When the last unthinkable and unimaginable
experience dawned on my person coupled with the other recently encountered
ones, I felt it was high time I wrote the Pope – the grand master. Though it
could be untimely, if not too late, but I’m strongly of the view that ‘it’s
better late than never’.
Mind you; the
‘Pope’ as inscribed in the above topic does not signify the man who resides in
the Vertical City of Rome; rather, it represents the leader of all the
religious institutions across the globe, particularly my home country – Nigeria.
Thus, you’re cordially enjoined to adhere strictly to the logical meaning of
the word in question rather than its literal meaning as far as this critique is
concerned, for the interest of me and you.
Dear Pope – the
grand master, I sincerely tender this epistle in my lonely mood as fathomless
tears are intensely ravaging my poor physiognomy. The manifestation of this
candid epistle is solely attributable to the invariable obnoxious scenes as
well as melodramas regarding our religious leaders I personally witness or
overhear on a daily basis. Of course, I’m extremely convinced that you might
have heard of some of them; notwithstanding, I promise to painstakingly and
extensively list virtually all in this holistic letter.
It’s no longer
news, that recently story titles such as Pastor rapes church member, Alabama
Pastor accused of raping 15-year-old member, Pastor rapes Pastor’s wife inside
church, Imam caught in the act, Alhaja and Imam caught having sex during this
Ramadan period, Pastors offer politicians their pulpits, $9.3 million cash
found in Pastor’s private jet, Reverend Fathers caught in gay act, Pastor
defrauds members in the name of ‘deliverance’, just to mention but a few, have
been making the banner headlines of thousands of hundreds of newspapers across
the globe that if adequate and drastic approach is not taken towards avoiding
subsequent emergence of such terrible and horrific stories, I’m afraid the world
in its entirety might be headed for a severe doomed state in the nearest
future.
Though these, as
mentioned above, were alleged cases, but how would a clergyman be traceable to
such ungodly stories? If someone who calls himself a ‘man of God’ distanced his
person from any thought, action, inaction, practice, occasion that could lead
to any social scandal, he wouldn’t in any way be found wanting. We all know
that temptation arises daily, after all God Himself was tempted, but the gospel
truth is that if a clergyman remains firm or passionately sticks to his faith,
he would never be nailed down or trapped in the net as the devil intends; thus,
by His grace he would continue to overcome any temptation that comes on his way.
It is apparent and appalling that most
religious institutions no longer preach salvation as expected; rather, they
prefer laying emphasis on financial prosperity or materialism thereby making
the poor or less-privileged ones among their members see poverty as a curse or
a reward for sins. Poverty can be referred to as a disease, which no doubt
couldbe cured or addressed, but not a curse as being presumed in most quarters.
What about places where offertory would
be conducted for over five times not unlike a social club where bidding is
taking place? In this case, the rich would be seen dancing cheerfully while
headed for the point where they would gladly and willingly tender their
offerings regardless of the number of times involved; and the financially vulnerable
ones amidst the congregation would also be expected to follow suit instead of
the church or mosque as the case may be, being concerned or preoccupied with
how to make them wave eternal goodbye to poverty.
Sincerely,
everyone in his/her right senses prays to see churches or mosques in every nook
and cranny owing to their innumerable positive impact on the society but it is
so disheartening to acknowledge that the current fathomless establishment of
religious bodies all over has ended up constituting more social, financial as
well as spiritual miscarriages in our various societies rather than solving the
already existing ones. For instance; it's not unusual that nowadays someone would be told by his/her so-called spiritual/religious director that his old mother in the village is solely responsible for his predicaments.
Surely, we are
all aware that the tuition fees for virtually all the private citadels of
learning in Nigeria, especially the universities that are owned and managed by
religious bodies are indeed astronomical and unbearable to an average citizen
in the country let alone the poor. But it is pertinent and amazing to note that
the poor parents/guardians who could not afford the aforesaid fees contributed
immensely towards the establishment of the institutions in question. Now that
they are relegated at the background as regards taking their children/wards to
the private schools, what becomes their fate?
