Blame Political system not Religion; Making a case for Religion in Politics

By Showunmi Rex

My late grandmother Sabina invokes a lot of memories in me -- aside
her generous spirit, she had a very remarkable collection of folktales
and proverbs. One of her favorite admonition is this adage Ori bibe ko
ni ogun orififo which in English translation means “Beheading is not a
cure for headache”. I say this as a response to those clamoring for
the deconstruction of Politics mainly to dislodge from it the
influence of religion. I think the likes of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Mr
Raji Fashola and all other leaders who hold dear that school of
thought came rather too late. Religion is already a part of our lives.
Perhaps it became much inevitable when our leaders failed us and we
needed something to hold on to, to hope for... It became an “Opium” as
Marx described it but it turned out to be a blessing for our souls.
Like fire, Religion does only good if we use it well. That is my
argument.

In fact, most of humanity found morality in religion and there
wouldn't have been any good reason to form a government, live in
ordered society and show love to one another if our religious
doctrines had not modeled such archetypes. The likes of Fashola,
El-Rufai , etc didn't gain their sense of morality from right reason
devoid of their religious orientation, I want to assume. If they did,
maybe they were angels-or very special. Quite unfortunately, this is
earth and we are humans. There's nothing much we can change about
that.

In History, the only society without religion I heard about was
Ancient China and even that society flourished using Philosophy as a
sub for religion. If I get a response (or rejoinder) suggesting my
misperception of the anti-religio-political school of thought based on
my categorization then it is fine. At least my work would have
achieved something. The opportunity for leaders whom we hold in high
esteem- who lobbied for the endorsements of religious leaders to get
elected- to clarify their views and positions and it would have
helped shed more light on why religion if practiced properly would
have created a better society not just for our country alone but also
for the entire world.

If not, the people will have to decide whether to lose their identity
because of the mishaps of some fake leaders, accidental or planted by
the devil or whether with religion we can teach our growing population
how to be great leaders as religious Christians or Muslims, etc in
positions of Authority.

With all sense of responsibility, let me assert that no religion
grooms his followers to loot the treasury, or to over burden the
citizenry with straining taxes, and so on. We know where that teaching
came from, definitely not from God.

According to the Philosophy of Religion, what is important in this
discourse is religious pluralism. Even the institutions of familyhood
have issues .Does that mean we should despise Marriage or Family? So
why disrespect or belittle religion in choosing something as crucial
and important as leadership? There is no free zone in spirituality,
you are either for God or the 'other side' and all religions of the
world respect that tenet. Thus if you take God out of the equation of
politics it means 'Somebeing' else comes in by default. What then is
the basis of your morality? What does your character rests on?
If you tell us to scratch deeper in order to find genuine people that
is understandable. Even Apostle Paul in the bible asked Christians to
test all spirits. The problem, therefore, is not religion; it is the
wolves in sheep's clothing deceiving the people in the name of
religion just to win elections. And the problem is the party system
and platform who falter in bringing credible candidates on board. We
vote parties not candidates, that is our political system. How is that
our fault?

More so, a good criterion should be their religious orientation.
Imagine if there are no strong religious institutions in Nigeria. One
day, you may get to your church or mosque on the worship day and
discover that the government has ceded the property to maybe a Chinese
company who will pay higher taxes so that the government would be rich
enough to service their vanities. I mean some governors would do that
without thinking twice. They would concede (toll) the road leading to
your house, if possible. So the government can be richer, the people
poorer. Who cares?

The Holy Scriptures would not support that but Capitalism will back it
because IGR will increase and it will attract more Economic
Investments. And our leaders who were broke before getting into Office
would become embarrassingly rich owning Private Jets, Big Hotels and
numerous Real Estate properties --sky scrapers everywhere including
Hell.

Please join me to advise our politicians to search within the system
to fish out impostors and stop pointing accusing fingers to any
Religion or Religious Institution. The door of worship centres are
always open for all and sundry. Every man is free to join any
association or religion of choice!

** Showunmi Rex --- (@remirex on Twitter)

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