The Essence of a Liberated Mind

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To speak truth to power takes a great deal of courage, especially in Nigeria where social security is lacking, and the judiciary has failed woefully in its traditional role. To speak truth to the pulpit takes more than courage; it takes a liberated mind and being prepared for verbal and perhaps physical onslaught beginning from the bedroom to the rashness of full freaking fanatics of institutional religion worldwide. In modern times, the experience of Salmon Rushdie stands as a veritable instance of the extent to which organised religion can go to hound persons who voice views that differ from the theological doctrines and tenets of a religion. Notedly, it was for making categorical statements that were considered blasphemous in the tradition of Judaism that Jesus was crucified under the watch of imperialist Rome.
It is in view of the above that this piece wades into the reactions generated by Peter Obi’s comments on how church activities affect national productivity negatively. The former governor of Anambra State and presidential flag bearer of Labor Party was reported as suggesting that night vigils, which are common in Nigerian church practices, could be shifted to night shifts or work-oriented routines, thereby encouraging productivity and economic progress. Reportedly, Obi opined that the prevalence of church activities …throughout the week is limiting the productive potential of many Nigerians. Obi said furthered thus: “I go to church and believe in God, but we can’t have people go to church morning and night from Monday to Friday” to worship God.

Truly, humanity is yet to acquire the capacity to comprehend the essence of the entity we call God. The Pope, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Allamah and the leaders of thoughts of every religious organisation in the world are like the blind leading the blind in a humongous dark enclosure. Note that the Entity generally referred to as God is Female in Hinduism and Buddhism. The same Entity is Male in Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A study of the Bible with a thawed mind shows that the God of Genesis is a Plurality, and the Lords of Ezekiel’s encounters are of a technologically superior civilisation; this snuggles to Annunaki tradition. Similarly, in a 2006 peer reviewed journal article titled “In His Image and Likeness: Pondering over Creation and the Divine Essence” (MELINTAS—Journal of Philosophy and Religion), the author drew from the Scriptures of various religions and held that there is a hierarchy of gods in the universe; that man was created by a civilisation and that in the endlessness of time, man will also create in his image and likeness, if he does not annihilate himself. In African tradition, God is amorphous.
The fact that man commits the most heinous atrocities against man and humanity in the name of an entity he knows absolutely nothing about is the greatest undoing for humanity. And the fact that people believe (hook, line and sinker) every word uttered at the pulpit is the height of absurdity, gullibility and human folly. The truth remains that it will take a great effort and personal experience to liberate people’s mind from the stranglehold of the doctrines and tenets of institutional religion.

It is therefore with a thawed mind that the opinion of Peter Obi on reining in the excess influences of the church on the Nigerians is viewed. Speaking dispassionately and objectively, how can a people spend day and night, Monday to Friday in church praying for breakthroughs and miracles without putting their hands on the plough and yet expect food on the table? Deuteronomy (28:12) says “The LORD will…send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands”. In other words, God will create the enabling environment for you to work and prosper. Similarly, Psalm 90:17 says “Let…the Lord our God…establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands”. Note that both quotations emphasise “the work of our hands”, not endless frenzied prayers and meaningless glossolalia all day all night and all week.
Nigeria is categorised as a Religion Economy, and it is rated as the second most prayerful country in the world and yet the poverty capital. This means that wealth does not come through prayers. If it did China and Japan would be the poorest countries in the world since they don’t believe in the Christian God. Christianity was banned for 250 years during the Edo period (1603–1868) in Japan; that stopped its insidious growth. Today, at least six of every ten cars on Nigeria’s roads are Japanese. China is sufficiently threatening unipolarism by giving the US a run for its money in the global powerhouse and marketplace; the Chinese do not believe in the Christian God.
Love or loathe Peter Obi; vote for him or not, he spoke truth to power and a nation suffering from Iguana Syndrome. Today, he has spoken truth to the pulpit, power and the nation. If I wake up tomorrow morning and find myself as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, one of the first things I would do is shut down all the houses of worship of our alien religions of imperialism and ask Nigerians to seek the face of God (whoever or whatever She, He, They or It may be) in the solitude of their hearts and through their behavior to their fellow human beings.
Borrowing from Thomas Paine (1737-1809), the American Founding Father and political philosopher, let doing good be our religion and the world our country.

O. Jason Osai, Professor of Development Studies, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, can be reached via ozomogoosai@gmail.com.