The veil of superstition – africa’s burden of darkness

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• princewilly@ymail.com 11 years ago

  Two Thieves Are Robbing A Bank. It Is A Very High Building And They Are On The 13th Floor. They Hear The Police. One Thief Says
  To The Other,'Lets Jump Off The Side Of The Building.' Second Thief,' Are U Mad. We Are On The ...
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  Two Thieves Are Robbing A Bank. It Is A Very High Building And They Are On The 13th Floor. They Hear The Police. One Thief Says
  To The Other,'Lets Jump Off The Side Of The Building.' Second Thief,' Are U Mad. We Are On The 13th Floor!' First Thief:'This
  Is No Time To Be Superstitious!!'
  
  AMERICANS ARE SUPERSTITIOUS IN BUILDINGS WITH 13 FLOORS.
  THEY ARE SUPERSTITIOUS WITH OPEN UMBRELLAS TOO.

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• Kojo T 11 years ago

  Theyb do not walk under ladders. Latinos have their superstions too . Only they ue logic as well

  Theyb do not walk under ladders. Latinos have their superstions too . Only they ue logic as well

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• Yakub 11 years ago

  great article but all what u have mention has happend in western society.when we can inderstand our purpose and follow the true teaching of the holy books and not the traditions of those the holy books were send to then we c ...
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  great article but all what u have mention has happend in western society.when we can inderstand our purpose and follow the true teaching of the holy books and not the traditions of those the holy books were send to then we can grow.u ask many africans that are oversea and workin hard can tell of their experiance.in the islamic doctrine its been said of how almighty raise us above each other in wealthy and many things so also nations.we can overcome it as we put faith to believin the almighty that send same rain every were,same air,so the question is wat kinda education our people are gettin,true our own and as people ghana has its own blessins to the world but is ghana benefiting.for the heart of jelousy and hate is working against ua,as all that is workin against us so are those who slave us using the so almighty holy book as cover but not the real truth.so may almighty help us awake from that.for every were things happen but as u said leaders should be those born to lead not wat slave masters want.

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• gek p 11 years ago

  Isaac, thank you for this wonderful article. I strongly share your views and thought .but how do we overcome this challenge, may be we need likeminded people who share this view to talk further on the subject matter.

  Isaac, thank you for this wonderful article. I strongly share your views and thought .but how do we overcome this challenge, may be we need likeminded people who share this view to talk further on the subject matter.

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• Joe 11 years ago

  well, not bad but the writer is not clear on his position. he seemed to believe in so called 'black magic' and their potency. he then also describes certain practices as 'superstition'. i think it's either you are for it or a ...
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  well, not bad but the writer is not clear on his position. he seemed to believe in so called 'black magic' and their potency. he then also describes certain practices as 'superstition'. i think it's either you are for it or against it. there is really no such thing as all these witches and wizards and ancestoral spirits. you cant use thyem to win any power; they just exist in the minds of some people.
  
  i agree that we need to wean ourselves from such nonsense and think scientifically. we must equally note that our problems are not always on our leaders; probably 90% are from the people themselves!

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• rOB 11 years ago

  The problem of the black man fundamentally is spiritual, however the spiritual, (which some people don't believe in), also reflects exactly in the physical, including the DNA of any creature. Black man is the same creature th ...
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  The problem of the black man fundamentally is spiritual, however the spiritual, (which some people don't believe in), also reflects exactly in the physical, including the DNA of any creature. Black man is the same creature throughout this world and not in Ghana only. Throughout the whole of Africa and the world, even amongst people of African descent in the Americas who have been cut off from their roots for hundreds of years,...black man behaves the same!...poverty, pulling down one another, envy, destroying one another, laziness etc. This is black man's signature. Fortunately, there is hope, because the same God who made white man also made black man, and God didn't make a mistake. Fortunately, DNA never remains the same. Much as I don't believe in evolution...which sees nature as the creator of itself, I believe that some aspects of our genes will never change: i.e. humans will always remain human beings and will not change into a different creature, however some aspects of genes of individuals and whole races of people can and do change. Black man is like an unfinished work which God made and it got marred and it is so for a reason. God will use the black man and Africa at the last days to prove to the world that He is God...not only of whites but also blacks. The bible says God uses the despised and weak things of this world to confound the wise and mighty...so that no man can boast.
  Black man's solution lies with his Creator. Time will bring it to pass.

