The Symbiosis of Religion and Society (Part 2)

There are problems with the practice of religion—violence, leaders ripping their members apart, leaders raping children, killing of innocent people—especially children as I have indicated previously. What we need to do is to find out ways in addressing these issues and not to insinuate that religion is the problem of the world. We have problems with our governments, don’t we? But because we need governments to run our countries, we do our best to ensure that we constantly put our governments on their toes to govern according to the interest of the people.

When some pastors and other religious leaders pull a fast one on unsuspecting people, it is not because religion (Christianity, Islam, etc.) is egregious; it is because there is something wrong with society. It means society is failing to live up to its role of growing and developing its members—that is educating them so that they can use their heads in order to appreciate the true meaning and practice of religion and other components of society.

If you are a married woman (or unmarried) and a religious leader—give him any name—tells you that they are going to give you a “spiritual” bath and you acquiesce to it, it does not mean that religion is bad; it means that society has not performed her obligatory role of educating this victim that such characters are enemies of both religion and society. If you decide or agree to eliminate somebody because they belong to a different religious group, it does not make religion bad, it proves to all and sundry that society has failed to inculcate in religious adherents (extremists or bigots) that no mortal soul can fight for God, and that belonging to different religions does not make us adversaries.

Another religious pronouncement made by the president which I disagree was a statement he made on the floor of parliament during this year’s State of the Nation address. In response to a question by a member of parliament about a promise he did not make good, he said “man proposes but God disposes.” I wonder why a president could make such a pronouncement. This response from the president was not fair to the people of the country. A president is expected to be very smart and intelligent in responding to questions that are thrown at him.

In fact, this answer clearly shows the inactivity of the president. He should understand that it is not God that is ruling the country. We are not practicing theocracy, but democracy. As Christians we believe that God has given us the wisdom to discharge our duties; He is not in charge, but ourselves. Some religious groups (e.g., Judaism, Islam) also believe same. We are the architect of our destiny; we make or unmake our future. Pronouncements like this deny us the opportunity in seeking answers, and some also use them as pretext to hide their ineptitude.

If the president were to be the CEO of even a small company, I think he would have been fired seconds after making that pronouncement. If you are a CEO of a company, and the board of directors of the company asks you why you were not able to realize a set goal and your answer to them is that man proposes, but God disposes, they will not take you for a serious person for the job. They will chase you out. The board would expect the CEO to tell them his plans and strategies for realizing that goal, the opportunities that he had at his disposal, and the stymies that he encountered that hindered him from realizing that goal. You have to convince them based upon the above that all alternatives were considered, and yet you could not achieve the goal before your head could be spared.

Our president is very lucky that he has a fixed mandate to rule, otherwise, we would have asked him to vacate the presidency and allow God to be in charge if it were possible. This answer was akin to the one given by Mike Huckabee—a former presidential contender of the Republican Party during the Republican Party’s primaries two years ago. When he was asked how he could fix the economic meltdown which seemed to be throwing the American-and the world’s-economy out of gear, his response was “I didn’t major in math; I majored in miracles.”—January 2008. This answer cost him the chance of securing his party’s nomination although he was well positioned to win it.

He allowed his pastoral instincts to cloud the knowledge God has given him (he used to be a Baptist pastor). We all believe in miracles, but only when all options have been considered and found to be futile. When you are sick, you visit a physician to get healed; you do not call on God to heal you (some do anyhow, I tried once when I had diarrhea in 1994; I spent the whole day attending to nature’s call until I got myself some tablets; do not tell me I did not have faith because I had). You can call on God, especially when you realize that medical science cannot deliver you and thus without divine intervention, you are going to pass on. Somebody suffering from an incurable disease or chronic disease could seek divine intervention, if they so wish; but to seek divine intervention when you are suffering from diarrhea or malaria or headache would not be the best approach.

So Mr. President, next time give us reasonable reasons as to why you could not achieve a set goal, instead of statements like the one above. God has given you the knowledge already, use it; and do not blame your inactions on Him. As humans, even before we propose something, we should be in a position to know our capability of achieving it. If we fail, we do so because may be we did not put in the effort needed to produce the success or did not get the resources needed to help us realize that goal, and not because God opposed it.

Let us leave God alone, and use the resources at our disposal to effect changes in our environment. If we always think that our inability to achieve something was because God was not in agreement with what we proposed, then we are saying that there is no reason to think outside the box. God bless Ghana!!

Source: Kingsley Nyarko, PhD, Psychologist & Educational Consultant, IAF- Munich, (kingpong73@yahoo.com)