For God and country

For God and country

“Deo ET Patriae” is the motto of 89-year old Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan. It means “For God and Fatherland” since we live in gender-sensitive times, “fatherland” could be replaced with something neutral, like “country”. I am inspired by this motto to look at our lives today. What does it entail to serve God and country? For, indeed, when we say that a man has served well his God and country well, we speak of a life characterised by certain tangible and intangible qualities,: faith in God, humility, honesty, decency, respect for others, patriotism, compassion, selflessness, integrity, obedience of law and constituted authority, hardwork, kindness and generousity, the fear of God and devotion to Him, respect for human life, etc. These are values taught by most religions and many traditional African societies subscribe to them. It is possible to find most of these qualities in a person who is not even a Muslim or Christian. And it is quite possible to find a supposedly religious person (by that I mean a regular Church or Mosque goer) who does not live according to these values.

The point I am trying to make here is that there is a world of difference between what a man says he is and what he actually does and between religious rituals (like going to Church or Mosque, like praying regularly, etc) and religious values.

Recently I attended an event in Lagos where a young US-based Nigerian in IT-related business was lamenting how difficult it had been for him to find one single individual to trust in a nation where churches are packed full on Sundays and Mosques are crowded on Fridays. We have heard of Muslims leaving the mosque at the end of the Friday Jumat prayers to begin an orgy of bloodletting and arson in some of our northern cities. Similarly, some Christians, we have been told by our comedians, yell and curse other road users immediately they step outside a church where they had just prayed fervently to a patient and tolerant God. I believe that Nigerians invoke God’s name more frequently than any other group in the world - even when they know they are lying. Places of worship are springing up every where. The Lord’s Army is swelling. No public or private event begins or ends without prayers. It has become standard greeting to ask “which is your parish?” so many banks, I am told hold morning services of prayers and songs before opening their banking halls to customers who may not get good and courteous service or who may end up being defrauded on that day. Indeed religion, has become a cottage industry. Prophets and miracle workers are proclaiming themselves all over the country. I believe that in the next few years, Nigeria will have more prophets per population and more places of worship per land space than any other country in the world. Tele-evangelism was born in the United States, spread through Europe and Asia and achieved cult status in Africa. Nigeria will soon be exporting televangelists to the world. When one is asked if he is a Muslim or Christian or whether one goes to church or mosque, it is considered sacrilegious if one were to answer in the negative.

Please do not mis-understand me. I am not unnecessarily harsh on our established religions. I am only worried that in spite of the evangelical boom in this country, evil and wickedness remain so rampant. Our society is getting no better morally and socially. There is so much falsehood and hypocrisy. There is a wide gulf between what we do and what we say. Religion has become a camouflage, a pretense for evil doers. It has been suggested at times that one would have to search outside the places of worship to find truly trustworthy people. If we are as God fearing as we all pretend to be, this country would have gone beyond where we are today, corruption would not have been so pervasive, and we would not have been killing and maiming ourselves in the name of politics and money.

By our standard, Sanni Abacha was a good muslim. He prayed five times a day, so we were told, perhaps fasted, believed in the supremacy and oneness of Allah, and most certainly went to Mecca in his lifetime. He did nearly all that the Koran asked him to do in observance of his religion. Yet, that religion did not stop him from plundering a country, from killing and maiming innocent people, from stealing our billions, and from trampling on our cherished values.

I spent a year among the Kurds of northern Iraq as part of a United Nations humanitarian team from June 1998 to May 1999. One of the things that first struck me about Kurdish Iraq was its large number of widows. I was part of an effort to provide them some assistance to enable them acquire some skills and become economically independent. Some lost their husbands through the brutal chemical war Saddam Hussein waged on these tragic people in the eighties. Others said their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and uncles were rounded up nearly two to three decades ago and never to be heard of again.

During a peace meeting with Kurdish leaders, one of Saddam’s henchmen was asked about the fate of over 400,000 missing men of Iraqi Kurdistan, and he said the number had been exaggerated and insisted that the missing were no more than 80,000. But he could not say what had happened to them. Kurdish intelligence said they were all executed and buried in some secret mass graves. Yet, Saddam has been described by his admirers as a devout muslim.

