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Last week was quite interesting on Nigeria's social media space. It
started with a video of Pastor Adeboye telling his followers not to marry a woman that can neither cook nor pray
for one straight hour. The question that has been on my mind is: does
that mean God is deaf? What parent makes their child beg (for one hour)
for something they know the child needs? The truth is that prayers,
besides making the believer to feel good about themselves, are an
absolute waste of time. They do not grow the economy or an amputated
limb. Youth unemployment is at an all time high despite our regular
night vigils, prayers and supplications - it is evident that a God who
is interested in human welfare does not exist. If He did, malaria and
cancers will not kill millions of children whilst He preoccupies Himself
with consensual sex between homosexual couples.
In our country, pastors are marriage counsellors, psychotherapists,
psychiatrists and financial advisers all at once even though they are
not appropriately trained for these roles. They tell women to go back to
their violent husbands because, according to them, divorce is a sin
against God. Many a woman has lost her life because of this advice.
People like Adeboye are so influential anything they say is taken as the
literal truth. Sadly, his comments portray a man who is out of touch
with the realities of modern family life. More and more women are now in
employment and some of them are the main providers for their families.
Marriage is now regarded as a partnership rather than as a
master-servant relationship. Some of the most celebrated chefs in
western cultures are men - what is wrong with teaching our boys and
young men to cook for themselves? Adeboye has similarly instructed his
female followers not to marry men without jobs. But what happens when a
man loses his job - should his wife divorce him?
I feel sorry for the people who think God speaks through this man or through any man at all.
If you want incontrovertible evidence that religion cannot reform the
world, then consider the degree of theft and corruption in Nigeria.
These problems have become endemic even though practically every
Nigerian is a practising Muslim or Christian.
Nigerian pastors have acquired a taste for private jets - ostensibly
to reach the parts of the world that need the gospel of Jesus, except
that they avoid such places as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.
Charity begins at home - it is senseless to run off to put out the fire
in your neighbour's house when your own house is up in flames.
Nigerians and their country are in dire need of salvation from
endemic corruption. It is evident that religion cannot tranform our
nation because as our religious devotions have increased, so have our
corrupt ways.
Pastor Adeboye and his other pastopreneur friends need to sell off
their jets, repent of their lies, stop robbing their church members
through emotional blackmail, and give back what they have stolen. Their
message has failed.
Adeboye's gaffes were followed by the news that the Nigerian
government is going to subsidise pilgrimage to Mecca by granting Muslims
concessionary exchange rate.
That is almost N8 billion for an exercise that does not benefit our
economy. Many businesses are failing, parents are struggling to send
their children to school, our hospitals are poorly resourced but that is
how our government chooses to spend N8 billion. And believers wonder
why we cannot stop talking about religion. There would be no use to
criticise religion if it is removed from public space and kept as a
private matter. It is wrong for the government to use tax payer's money
to subsidise religious rituals.
The week ended with the RCCG convention where Adeboye makes his usual
wild claims but says nothing of consequence about our nation. Our Vice
President and a professor of law, Yemi Osibanjo, who also happens to be a
pastor in the Redeemed Church watched on as Adeboye went to town with
his preposterous claims. For a man who claims to have resurrected dead
people, cured all kinds of diseases and driven a car without feel, you
would think Adeboye would have told Vice President Osibanjo by now where
to locate the abducted Chibok girls, right? But no, another RCCG
convention has ended and not a word about their whereabout. When Adeboye
claims that his car drives without fuel or that he has resurrected dead
people and there's a medical doctor, engineer, architect, research
fellow, PhD holder or a professor in the congregation who believes this
fantasy then I feel grief and have great concern for the education
system that has nurtured such people.
Religion has caused more harm than it has done good to African
societies. Without a doubt, Adeboye and his fellow pastopreneurs have
been responsible for the corruption in the way a generation of Nigerians
think. But judging by the reactions to his sermon on social media, I
think it is safe to say that the scales are starting to fall off the
eyes of believers. I believe that pastor Adeboye will think twice now
before re-telling his favourite story of how his car drives without
fuel. I am thankful for the Internet and how it has placed knowledge at
the fingertips (literally) of ordinary people. I pay tribute to fellow
secularists for their unrelenting effort to liberate the minds of our
people from the shackles of religion. Despite my grief, I feel hopeful
about the future.
Ijabla is a medical doctor. He writes from the UK and can be contacted at: ijabijay@me.com
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