Religion, Ethics, and Nation Building
By: Deji Yesufu
At the time of penning this article, the United States of America is weighing its options with regard to regime change in Iran. The people of Iran have been involved in violent protests all around the country, calling for an end to the oppressive theocratic government that has been their lot for the past 47 years. This is not the first time Iranians have demonstrated against the Ayatollah; however, it is the first time such a demonstration is being held under the oversight of a government in the United States that is sympathetic to them. The Ayatollah came to power in 1979 during the government of Jimmy Carter – a sit-duck liberal government – that looked the other way as the constitutional monarch in Iran at that time called for help and overthrown. Other demonstrations have held under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who also looked the other way. Iranians are lucky to have Donald Trump in government, and Trump sees that regime change in Iran, the primary sponsor of jihadist doctrines around the world, particularly in the Middle East, is something that is inevitable. Removing Ali Khamenei from the overall governance of Iran would do the world great good.
These world events lead me to think deeper about the subject of religion, ethics, and nation-building. I used to hold to the concept that a country should be a secular state, while religion should be the private practice of every man’s conscience within his home. I no longer hold that view. There is no such thing as secularism. In fact, secularism is a religion in itself. Every country is governed by fundamental principles and ideas. The state of that country, the prosperity and progress of its people, and the future that country envisages for itself and its neighbors hinge on what those fundamental principles are. Somebody said that a country is either governed by the Ten Commandments or by Shariah Law, and I agree with him. The Ten Commandments are Judeo/Christian ethics that emanate from within the Bible. They teach essentially two things: love for God and love of neighbor. Love for neighbor means the sanctity of human life (thou shalt not kill); right to private property (thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shall not steal, thou shalt not covet); and justice for all (thou shall not bear false witness). These laws form a people’s ethics, and they are further encapsulated in the laws of the land. In other words, the laws of God, religion, must dictate the actions of a people – ethics. On the flip side, where a country is governed or influenced by Shariah Law, that country is governed by the dictates of Allah, the Muslim’s god. A good example of what Shariah Law can make a country become in modern times is Iran, a net exporter of terrorism to other countries.
Now, if I have succeeded in showing you that religion (the Christian religion) is fundamental to how a nation works, and ultimately to nation-building, I wish to now return to the subject of ethics. How should citizens of a country live? The biggest challenge that people have is the fact that most people love the sound of their own voices; most people talk, and they do not do the things they espouse. The biggest challenge with religion is not that we do not have enough preachers or churches; our biggest problem is that many people have not learnt to live out the fundamental tenets of what they espouse as belief. The modern world talks about liberty to practice one’s religion not because the plurality of religion is necessarily a good thing, but because true religion should birth sound ethics. Also, a man’s way of life becomes commendable and something people will emulate when they have seen him carry his doctrine to a necessary fruition – ethics. The best preaching of religion is not what people say; it is essentially what people do. We wonder at the success of Christian missionaries in the late 19th century and early 20th century in Nigeria. But there was really no secret to their success. Those men practiced what they preached! They were not just glib talkers. They educated the young of the populace. They fed the poor. They built hospitals that provided free medical care to people. The locals saw that their communities got better because of the white missionary who functioned among them, and they came to his church. They let go of their animist pasts and imbibed Christianity. While it is impossible to preach religion without using words, the words we use to explain our religion begin to carry meaning and power when those who espouse religion live out truth, justice, and love to their neighbors.
Obafemi Awolowo said that the British were “first-rate imperialists” – his exact words. When you consider how an Island country in Europe would colonize almost half of the world, you begin to agree with Awo. But as powerful a colonizer as the British were, India found an answer to defeating British colonialism. They discovered that the British people had a moral compass that could be touched. They saw that if you raised an army against the British and went to war with them, you were likely to return defeated. But they saw that the British had some fundamental tenets they lived by – the Bible: love for neighbor; do unto others as you will have them do unto you. Mahatma Ghandi discovered the doctrine of peaceful protests. The idea of using the media to push public opinion. He even saw how effective hunger strikes were and utilized them. Now, with the coming of the two great wars at the beginning of the century, coupled with a weak British economy, having lost one million men in the wars, colonialism was no longer a profitable endeavor around the world. And as many countries as sought to be free through peaceful means got their independence from the British. But at the heart of the agitation was the belief that peaceful means could move the minds of the British public to compel their government to match their words with action.
Is there a lesson in all these for modern Nigeria? Plenty.
First, there must be a reformation of Christianity in Nigeria. The state of a country is the state of its predominant religion. The state of northern Nigeria is Islam. The state of Nigeria as a whole is the false gospel that pervades most of our public space. Christians must challenge their pastors to preach the gospel – and the gospel alone. Not a false message of health and wealth. Social media has helped in this project, but it is still not enough. Christian churches must lead the effort for societal reformation and development. Where the government has failed, churches must take the space. Churches must offer affordable health care and sound education to people. The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglicans have been foremost in this in present-day Nigeria. But a lot more can be done. If we are genuinely salt of the earth, our words must translate to genuine charity for our neighbors.
Second, the people of this country must find the right political ideas and implement them. Politics is a science. It is a science because it requires study, experimentation, observation, and inferences that would yield certain likely results that will be beneficial to society. It will require studying the lives of people and seeing what could be implemented to benefit the people. If one must succeed in politics in Nigeria, for example, one must know how to marry the two predominant religions in the country – Islam and Christianity. A political view that will appeal to the whole country cannot be critical of one religion (I admit that I cannot be a politician in Nigeria because I will always criticize Islam). And it is not enough to import a political view into Nigeria; one must see that it is practicable and beneficial. This will require studying, testing, and implementation. The Nigerian politics of bigmanism will not do it.
Third, we must find able men to lead. When we have succeeded at finding a political theory that is most practicable in Nigeria, we must then find able men to implement it. I am convinced that the people who will save Nigeria are our young people. The fathers may develop the political theories, but our young men must be given the opportunity to put these theories to work. It will be a difficult task, because Nigerian politicians are generally selfish. But hopefully one day, we will find such persons that can do the hard work. I believe that there should be a resurgence of a political group that is akin to the Nigerian Youth Movement of the 1930s. Where young men gather together, who are not limited by religion or ethnic bias, but who are committed to a better Nigeria. These young men should proffer political theories and debate them until they reach workable ideas that are fitting for the country. Then they must build a financial chest that is central to the organization, and not the donations of one man. Then these young men must make the leap and run for office. They must be altruistic, disciplined, and driven by a common vision. They must endeavor to translate their political ideas into action. This is what Obafemi Awolowo and the Action Group did in the 1950s, proving to the British that Nigerians could govern themselves. Unfortunately, since that time, this country has not had such visionary leadership.
Conclusion
I am a pastor, but I wonder what good Christian ministry is if the people we are preaching to do not have food to eat. What good is religion when the children of the people we are preaching to have no education, no skill, and no future? What good is religion when the people under the sound of our voice do not have access to affordable medical care? When Jesus ministered in first century Palestine, he healed the sick and fed the hungry. While we do not have miraculous powers to do as Jesus did, we could still imbibe the heart and spirit of Jesus that had love for people. You cannot separate religion from a functional society. Those who are Christian preachers insist that a sound gospel message must be preached in our churches. We insist that Christian pastors and laymen must translate their words into action. We insist on being a light to our world. If religion is true, it should affect the ethics of a people. When the overall spirit of a land is deception, corruption, and theft, then the pervading religion of those people is false – it does not matter what the religion is. We, however, maintain that the Christian message is true, and we hope that by our preaching and our living, we can be a light to our nation. Thereby contributing to nation-building.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
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