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Head coach of the Nigeria national team, Stephen Keshi has sensationally revealed to supersport.com that West Bromwich Albion star, Osaze Odemwingie wants out of the Super Eagles.

“I understand his feelings. I think he might change his mind but I really don’t know. The ball is in his court,” Keshi concluded.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.

ionyclaret@gmail.com

https://www.codewit.com

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THE above heading is my counterpoint to Prof. Wole Soyinka’s assertion: “If Religion Was taken Away I’d Be happy”, quoted in The Guardian of October 14, 2012, page 40. The Nobel Laureate’s statement was made at the recent Hay Festival in Mexico in the context of his strong condemnation of the murderous brand of religious extremism represented by Nigeria’s Boko Haram. If Prof. Soyinka had stopped with the condemnation, he would be merely reflecting the views of most Nigerians, including millions of genuine Muslim believers who have disowned the Boko Haram sect as a reneged brand of Islam. However, it is another kettle of fish for our revered Laureate to go further to suggest that the phenomenon of religion itself is society’s bête noire.

He elaborated: “If religion was taken away from the world completely including the one I grew up with, I’ll be one of the happiest people in the world”. Implied in this expression of religious iconoclasm is the belief that the world would be better off if all forms of religious belief, expression and practice were eliminated altogether. Throw away the baby with the bath water, and nothing is lost, this view seems to say. Obliterate religion from the face of the earth and no benefit whatsoever to humanity is jeopardised.

It is definitely tempting to castigate religion when people are seen to kill or commit heinous crimes in the name of whatever “god” they worship; or when religion is exploited for ignoble purposes. But there is a Latin adage that says, “abusus non tollit usum”, meaning “the abuse of something does not take away its rightful use”. This adage is applicable not only to religion but to a whole range of social institutions and phenomena. And if one denies the utility of something because of the abuse it is put to, it lands us into very outlandish conclusions.

For instance, in Prof. Soyinka’s own professional field, theatre and literature have been exploited to propagate all sorts of ideologies including racism, pornography, xenophobia, among others. To cite one example, it is Soyinka’s own professional colleague, Chinua Achebe, who exposed the rancid racism against Africa in Joseph Conrad’s otherwise widely acclaimed novel, Heart of Darkness. The point is that such abuse does not detract from theatre and literature being themselves legitimate and useful human pursuits.

Politicians routinely abuse politics for sordid gains, even they go for “do-or-die” politics to the extent that in our clime, politics is popularly considered a “dirty game”. But this attribution is, in fact, a wrong perception of politics which itself is a noble and legitimate quest for power to rule and implement one’s vision of society. In law, judges do sometimes use the Bench for corrupt enrichment to the detriment of society. Should we then abolish the judiciary? Should we equally eliminate the civil service, law enforcement agencies, the customs, even educational institutions just because functionaries in them sometimes engage in one form of anti-social behaviour or the other?

The historical evidence of religious violence and wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as present tendencies of some religious groups to propagate and defend their faith by recourse to violence, have provided irreligionists and atheists with canon fodder to generalise about religions doing tremendous harm to society by using violence to promote their goals. No acknowledgment whatsoever is made to another fact of past and contemporary history which I want to illustrate with respect to Christianity which I am more familiar with”.

For this, let me cite from an article in The Guardian, Saturday edition, written by its Acting Editor, Mr. Felix Oguejiofor-Abugu. In his commentary on Christmas of December, 25, 2010, he wrote: “The explosion of Christianity from one end of the earth to the other since Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, and the enthronement of successful governments in the Christian nations of the West (sic), based on the Christian principles of service, human rights and law and order, is a clear indication that Christ’s way is indeed a great social engineering that has served humanity well and, therefore, a path to progress that all who aspire to contemporary leadership in the world must learn to cut”. Here is a text acknowledging the Christian roots of Euro-American civilisation and ways of organising society – ways admired by other countries, including ours, that seek to imitate the West. Yet, our anti-religion ideologues ignore all this entire beneficial role of religion.

In his statement under reference, Prof. Soyinka wants religion merely tolerated but kept under control for fear that if taken away altogether, “maybe something more terrible would be invented to replace it”. Indeed, where irreligion replaced religion, something more terrible had actually been invented. History had a record of regimes that committed atrocities in the name of a communist ideology that was explicitly atheistic. Dinesh D’Souza, an Indian- American and one-time No 1 New York Times Best Selling author, in an on-line article of

October 18, 2007, named Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and a host of others and asked, “Who can dispute that they did their bloody deeds by claiming to be establishing a ‘new man’ and a religion-free utopia? These were mass murders performed with atheism as a central part of Their ideological inspiration”?

The balance of argument seems to be on the side of religion as a power for good in society. Where adherents of a particular religion or sect indulge in acts of violence or anti-social behaviour to promote their faith, they must be condemned and brought to book according to the law of the land. But it is uncalled for to castigate religion itself. Without seeking to impose their religious beliefs on others, billions of people in the world ranging from simple village folks to highly sophisticated intellectuals have found in their religious faith and practice satisfying answers to the riddles of human existence and coping strategies in times of inevitable life crises, thus lessening for themselves experiences of anxiety, fear and depression. No wonder that the 2012 global report from the Global Index of Religiosity, an Atheism reported that more than half of the world’s population (59 per cent) is religious as against 23 per cent for non-religious and 13 per cent for atheists. This is food for thought for those who want religion taken out completely from the world.

• Anasiudu, a priest, wrote from Awka, Anambra State.

Source: Click here

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.

ionyclaret@gmail.com

https://www.codewit.com

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We’ve put together a collection of uncommon shoes. Some may find them awesome while some may be put off by them.

So on which side are you, coolest or strangest?

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.

ionyclaret@gmail.com

https://www.codewit.com

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