It is obvious
that churches and mosques do not pay tax due to the nature of the selfless
services they render to the society at large; but I’m afraid if they continued
with the culture of commercialization, the governments at all levels may be
tempted to ask them to follow suit in regard to payment of taxes.
About few weeks ago, I was opportune to
worship at one of the Catholic Churches in Lagos State and fascinatingly the
Reverend Father in charge of the Parish otherwise known as the ‘Parish Priest’
categorically told the congregation, whom are invariably addressed as
‘Parishioners’ according to Catholic doctrine, during the closing time that the
completion of the ongoing new building for the church’s secondary school was
far-fetched because the parishioners had not been helping matters as regards
donation thereby urging them to wake up from their slumbers. Unarguably, other
religious centres are not left out while discussing such phenomenon.
I’m not
disturbed over asking church members to assist in building projects but my
worry is that the downtrodden in the midst are invariably tasked whenever such
issue is raised. Rather than being severely disturbed over how to help the said
set of people combat poverty that is ravaging their respective households, on
the contrary they usually end up being extorted by their ‘church/mosque
leaders’. Besides come to think of it; aren’t the pupils or students in the
affected missionary schools paying tuition fees, or are they enjoying free
education?
Today, as a clergyman, if you don’t
perform miracles in your church or mosque, you haven’t begun. Undoubtedly,
everyone looks forward to seeing ‘miracles’ occurring in any worship house he
finds himself. To say the least; this miracle mantra, which is ubiquitously on
the rampage, has succeeded in making several genuine worship centres lose their
members to other neighbouring ones that are famously known for miracle
performance or as havens where miracles are being manufactured.
Currently,
almost every shop situated in our various streets has been converted into
churches, mosques, prayer ministries, house of prophesies, healing centres, and
what have you. Similarly, they no longer worship calmly or praise decently in their
various places of worship; loud speakers are extended to the streets and roads
where their worship centres are located thereby producing uncalled cacophonies
all in the name of ‘worship’.
Lest we forget; it
is everywhere that most of our religious leaders have been, stylishly or
wholly, indulging in electoral matters or issues relating to politics, which is
unequivocally contrary to their calling. Most pathetically, these religious
directors/overseers mostly campaign for political aspirants right in their
various churches or mosques, or sometimes the aspirants would be privileged to
stand on their ostensibly sacred pulpits to politic for themselves, all in
exchange for a token. The churches or mosques are supposed to be institutions
for liberation of mankind from all forms of bondage as well as to strengthen or
uplift one’s faith with a view to bringing him nearer to his salvation.
During electioneering era, the prime duty of
the church/mosque is to pray vehemently and rigorously for the various persons
or bodies involved including the electorate, aspirants, electoral umpire as
well as the nation at large with the aim of making only the distinguished and
god-fearing aspirants emerge victorious at the awaited polls, but on the
contrary you would notice that most of our so-called men of God have completely
gotten it wrongly whenever electoral issues are raised. The religious bodies
are expected to be involved toward actualizing good governance but are not in
any way meant to delve into political matters or cases.
These and many
more similar antics springing up on a daily basis in our various religious
institutions, which are generating series of unbearable pandemonium, really
call for a public outcry. Religion has been widely and popularly regarded as
the ‘opium of the masses’; suffice to say that that is the only place the
needy, frustrated ones, or mankind in general could be emancipated or embrace undiluted
optimism, even when it seems they’re nearer to their graveyards. So if such
institution is being misused and abused by its leaders whom are supposed to be
seen as well as regarded as mortal gods, it signifies that significantly the
society in its entirety is liable to encounter an unforeseen comatose
circumstance.
The grand
master, I tender this unalloyed epistle to you because I’m of the opinion that
you have a very potent and inevitable role to play toward addressing the
aforementioned quagmire that is seriously telling on us; thus I wish to drop my
humble pen at this juncture. Think about it!
Comr
Fred Doc Nwaozor
Follow: @mediambassador
No comments:
Post a Comment