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• Teiko 11 years ago

  European societies for many years also operated on superstition. But Christianity, the enlightenment, rationality, belief in science, belief in progress led to transform their worldview. The elites then set up systems that ...
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  European societies for many years also operated on superstition. But Christianity, the enlightenment, rationality, belief in science, belief in progress led to transform their worldview. The elites then set up systems that reduced the level of superstition.
  
  Among Africans, there has not been institutionalized processes to reduce superstition.
  
  The sad story is that even Europeanized Africans have allowed the "victim ideology"--a legacy of slavery to delude rationality and elevate the blame game--which in turn produces little or no transformation in thinking.
  
  Because the tendency is to always blame someone else for their woes, this in effect reinforces the magical thinking.
  
  Asian societies also have large areas of superstition--but in recent decades they have decided to take charge of their own lives--hence the economic development in Japan, Korea, china etc.
  
  As a person thinketh--so they become. Humans have been engineered to become what the think. So until Africanized societies change their thinking patterns to see themselves as in charge of their own lives, they will remain the "hewers of wood".
  
  Until Africans elevate their thinking to assume responsibility for their lives and the future of their children and grandchildren in the modern era, they will always default into magical thinking.

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• Akua Mansa 11 years ago

  Every culture has a belief system
  
  Africas problem is not necessarily the result of our belief system and neither is Christianity as a belief system a panacea to the resolution of Africas problem
  
  Its all about LEADERSHIP ...
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  Every culture has a belief system
  
  Africas problem is not necessarily the result of our belief system and neither is Christianity as a belief system a panacea to the resolution of Africas problem
  
  Its all about LEADERSHIP
  
  Unfortunately we lack the Selfless, Visionary Leadership that can transform Africa.
  
  It is Leadership and not cultural change that has tranformed China, Malasia, Japan, South Korea etc
  
  We need LEADERS that can stand up and say, no more corruption, no more poverty, no more illiteracy, no more greed. We need Leadership that will take us from the wilderness
  
  We are plain STUPID as a people.

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• C.Y. ANDY-K 11 years ago

  Been too busy to comment on your piece. This is just for the record.
  
  First, as many know, I've been commenting on the subject of the abject superstition that afflicts we Africans. And when I mean superstition, it encompass ...
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  Been too busy to comment on your piece. This is just for the record.
  
  First, as many know, I've been commenting on the subject of the abject superstition that afflicts we Africans. And when I mean superstition, it encompasses Christianity and Islam too, unlike you which sees African traditional religions as superstition. In taking such a position, you have only shown yourself to be totally brainwashed by Western, white cultural imperialism.
  
  You have therefore said nothing new but regurgitate everything that the white missionaries and white, racist social anthropologists started saying about we Africans centuries ago.
  
  In addition, you have shown yourself to be very superstitious yourself. You believe in all the crap you are supposedly against: demons, witches, wizards, evil spirits, curses, juju, name it, and the latent powers over men! Do you think white Christians believe in all that crap? Incorporating such African belief systems in say Christianity gave rise to what Rev. Professor Emeritus Baeta termed "christo-pagainism", which form the basis of all those charismatic [syncretic] sects or churches. Some have even mixed Islam, Christianity to the pot-pouri of African beliefs to give rise to new concoctions in Ghana!
  
  Not much different in Islam. E.g., the patronage and use of talisman and amulets by Muslims in African is quintessentially African, pre-dating Islam in Africa.
  
  My friend, you did not mention ignorance, which begats the superstition, and the two together form one of the cogs in the vicious cycle of underdevt and backwardness. Ignorance is at the root of superstition as it is at the helm of of lack of scientific and technological backwardness. So in the age of vast knowledge about the evolution of the universe, your kind strenuously hold to a divine being which created the universe in 6 days and took a rest on the 7th. You believe that a virgin gave birth to a human being named Jssus in spite of the vast knowledge available that such a myth was simply copied from earlier civilisations and religions before Jesus was born. So Jesus wasn't the first ever said to be born by a virgin in the annals of history. They believers believe unquestioningly all the outlandish myths in the bible and Qu'ran. Yes, someone blew a horn and skeletons rose up from their graves and fought on behalf of the Jews. Mohammed flew on a horse and landed on the site of The Dome in Jerusalem. Of course, you believe that Jesus waled on water and TB Joshua raised up a dead person just like Jesus raised Lazarus! You see, you are no less superstitious than the unlettered African rustic pouring some dzomi over an "alegba" in order to get some favour from the deities. Didn't you put money in envelope for the prophet for prayers for you to get a visa to Germany?
  
  This is just for now.
  
  Andy-K

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