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Still On El-Rufai’s Religious Bill
The piece I wrote the previous week on the bill on the regulation of preaching introduced to the Kaduna State House of Assembly by Governor Nasir el-Rufai expectedly attracted commentaries from readers. A few of them are reproduced below while my postscript is at the tail end. Enjoy: I enjoyed reading your piece on regulating preaching, but believed as well that it is not only preaching that should be regulated. It is rather unfortunate. The Nigerian Government shall come up with some initiative to sanitize all aspect of religion in Nigeria, particularly abuses, excesses, juju, miracles, cults as religion, almajiri, charity finances etc.
- Ibrahim Wada, Abuja- Nigeria
Your article is thought provoking. The issue of religion in any country is very serious. Some countries like Britain and the United States were founded on the tenets of the Bible (Christianity) while others like Saudi Arabia and UAE were founded on the tenets of the Quran (Islam). While yet others like Nigeria are Secular (Without affiliation to any particular religion) as in the constitution. I believe anyone trying to regulate any religion outside his or her own is violating the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as regards freedom of worship and association. If CAN or PFN decides to regulate the practice of Christianity without interference from other religious bodies, it would be accepted without contest and violence. So is the same with others. I would suggest that the governor should not waste precious tax payers' money on frivolities and concentrate on building a strong state economy. I wonder how religion is stopping him from building roads, schools, hospitals, providing fresh clean drinking water, etc. I think this is a clear distraction and an indication of lack of vision. Muhammad, please kindly ask the governor to answer the question: How is religion stopping him from building roads, schools, hospitals, providing fresh clean drinking water, etc. in Kaduna State? If he gives you a reasonable answer with evidence, then we shall support him. But if not, he is seriously not ready to lead a people with diverse religion. - Efe Osayande efeosayande71@gmail.com
Alh. Muhammad Al-Ghazali, I am very pleased with your balanced approach to this matter. If we have people like you in Kaduna State our nation will enjoy religious freedom, justice and peace. You are right, "many (Nigerian clergy) have come to see religion as a legitimate business." What a disgrace. I think Governor El-Rufai should press on with the bill. Thank you my brother for this great piece. - Rev. Prof. Sunday B. Agang.
Postscript
It
was Karl Marx, who was first credited with the view that religion is
the opium on which humanity unashamedly and universally feeds. The
exact quotation itself,
"Die Religion ...
ist das Opium des Volkes" A less pedestrian view of the same quotation however leaves us in awe of the awesome power of religion and faith generally in the affairs of mankind. It interrogates its enthusiasm and moral sanction. It bows to its universal realization of the human essence especially but not exclusively at the point of adversity. It also attests to its awesome appeal to our senses of consolation and justification for our actions. In most developing countries such as ours, which have been devastated by decades of abject poverty, and wanton impoverishment, religion also offers a sedative effect in the form of the temporary escape it provides to millions serially ravaged by the effects of rabid corruption and incompetent leadership. Unfortunately, the same status-quo, created the dangerous vacuum which a generation of psychos masquerading as religious preachers and men of God have rushed to fill for both mercantile and bogus spiritual inclinations. There is no other way to describe the obvious nutcase called Abubakar Shekau, for instance. It will also be stretching our patience and collective gullibility too far when a man occupies the pulpit to lustfully call for the death of a sitting Governor for attempting to reform public policy, and still demands that we refer to him as an Apostle of God, and not the psychopath, and potential accessory to murder, that he undoubtedly is! Religion is an opium to the extent that it often blurs the senses of reasoning for those with obvious mischief in their hearts. When a respected public commentator like Okey Ikechukwu – please refer to the Thisday back-page of 1st April, 2016 – accepts the good intentions of el-Rufai’s proposed bill, but still believes it doesn’t “stand a whimper of a chance” of success on account of its approach alone, you know we have a problem in this country. It suddenly dawns on us that religion is not merely the opium of the masses alone. The irrational reactions of our elites to some national issues with religious undertones suggests that they could also be intoxicated by it for different reasons. In typical Nigerian fashion, going by most of the comments that have appeared in the mainstream media, and most social networks, it is apparent that many Nigerians have never read the proposed legislation. Many critics are wholesomely oblivious of its fine details. Many of the views expressed resulted from barefaced bigotry deeply entrenched in our national psyche. Most did not care to even contemplate the genesis of the proposed bill or the utopia it seeks from religious charlatanism. They conveniently ignored the fact that what is proposed in part is more of a peer review system to separate genuine preachers from the obvious scammers in their midst. But like I wrote last week, the draft bill did not emerge in a vacuum. Its path was paved in blood, shattered limbs, and too many mass graves which the Governor is right to demand should not be repeated. An unfortunate impression has been needlessly created that the bill targets only Christianity and Christian preachers alone, for instance, but nothing could be further from the truth. In saner climes, those opposed to the bill would have employed greater decorum in dealing with their grievances. Instead of formally engaging the Governor to seek assurances over sections of the bill they disagreed with, they chose to play to the gallery by condemning the idea in its entirety. Unlike its 1984 vintage promulgated under the military, there are provisions for Public Hearings this time. In the process, they not only betrayed their intolerance, they also forgot that while they have the responsibility of propagating their respective faiths; the Governor also has the constitutional obligation in guaranteeing the peaceful co-existence of all indigenes of the state regardless of which God they worship. Peace remains the basic pre-requisite for rapid socio-economic growth anywhere. Empty threats and cheap blackmail have the opposite effect. They are counter-productive. While I concede that the proposed legislation like all human creations, is not perfect, there are certainly more honorable ways of dealing with the challenge than wholesomely threatening or condemning the Governor for summoning the courage to provide good governance in such a combustible environment which has experienced needless violence in the past. This is certainly the right time for all good men and women to speak up for the common good. We must learn from our past mistakes. This issue should be beyond petty politics and religious chauvinism. |