There was Adolf Hitler, a Christian, who ordered six million Jews to be incinerated in gas chambers. Israel and Palestine are murdering themselves daily in a never-ending mindless war. Yet the land which they are contesting is full of shrines to three of the world’s ancient religions. These religions teach the sanctity of human life.

In Somalia, the war-ravaged Horn-of-African nation, warring clans break for prayers five times a day only to promptly resume fighting after. I worked there from 1994 to 1995 as an Information Officer with the United Nations. On December 22, 1994, during a particularly heavy inter-clan fighting, Christmas holiday-bound UN staff seized the opportunity of such a break-for-prayers to escape from Mogadishu. Even then, our airborne Russian transport plane was fired at several times before making it into Kenyan airspace. This is what happens where religion has been ritualized as part of every day activities. Praying is a mere routine. Attending a church or mosque also becomes a matter of routine. The tenets or principles of the religion are largely lost in the ritualized practices. for prayer.

They resume again and then break for the 7 and 8p.m prayers. Sometimes the nights are quiet. Some nights are not so quiet with light and heavy weapons blasting the city.

Fraud is being perpetuated daily in the name of religion in this country. Don’t ever be deceived if an official correspondence arrive at your desk signed by “Deacon” or “Deaconness”, “Apostle”, “Elder”, “Reverend”, “Pastor”, “Sheikh”, “Alhaji”, etc. It does not often mean that the signee has the integrity, honesty and trustworthiness expected of such titled persons. And if I may digress a little, why should official secular documents carry such religious titles? To let the recipient know that the signee is credible and honest? Why, if I may ask, should we continue to mix religion with secular matters in this country? It is time to separate the two and keep each in its own compartment. By so doing, we will make this country a lot better.

St. James is quoted as saying in the Bible that “if any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain”. The Koran asks us to be mindful of those it calls “The Hypocrites”. “When you see them their good looks please you, and when they speak you listen to what they say. Yet they are like propped-up blocks of timber. Every shout they hear they take to be against them. They are the enemy. Guard yourself against them”.

I am worried about our country. There is so much falsehood. We routinely lie to ourselves. Our lives are devoid of good christian/muslim values of honesty, truthfulness, love, patriotism, decency, compassion, selfless service, kindness, hardwork, sanctity of life, etc. Most of us are either trying to cheat one another or the system. We live in a society where you cannot trust your mechanic, tailor, banker, stock broker, driver, house help, and leaders. We need a complete value orientation we cannot carry on like this. This house is built on falsehood and that is why it is always at the verge of falling apart.

Our religious institutions must teach us not merely to practice our faith as a matter of routine but to imbibe worthy religious and cultural values. This is the only way that we can truly serve our God and country.

Of course, these things I am saying are not exactly new. One writer once agonized in ancient times about so much religion and yet not enough to make people love one another. The same can be said of present-day Nigeria. Religion should teach positive values. Our educational institutions must impart both knowledge and good values. Our families must inculcate the right values in the minds of our young ones. Let our religion be to do good for the benefit of mankind, for the upliftment of country and to the glory of God.

Attending a church or mosque also becomes a matter of routine. The tenets or principles of the religion are largely lost in the ritualized practices. for prayer.

They resume again and then break for the 7 and 8p.m prayers. Sometimes the nights are quiet. Some nights are not so quiet with light and heavy weapons blasting the city.

I am worried about our country. There is so much falsehood. We routinely lie to ourselves. Our lives are devoid of good christian/muslim values of honesty, truthfulness, love, patriotism, decency, compassion, selfless service, kindness, hardwork, sanctity of life, etc. Most of us are either trying to cheat one another or the system. We live in a society where you cannot trust your mechanic, tailor, banker, stock broker, driver, house help, and leaders. We need a complete value orientation. We cannot carry on like this. This house is built on falsehood and that is why it is always at the verge of falling apart.

Oct 2002