Nobody is required to believe that human beings need to breathe in and out in order to live. It is something we know. Likewise, you don’t need to believe that anyone who does not eat for three days will be very weak. We know it as a truism. We know the colours of love and the contours of hate. We understand the value of education, hard work, sincerity and synergy, not by belief but by practical knowledge.
Belief has its own place in our lives. Belief is the faculty we apply in dealing with things we don’t know much about. We talk of belief when we cannot use our sense organs to relate with the subject of discussion. Belief works together with imagination and speculation. When we are forced to relate with anything using this faculty of belief, it remains within the realm of speculation and can never graduate to the realm of knowledge and assurance unless science unravels it and adds it to the body of available knowledge.
We see the sky, admire its various shades and hues but we can only speculate about what goes on beyond the sky. No matter how many times men have gone to space, we will not really know much about the realms beyond our planet. The wonders of the sky, the sun, the moon and stars are issues that have kept humanity guessing for ages past and will remain so in ages to come. These marvellous wonders of nature affect our lives directly. They are forces we have to relate with and the faculty we call upon is belief.
In some climes the predominant belief about the sun is that it is the greatest force in the universe and so must be the origin and maker of life. In other places, they believe that men come from the water. This belief affects the way they treat diseases, the way they worship, marry, cultivate food, as well as other aspects of their lives.
This is basically what religion is all about: belief. Because nature decided to keep quiet about the source of life, everyone is compelled to devise his own means of relating with these features of life that we cannot understand. Because such matters are in the realm of speculation, they should not be rigid. They should not be cast in stone because a new light might be shed on one tenet of belief necessitating a change of opinion. Even the new opinion is subject to change since there is no solid guide by nature about what to uphold as indisputable truth. This is how religion should be.
Unfortunately, we have come to a tragic point in history when religion is a do-or-die affair because of the desperation infused into it by men who packaged it as an instrument of mind slavery. In our society today, people kill and maim others just because they hold divergent views on faith and belief. Many families and communities are in disarray because of religious differences.
In the days of our ancestors, indigenous peoples of Africa did not fight each other over religion. It was not an issue at all. Everyone had the freedom to worship the way he chose without fear of molestation from anyone. The society only rose against anyone whenever he or she trespassed on the laws of the land. In the Igbo world, it was ridiculous to even imagine brothers fighting over allegiance to one god or the other. A look at the same Igbo nation today will reveal that a great deal has changed in the psyche of the people.
Today, there is a lot of enmity on account of religion. The greatest frauds are committed in the realms of religion. I remember visiting a church many years ago and the General Overseer was telling his members why they should not enter into the neighbouring church. Eventually, that pastor died and before he did, he left instructions that the other pastor should not attend his funeral. We have heard, seen and read many absurd occurrences all hinged on belief and faith. I wonder how long it will take for us to realize that these invading religions are filling us with more hate than love, more fear than faith, and more war than peace.
My position on the whole issue is that anyone born into the world should be free to interact with his world in his own way. No matter the result you are getting by worshipping the way you do, it does not elevate that style of worship beyond the level of belief and speculation. Religion of whatever description is speculative. Nothing can change that fact. I believe we will have a better world if we all can take time to think outside the little box provided by our religion and realize that we are all groping about the nature of the supernatural components of life. We are given little clues in nature but nothing concrete. If the creator did not deem it necessary to show us clearly how we must worship, why should we cry more than the bereaved and destroy the beautiful world he provided us trying to establish what he chose not to?
There is need to loosen up and realize that those things that have wired you up to deny your neighbour his well-deserved rest in the name of saving him from disaster is only in the realm of speculation. Relax! Don’t destroy what God created because of what you don’t even understand. Take a cue from nature and you will never fight or antagonize anybody over what he chooses to believe in. It’s his choice and for God’s sake, it’s his life.
NNENNA Ihebom
