By Emmanuel Ojeifo
Introduction: When I published my long article titled, ‘I am a Catholic priest, but I wish Nigerian Christianity dead and buried,’ on my Facebook wall on Sunday December 10, 2017, I honestly didn’t have the faintest idea that it would receive the massive publicity it got. It took me less than two hours to actually put the pieces of the article together on that Sunday morning before I went for Mass. Since then, the article has gone ‘viral’ (as Nigerians like to say) and has been effectively disseminated from Facebook platforms and Whatsapp groups to online forums and personal blogs. It has continued to startle many readers. Many have sent messages asking if I really wrote the piece. Those I never imagined would contact me have also sent messages commending the courage to delve into such a highly controversial and touchy public issue. I clearly understand the predicament of those who would want to enter the public ring on this issue, but who are unable to, for fear of getting their fingers burnt. However, I do believe that at a certain point each one of us ought to make a conscious decision to abandon the fear of public opprobrium and ego bashing and take the bull by the horn. This is one of the pains we have to bear for engaging in civil public discourse in an open society. Thus, I’m glad that I am able to make my own modest contributions to the discourse. Those who know me will concede that I do not like unnecessary controversy, but again they will be quick to agree that I also do not run away from controversy when it becomes necessary.
As would be expected, that article has generated all kinds of reactions, from public commendation to public outrage. I have been opportune to follow the heated debate on the merits and demerits of the article on a Whatsapp group to which I belong but in which I have kept a silent profile. A colleague also sent me a cropped conversation on another Whatsapp group in which a contributor accused me of approving zealotry as a way of purifying Nigerian Christianity of its corrosive elements. I have wondered whether that comment was really about my article. Still, there are very many who have called the article a welcome development in the journey of emancipation from oppressive and exploitative religious structures in Nigeria that feast on the gullibility of innocent believers to rob them of their faith and money. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the article. In the spirit of freedom of expression that is fair enough. To that extent, the article has achieved its aim: it has got people talking.
Beyond the article, I went ahead to start a social media campaign on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, with hash tags such as #DecoloniseReligionNow, #SayNoToExploitation, #SaveChristianityNow and #SayNoToProsperityGospel. My aim was to generate intense public discussion on the abuses in the practise of Christianity today. Someone accused me on Facebook of seeking cheap popularity. I anticipated that charge well ahead when one of my earliest posts on Facebook said: “Don’t get us wrong. We are not in this campaign for fame or popularity. Far from it! We want a return to ‘old time religion,’ to a Christianity that is based on the values and ethos that Jesus Christ stood for. Not a religion of exploitation.” As I noted in that article, I have published quite a number of essays over the last two years on the phenomenon of religion in Nigeria, in at least three Nigerian newspapers. I am currently studying religion and global politics. I am also a Catholic priest, so I have some good knowledge of what I am talking about. No one can accuse me of ignorance. Besides, the issues I am raising are all in the public domain.
Why we must speak out
Those who try to silence the discussion by arguing that the Bible says, ‘touch not my anointed’ (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15) must be looking at an old snapshot of biblical religion because, even from the Bible, we have ample evidence that the anointed did not always escape public and divine scrutiny. As the German philosopher of modernity Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) averred in his book, The Critique of Practical Reason, we are now living in an age of criticism from which nothing can escape. When Religion tries to hide behind its sanctity and Law tries to hide behind its majesty, they both lose all claims to respect which human reason yields only to that which has been able to bear the test of its free and open scrutiny. In other words, respect for religion is not purchased on the altar of silence. Religion earns its respect if we are able to discuss it openly. If religion is truly about the worship of God it should be transparent; there should be nothing to hide. Thus, anyone trying to silence this discourse must know that he is standing against freedom of thought.
Interestingly, as I finished writing this article, a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video by Dr Sunday Adelaja, founder and senior pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations, an evangelical-charismatic mega-church in Kiev, Ukraine. The title of the video is ‘15 reasons why we must change messages that we are preaching.’ In the video, Dr Adelaja railed against instant gratification, prosperity gospel, the glorification of riches, and the celebration of the wealthy amongst others, which have become part and parcel of today’s Nigerian Christianity. That such a message could come from a renowned pastor means that some Christian leaders are increasingly coming to terms with the havoc wreaked by today’s warped version of Christianity practised in Nigeria.
The fundamental problematic with Nigerian Christianity: My intention in this essay is to address the core issues why I wanted the Nigerian version of Christianity to rest in peace. I believe that a Christian’s first allegiance should be to truth and not to tradition. Tradition is respected to the extent that is approximates truth, incarnates it, or measures up to it. Hence, I try to see issues from a dispassionate perspective, analyse them in the light of existing information, and make informed commentary on them. I do not imagine that my views would sit down well with everyone. Moreover, that is not my wish. My only desire is to generate informed public discourse on issues that collectively affect us as religious citizens and to see how we can resolve them. Let me therefore state that my use of the word ‘religion’ here would be limited to Christianity, and my use of the word ‘pastor’ covers all manner of leaders with religious titles across all Christian denominations: general overseers, bishops, pastors, priests, apostles, evangelists, prophets, reverends, venerables, and deacons.
From research and from observation, I have come to the conclusion that many things are fundamentally wrong with Christianity in Nigeria. There is a certain kind of epilepsy that has infested the practise of Christian faith in our country. It seems to me that much of what we call religion in Nigeria is Christ-less Christianity. Jesus Christ seems to be really absent from it. All the noise making, the charade, and the commercialisation of faith have nothing to do with Jesus.
Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja.
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