Religion: A belief in the existence of God or gods.
Religious: Connected to a particular religion.
Nigeria arguably is one of the countries with the highest number of
religious adherents(mainly Christianity and Islam) and a small
percentage of atheist. Yet in spite of this "Numerical advantage" in
religious statistics we are steadily slipping down the ladder of failure
as a nation and people. One sure thing is, non of the religions
practiced in Nigeria remotely or openly approves of most (if not all)
of the atrocities perpetuated in this country yet this crimes are
committed by religious adherents.
In the spirit of yuletide messages
of Christ birth and its significance flood everywhere and one begins to
wonder if this messages mean anything to the senders and receivers of
such. A trip round certain parts of the country on either a Friday
afternoon or Sunday morning would clearly show how much Nigerians love
their religions. The question then is "do we practice what we preach"?
Have we become a people who believe that we can be saved by a mere open
show of religiousness? In our various places of worship we struggle to
sit in the front rows so we can be 'closer to God'.
We pray so hard with
rivulet of sweat running down our faces yet we steal and rob others in a
manner likened to criminals. We give gifts to the poor and needy often
thinking it would save us from the judgment and punishment that lays in
wait for corrupt and wicked people. Moral and financial laxity prevails
everywhere and yet we are all religious adherents. We attend all manner
of Presidential Carol services and CAN organized fasting and prayers yet
we are a "stiff necked people" with stony hearts.
If only we would
"be doers of the word, and not hearers only..."[James 1:22], we would
have long realized that for every evil done by one man to another a
punishment lies in wait.
Whether we stand in mid air to perform our acts
of worship or pray with the tongue of angels, we are of "all men most
miserable" if we cheat and steal from poor citizens to enrich ourselves
and more often than not to an appalling extent. No matter how solemn we
are during Ramadan or how swollen our eyes are during Easter,if we
cannot "love one another like ourselves" our religious pretensions are
just a show of shame that won't save us from condemnation.
When we
realize that God has a standard that cannot be lowered to favor anybody
no matter how highly placed ,we'll match our religiousness with complete
obedience, until then we'll keep failing as a nation and keep heaping
coals of fire on our heads, no matter how hard we pray, fast and
worship.
Enenim Ubon on twitter @enenimubon.
