Between religion and politics
By
IT has become trite and boring to hear from the speeches of Nigerian politicians or read from the pages of the print media the cry that religion, however that word is defined, be kept out of politics. One suspects that those who persist in making this statement hardly understand what they are talking about or the deeper implications and consequences of what they are asking for.
Africans generally conceive of religion, any religion, as a total way of life involving deep-rooted beliefs and practices handed down from one generation to another. According to Professor John Mbiti, in this way of life, "there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the secular, between the religious and the non-religious, between the spiritual and the material areas of life." If one accepts this African definition or conception of religion, can one honestly say that any African of whatever religious persuasion is capable of successfully and sincerely separating that "total way of life" from other life engagements, such as politics, the economy, the family, etc? It would be extremely difficult for anyone who understands fully the religious nature of the African to expect him/her to separate religion from his or her other life engagements. For, as Mbiti further rightly observes, "wherever the African is, there is his religion: he carries it to the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop; he takes it with him to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony; and if he is educated, he takes religion with him to the examination room at school or in the university; if he is a politician he takes it to the house of parliament."
Since that is how the religious nature of the African instinctively compels him or her to behave, he or she cannot help bringing religion into his or her politics or into any other life activities. Just read or listen to any of the speeches of many of our politicians and you will find them many references to and inferences from religion or religious viewpoints or sentiments consciously employed to support or strengthen their political aspirations.
For example, recent political action/decisions taken by two States in this country buttress our point about the difficulty of separating religion and politics in the Nigerian (indeed African) context. The first has to do with the appointment, in February this year, of a new Deputy Governor for Cross River State in which a major criterion for the appointment seemed to have been the fact that the appointee was considered to be "a devout Christian ..." (Vanguard, February 20, 2003, p.7).
The second is the decision of the Edo State Government "to utilise the spiritual potential of religious ministers to bring about peace, love and growth" (The Punch, February 26, 2003, p.7). These two political actions represent truly Africans' characteristic stubborn refusal to separate religion and politics. This refusal is based obviously on Africans' cultural conviction that religion and religious values can support and strengthen political structures and programmes.
But Africa or Nigeria is not alone in using (or abusing?) religion or religious sentiments for political ends. Scholars of religion have observed the same phenomenon even in the so-called modern secular and secularising Western societies where the phenomenon has been named "civil religion". If this "civil religion" is inevitable in secular, politically more mature Western countries, how can one expect it not to manifest itself among Africans who, in Mbiti's words, are "notoriously religious"? Any cry for the separation of religion and politics anywhere in Africa will continue to remain, therefore, futile and fruitless.
If it is thus inherently impossible for the African to separate religion from politics, or vice versa, how, then, is one to understand the saying that religion should be kept out of politics? From our discussion so far, only one rational answer suggests itself: it is religious bigotry, religious prejudices, religious particularism, religious exclusivism, "religious tribalism", NOT religion qua religion, that should be kept out of politics. These are the things that divide a people. However, to keep religion out of politics, even if that were possible in the African (Nigerian) context, would be as irrational as throwing away the baby with the bath water!
We need religion, any religion, in politics. The reason is that every religion contains within itself and teaches such wholesome virtues as love, morality, honesty (what we in this country call "transparency"), justice, equity, unity, brotherhood, peace, and altruism, among other virtues. These are the essential elements or any religion that can unite a people and guarantee stable political structures and a sustainable democracy. They form the firm foundation for political stability and socio-economic development. Indeed, the cause of Nigeria's socio-political woes may be traced to lack of adequate dose of genuine, practical religion in her social and political structures. Any cry for the separation of religion and politics in Nigeria or in any African country is, therefore, a doomsday cry for our people to jump from the frying-pan into the fire. Besides, to keep religion out of politics in Africa, one would first of all have to keep the African out of politics. And that is not possible.
April 2003