Danger in Europe’s dying Christianity

Disturbing realities are emerging from the United Kingdom and some other regions in the West with regard to Christianity.

The phenomenon became imminent years back, when a White priest from the United Kingdom attended the ordination of another priest in Nigeria. In his remarks at the occasion, he appealed to the African religious to prepare to visit Europe for a return evangelism. Christianity had begun a journey to extinction there.

The dying church is made more evident today in Europe, where the diminishing number of worshippers and ministers is pushing the people to sell off churches.

The German philosopher Karl Marx, in his writings, described religion as the opium of the people. Opium is one of the narcotics restricted by law. With this in mind, one would conclude that the remark is uncomplimentary to religion.

Some Africans have begun to ask, rightly or wrongly, why Africa should still cling to the religion of the white man when those who brought it to the continent were in the process of abandoning it. This school of thought, encompassing some of the so-called African religionists, want a return to the primaeval African way of worship.

We hear of some eccentric persons of the Igbo stock burning the Holy Bible in open renunciation of the “white man’s religion” to usher in “Chukwuokike Abiama” as if Africa’s problem was Christianity.

There is the claim that the colonialists used the Bible to deceive Africa. South African Bishop, Desmond Tutu, was quoted as saying, “When the missionaries first came to Africa, they had the Bible, and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible, and they had the land!”

Despite these negativisms, Christianity remains the most popular religion, even though its adherents continue to suffer persecution. Yet, Christianity relies not on coercion and inducement but much more on conviction and spirituality.

This explains the rapid spread of Christianity after Christ was crucified. Indeed, what a man was ready to lay his life down for was actually important.

If we are to examine Christianity within the basket of other religions, we are sure to observe so many qualities that place it over and above others that predate it. The elements of pacifism, piety, charity, conviviality, and the abundant emphasis on love of humanity sets Christianity aside as a religion to follow.

Christianity is more of a way of life than a religion. Impliedly, the word "Christian" refers to one who aspires to be Christlike. That is to say, the central concern of Christianity is the life and teachings of Jesus Christ who gave the world a template for living, and living good enough to see God in life after life. Christ Himself said, “I am the way” to my Father’s house, “the truth” about creation “and the life” that mankind must live.

It follows that the problem with Christianity is not in its essence but about its adherents who do things on the contrary either as a result of a misinterpretation of Christ’s teachings or outright determination to thwart the tenets in order to feed their idiosyncrasies. If Christianity is pacifist, then why on earth should a human being reject it as a way of life?

Christianity is not known for waging wars that claim lots of lives. It does not permit a crippling conservatism that could leave the world stale, drab, static, and uninteresting.

Returning to the concept of religion as a tool for social control, or the opium of the people as Marx professed, we must agree that man’s raw nature makes it imperative that he should, to an extent, be under some control. If religion is able to play the role of engendering self-control in man, then it is worthy of practice. Opium, in centuries past, was the elixir for those who needed to be sedated, those weighed down by the vagaries of life. From that standpoint, opium is positive. It is an abuse of it that is abhorrent.

Growing atheism or godlessness in Europe portends great danger not only to that continent but to the globe in general. Already, the Western world has been infested with a disgusting permissiveness, leading to a gradual acceptance of homosexuality as normal. If observed through the prism of nature, it is a practice way into the unnatural, a practice lower animals can’t dream of indulging in. It bothers a sensitive humanity as well that humans could abort their seeds, a forming body and soul, without scruples. Is it a journey back to the brutish age?

On the sale of God’s houses; Jesus Christ, for the first time in his ministry, fumed when people made His Father’s house a marketplace and a den of thieves. In a rage, He drove out traders and merchants desecrating the church. If He, the Son of God, frowned at mere traders making dirty deals in the house, how would He feel about an outright sale of it?

Another side of the story is that the most enthusiastic buyers of these church edifices are the Muslim sheiks who convert them to mosques. That means that as Christianity is checking out, Islam is creeping into UK. Extremists can seize the chance to unleash mayhem, as Osama bin Laden did. Is that what we want?

Dr. Odu can be reached through [email protected] or 07016722929.