Earlier in part (I) of the same article, "EVERY RELIGION IS IDOLATRY
AND SUPERSTITION" published on the 2nd July, 2015 on this same page, I
pointed out that idolatry is to religion what model is to science and
concept is to philosophy. In addition, idolatry is not just the
physical or mental representation of the inherently Unknowable spirit,
but also the infusion of the known; Matter, with the supposedly
spiritual powers of the unknown; Spirit. So in part (II), I shall
focus on the superstitious aspect, again using the popular and
populated religion of the trio, Christianity. For it is Christianity
that had successfully crucified the Ghanaian and Africa mind, chaining
us down to prayer is the key and miracle is the rule mentality.
1. THE SCRIPTURE AS A WORD OF THE CREATOR
The Ghanaian masses still believed that the bible, quran and other
scriptures were written by the possible Creator of this universe.
Worst of all, we regard it as full of superior pragmatic cutting egde
knowledge across the spectrum of human endeavour against the
background of challenges; morally, medicinally, educationally, and
politically among others as far as ameliorating or eliminating the
effects of these challenges are concerned. Meanwhile compared to any
version of encyclopedia, every scripture fades away significantly
despite the claim of divine authorship. A book, if any was written by
the Creator of this universe, should indeed be an encyclopedia of
solutions to our problems on every facet of life. African, for
instance should be able to read in such a book, how to eradicate
malaria, one of our greatest challenge among others.
The bible, quran and other acclaimed holy books are such no books. Not
only that, they are truly vacuous in any pragmatic developmental
knowledge as well as uncertain and ambiguous in moral precepts. So it
beats once imagination how a scripture written in generations when
superstition was the rule and not the exception, become an absolute
indispensable guide to people in a generation with exponential factual
knowledge. And we look on with total indifference as a nation with
hopes to develop. It is suicidal to underestimate the threats of
superstition to national development. And that is what Ghanaians are
doing.
2. SPIRITUAL CAUSALITY OF EVENTS
The human world is a collection of events. An event is an occurence in
spacetime continuum. Natural events such as tsunamis, earthquakes,
volcanoes, droughts, floods, diseases, pestilence among others are
detrimental to the world of man. Cultural events such as war,
corruption, oppresion, repression among others are equally damaging to
the world of man.
All these events; both natural and cultural, demands understanding if
any progress could be made in accomodating the consequences of such
challenges as in ameliorating them. But religion teaches that, nothing
occurs except the Spirits wills it. Even the development of an
individual or nation is willed by these Spirits. In that milieu and
ignorant of the causes but believed to be willed by the Spirits,
humanity must appease ritually and via genuflections and endurance of
suffering as the only last resort.
Endurance of suffering implicitly becomes a measure of one's
spirituality. Or so the beliefs goes. It is the main reason why the
most destitute are deemed as highly spiritual. And Africans hence
Ghanaians see themselves as highly spiritual because, we are enduring
suffering..preventable suffering. It is dangerous and acidulous to the
developmental agenda of a nation where every occured event in the life
of a person and nation is interpreted as occassioned by Spirits,
therefore tackled from that perspective. The Christian religious
sycophant will even tell you that such sufferings are nothing compared
to Jesus Christ endured. You can see how religion had crippled and
psyched up the person to endure suffering. That is the Ghanaian, the
African. Superstition thrives in the soil of ignorance indeed.
3. PRAYER IS THE KEY
RELIGION has deceived mankind for so long, that prayer is the key.
With prayer, the religionist claims communication with the believed
Spirit willing the natural and cultural events. They believed it as
the greatest tool or weapon ever fashioned by man to confront his
existential challenges. The Spirit can do everything, especially with
the fervency of prayer on the part of the believer, the convinced
believer. Afterall, with the superstitious interpretation of events as
willed by God, prayer is deemed as capable of making God multiply the
favorables ones and certainly undo the unfavorables ones. The only
race or group of people who are still, statistically a victim of this
belief on national scale is the Black race. And being Africans, the
Ghanaian is no exception.
The truth is where there are convinced Christians the deception is
fossilized. In their majority, they make the nation a praying one
despite its futility. When allowed to dominate the public space and
unchecked, the consequences are manifolds of apparent wallowing in
even preventable sufferings. There could be hospitals but prayer camp
would be preferred. As reason dictates the continual evaluation of the
circumstantial challenges of the people, faith disregards them,
because it implies doubting. And religion hates doubts.
In short faith shall reign instead of reason in dealing with
individual amd national challenges. As such one wonders how Ghana full
of religionist, of whom the majority are convinced
Christians.......making the nation a praying one, can develop when the
circumstantial challenges of the masses are disregarded, even by the
people themselves becuase of this faith. It is time Ghanaians come to
the realization that prayer had never been the key. Thinking is the
key. Development is driven by the people....the masses as they keep
evaluating their conditions and seeing the forever need for
improvement. And think of actions to improve them.
4. BELIEF IN MIRACLES
Prayer, according to religion, is the key. It compels the trusted but
unwilling God to exert its authority in nature on behalf of the person
or group thereof praying. That is called miracle. The convinced
religionist has much faith in its occurence as man shall certainly die
one day. As if nature has no say in what happens within it. Meanwhile,
the little known about nature as revealed by sciecne, teaches that
nature abhors miracle. It is inherently impossible, at least on a
scale that could propagate national development that we all want. Like
we can pray, and the current energy crisis could be solved instantly.
This inherent impossibility of miracle in nature is the requisite for
man to think his way out or round it for success. The fulfillment of
that is technology, born of proper thinking called science.
Belief in miracle is dangerous to a nation with hopes to develop
because it creates the impression of possibilities of everything on
macroscopic scale, even without an effort by man. Prayer, whether you
are on your knees or walking up and down, and doing so in silence or
shouting over the roof that your are blowing tongues is no physical or
intellectual effort. A pseudo-hope of nothing is impossible in the
life of the people, the religionists because of the belief in
scripture written by god, spiritual causality of events, beliefs in
prayer and miracle is acidic to the developmental aspirations of a
nation. It makes the people lazy intellectually, psychologically,
politically and above all scientifically.
CONCLUSION
Knowledge is power. But so is ignorance. The only difference is that
the former makes you aware of the latter, because it scratches it.
Knowledge scratches ignorance, that is why any form of acquired
knowledge that does not reduce temporary ignorance of mankind is
superstition. This is the knowledge content of all religion;
Traditional, Christianity, Islam and others. It poses an almost
irredeemable real threat to the developmental aspirations of a nation.
As a result it must be our duty led by the educational institutions to
declare war upon this form of knowledge to deny it public space and
dominance that it stealthily seeks vehemently.
A nation risks stagnation with respect to massive human capacity
development as far as thinking, persistent thinking via the complex
events inbued with challenges are concerned, when the populace are
convinced of the dittos of religion. This is because when
superstition, dressed up as "unshakable infallible truth" is
operationalised by the people, their minds become crucified.
Irrationality strictly becomes rationality, prayer becomes the key,
miracle the indubitable rule and doubting a sin. In sum, superstition
becomes super-scientific.
Evidently and shockingly, Ghanaians are convinced of these "unshakable
infallible truths", and so have remained indifferent to superstition.
The fear of god is never the beginning of wisdom, rather, it is the
beginning of accepting temporary ignorance and enduring preventable
sufferings in the name of spiritual growth. Therefore, it is the
acquirement of biblical, quranic and traditional knowledge that the
Ghanaian and African is destroyed.
SESHIE, STANLEY
Email; seshiehanku@gmail.com
Whatsapp; 0508951323
