Christianity and national transformation (1)

The topic of Christianity in contemporary Nigeria and the concerns of faith and national transformation is one that is very important at this crucial juncture in our national life, when even the most disinterested bystanders are asking the question, “Are there really any Christians in Nigeria?” From the heated discussions going on in Christian circles about a grand plan of Islamisation of Nigeria, to the critical issues of abysmally poor leadership, bad governance, nepotism, the spiral of bloodshed and violent crimes, mind-boggling cases of corruption, the ravages of hunger and starvation, the total collapse of social infrastructure, the epidemic of helplessness and hopelessness, which is blighting the fortunes of the army of jobless young people roaming the streets, Nigeria is sitting on a dangerous knife-edge. How can Christians of today, whom Jesus referred to as “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” summon the courage to alter the dangerous course on which this nation is headed?

With all the horrible events taking place on a daily basis in our country, where are the Christians who are like the prophets of old, who spoke truth to power, who passionately pursued justice, and who took the battle for the liberation of their people as a divine spiritual mission? Where are the Christians of today who are like the early followers of Jesus Christ, who ministered to the needs of the downtrodden, the poor, the persecuted, the marginalised, and all those sucked into the vortex of societal injustice? Many generations ago, when a man says, “I am a Christian,” many people already knew where he stood in terms of his moral principles and ethical values. Today, to say that one is a Christian has become almost laughable. The petty trader who cheats you at the market opens the bargain for goods and services by confessing that she is a Christian. The contractor who inflates the contract sum puts his Christian credentials forward as a reason for his integrity. The public servant who steals from the public treasury on Monday morning was dancing to the glory of God in church the previous day.

In a country where rogues and brigands have taken over the public space, what does it mean to be a Christian? In a society of widespread destitution, where more and more people are seduced by the attraction of suicide on account of the harsh conditions of existence, what does it matter to be a Christian? In a society where high-flying kidnappers, sophisticated drug barons and all manner of thieves donate huge sums of money for building churches and places of worship, what does it mean to be a Christian? In a land where a perceived thief is jammed with a petrol-soaked tyre round his neck and set ablaze in jungle justice fashion, what difference does it make being a Christian? In a country where big acclaimed public thieves are decorated with all manner of chieftaincy titles, honorary degrees and church awards, what difference does it make being a Christian? In a country where a man who assumes public office today, commissions a multi-million naira house with exotic SUVs and invites his kinsmen and church members to come and celebrate with him, and no one asks any question about the source of his wealth, what is the stand of the Christian? These questions are far from being merely theoretical or academic. They point to the very heart of Christian prophetic responsibility in today’s society.

I see the Nigerian predicament as a crisis of faith. After 2000 years of Christian history, Christianity in Nigeria today is at the verge of becoming totally disconnected from the lives of ordinary, simple believers. Anyone who tries today to talk about the question of Christian faith in the presence of a hungry, starved and ravaged Nigerian, soon comes to sense the alienating nature of such an enterprise. He will probably soon have the feeling that his position is only too well summed up in the famous story of the clown and the burning village by the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. According to this allegory, a traveling circus in Denmark caught fire. The manager of the arena thereupon sent the clown, who was already dressed and made up for the performance, into the neighbouring village to fetch help, especially as there was a danger that the fire would spread across the fields of dry stubble and engulf the entire village itself. 

The clown hurried into the village and requested the inhabitants to come as quickly as possible to the blazing circus and help to put out the fire. But the villagers took the clown’s shouts simply for an excellent piece of advertising, meant to attract as many people as possible for the performance. They kept applauding the clown and laughing. The clown felt more like weeping than laughing; he tried in vain to get the people to be serious, to make it clear to them that this was no stunt, that he was not pretending but was in bitter earnest, that there was really a fire. His supplications only increased their laughter; people thought he was playing his part splendidly – until finally the fire did engulf the village. It was too late for help, and both the circus and the village were razed to the ground. 

I cite this story as an analogy of the predicament of the Christian faith today. The Christian leader of today is like the clown in Kierkegaard’s story, who cannot make people really listen to his message. He is really not taken seriously. Whatever he says, he is ticketed and classified, so to speak, by his role. Whatever he does in his attempts to demonstrate the seriousness of the Nigerian predicament today, people always know that he is in fact just – a clown. They are already familiar with what he is talking about and know that he is just giving a performance that has little or nothing to do with the reality of their situation. So they can listen to him quite happily without having to be seriously concerned about what he is saying. This is so because many Christian leaders today have become totally disconnected from the reality of the daily living condition of their followers.

To be a Christian in today’s Nigeria is a particularly difficult and challenging task. In a society of widespread material, moral, political and spiritual corruption, how can Christians offer a convincing and credible witness to the faith that they profess? How can the Christians of today be “salt of the earth” to a salt-less society and “light of the world” to a society enveloped in the darkness of vice and all manner of decadence? Is it possible for a Christian to seek purity of heart and pursue righteousness amidst the moral and ethical decay in the Nigerian society? To respond to these questions, we need to first undertake a sociological analysis of the Nigerian society we are living in today.

I have always found Prophet Hosea’s indictment against the nation of Israel as a perfect image of the state of decay in today’s Nigeria. In the Book of Hosea 4:1-4, the Prophet says, “There is neither truth nor goodness not knowledge of God in the country; only perjury, lies, murder, theft, and adultery, with continual bloodshed. That is why the country is in mourning with all who live there wasting away; the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, even the fish are dying. But let no one apologize or accuse the other, for it is you, priest, whom I single out!” 

Father Ojeifo is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja.