fathers, of Abraham, Isma'il and Isaac,- the one (True) Allah. To Him we bow (in Islam)."

It  was  recorded in  the  bible : Genesis 18:18
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?     Genesis 18:19

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Abraham gave  birth to Isaac  and Ishmael  and  the genealogy continued till  the time  of  Moses, David,  Jesus  and  Muhammad (Peace  be  upon  all of  them).  These  are  the  harbingers  of  organized  and  documented  religion.

From  the  foregoing  it  is important  to  note  that  instead  of  common  sense  and  science,  the  answer  to  the  question of  how  religion  started  can  best  be  obtained  from  history and  the  holy  books.  This  is  especially true  because  paganism  was  largely  unrecorded.

A  study of  recent  history  also  showed  that  most  Africans  migrated  from some  places  to their  present  abode.  Indeed  everybody  migrated  from the  spot  that  Noah’s  Ark  landed,  so it  is  not  historically  correct  to  imply  that  religion  started  in  the  south eastern part  of  Nigeria.

Conclusion

It  was  my  intention  to  bring  further  evidences  from the  bible  but  time  is  a  limiting  factor.   So  for   those  of  my readers  who  are  interested  you  may  wish  to  check  Genesis  and  Isaiah  for  further  instruction.

It is  my  hope  also  that  the  Onyeka  Nwelue  will  find  some  useful information in  this  piece.

Thank  you  for  having  read  this  article.

Taslim  Anibaba  (FCA)

11^th April,  2008       tanibaba@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 I will like to start this rejoinder by examining ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 11.04.2008 08:37