A Nation, Continent and People Fooled By Religion

Fooled into believing, that Ebola was a satanic disease imposed over Liberia because of homosexuality and wide spread corruption, over 100 Pentecostal pastors died miserably and foolishly as they laid their hands on Ebola victims praying for them hours and even days attempting to exorcise and deliver them from Ebola in Churches instead of taking these people to hospitals and medical centers to seek treatment. To these pastors, everything is SPIRITUAL and as such try solving all problems from the spiritual perspective.

In Ghana, we had Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams leading his Church of over 5000 congregants; many among them, highly educated men and women in the English speaking charismatic church, praying heavily for hours in 'tongues' for the Ghana Cedi to rise. What a waooooow !!!!!! And has the Ghana cedi actually risen or appreciated in value ? The cedi has rather depreciated in value ever since, with the Dollar-Cedi equivalent now at 1:4. Prime minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth do not pray or fast for the British Pounds Sterling to rise or appreciate. Rather, the implementation of prudent economic measures, wise spending, avoiding unnecessary borrowing and total anti-corruption initiatives has made the Pounds Sterling and British economy what it is today.

When Zaire (Dr.Congo), qualified for its first Fifa World Cup in 1974, then president, Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga[a] sent a delegation of 72 spiritual men in accompanying the team to West Germany. Yet, with all these spiritual men, they could not score a single goal but conceded 14 goals in their first 3 matches.

In Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and other African countries, the actions, inactions, beliefs and thoughts of people are hugely influenced by religion. That superstitious beliefs ban people from working on their farmlands on Thursdays or fishing on the sea on Tuesdays to the payment of hundreds and thousands of Cedis by a new breed of charismatic christians for a bottle of "anointing oil " intended to solve all their spiritual problems that in real life value isn't up to 10 Cedis, sums up the obsession of Ghanaians, Africans and the Black race with religion and its associated beliefs.

Born as a Christian into a traditional local Ghanaian community, l wouldn't for a second doubt or deny the existence of a higher God or lesser god. We have all under one circumstance believed and hoped that the bigger God or lesser god would intervene to solve one problem for us. However, the over reliance on God or a lesser god to solve all our problems, coupled with our obsession to label any minute logical challenge, illment, financial difficulties,natural disasters and accidents as spiritual problems is becoming the foundation of lazy thinking, incompetence, insanity and an excuse to cover up for our failures as individuals, nation and race as Africans. When the Akosombo dam dries up due to intense sunshine and lack of rainfall, we disturb God with prayers calling on him to shower us with rain, forgetting that God is not punishing us with the sun but rather giving us an alternative to meet our energy demands through solar energy. When our own foolishness to build on waterways and litter our drains with rubbish leads to flooding of our capital city, we have no shame shifting blame to a bunch of patriotic citizens who vigiled to demand an end to the energy crisis darkening Ghana, suffocating businesses, taking innocent lives and tearing families apart with joblessness. And we had a government appointee and communicator blaming dwarfs for the free fall of the Cedi and inflation in this 21st Century of China phones, fast foods and telenovela dominating Ghana and Africa.

Though very young in life, my little experience has taught me, that Ghanaians, Africans and the Black race are a bunch of spiritual freaks, constantly, consistently and incessantly labeling all petty challenges as the works of unseen spiritual forces of darkness hence their over reliance on God or a lesser god to solve all their problems. We hardly use our brains to solve our problems. For the God who created the American, Chinesse and Arabian gave them brains and he gave us brains too !!! Hence God will not forgive us if we fail to use our brains to make our lives and that of unborn generations better. For we are children of no lesser god.

Helen Keller was just 19 when she became deaf and blind but that didn't stop her from becoming the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. If she was a Ghanaian, she could have blamed her family witches, wizards, demons and gods for her misfortune and probably ended up at the prayer camp of Bishop Obinim or Prophet Ebenezer for healing. Had Thomas Edison considered darkness as the handiwork of the devil, we would never have had the electric bulb. If Americans had considered the moon as the abode of demons, Neil Armstrong would never have landed on the moon or pave way for the space science revolution. Orville and Wilbur Wright would never have invented the first successful aeroplanes had they believed in gods occupying the atmosphere and demons and witches flying at night.

The world has gone past the stone age era of primitive thinking, over reliance on God and gods, blaming demons for our challenges and dwarfs for inflation. Americans are now using 3D printing to create virtually every material we are using. The Japanese are now using trains nearly at the speed of light to ease transportation burdens and save time. The Chinese are taking over the world, supplying us almost everything including chopsticks and catapults. We had independence with Malaysia in 1957 but they are centuries ahead of us. The world is fast moving towards the pinnacle of science, technology and development and they surely won't wait for us. We must take responsibility for our actions, tackle our challenges from a scientific perspective and stop our stupid obsession with spirituality and religion as the source of our problems and the only means to solving them.

Again, the God who created the American, Chinesse and Arabian gave them brains and he gave us brains too. For we are children of no lesser God !!!

May God bless our homeland Ghana and make us wise and strong.

MICHAEL KWADWO NKETIAH (kwadwonketia47@gmail.com)