therationa:

A sociologist (Ebenezer Obadare, Department of Sociology, University of Kansas) has just published an article in the New Humanist (Nov – Dec 2007) describing the deplorable state of education in some of Nigeria erstwhile top universities. This is an interesting read and should serve as an object lesson in the damage posed by religious fundamentalism in university campuses.

I have long posited this hypothesis and it is ever so refreshing to find a report which bears the same conclusion. In fact, any student of the history of the Dark Ages in Europe would have come to the same conclusion sooner. This should serve as a salutary lesson to everyone interested in the proper education of the citizenry.

In fact, it is nearly 10 years ago (Dec 1997- Jan 1998) that I visited the a university in Cameroon and was appalled at the growing religiosity of the university students. Every evening at about 5pm I noticed groups of 30 - 50 students congregating in various houses or assembly halls to study the bible and other devotional materials. These gatherings typically lasted in excess of 3 hours and would occasionally extend till the small hours of the morning.

Now, I may be biased, but I am given to understand that universities are institutions for the promotions of critical and rational thinking, intellectualism and the cultivation of the free inquiry. I did not attend such meetings but doubt if the subject of discussion was biblical textual criticism (Bart Ehrman), or the history of the Jews under the Roman colonial rule, or the Renaissance, or famine relief in Africa, or the Enlightenment philosophers (David Hume, Voltaire, Spinoza or Thomas Paine) or African literature (Soyinka, Achebe, Ngugi etc). It is my guess that they were gathered to develop strategies for the salvation of their souls in another world. Aside from the communal spirit and camaraderie of these events, can anything be more time-wasting and counter-educational than this endless kowtow to divine authority?

I regularly meet religionists (Christians and otherwise) who brandish a (or several) university degree(s) but have no knowledge of some of the most basic fundamental precepts of science and logic. They are typically those who take a literalist interpretation of their various religious texts, such as the bible or koran. This is an embarrassment. Here are some of the beliefs they uphold in spite of the fact that there is absolutely no scientific evidence in their favour:

1) The belief that the earth is about 6000 years old as implied in the bible. Any basic study of geology should reveal that the earth is about 4 billion years old. It would simply not be possible for organic matter to be converted into petroleum fuels naturally in 6000 years. This should be an indictment to anyone who holds onto this young-earth theory (but should know better) and rides a petroleum-based vehicle.

2) The belief that there was a worldwide flood in which Noah saved his family and some wild-life as reported in the bible about 4000 years ago. This is just palpably false and erroneous. There is absolutely no evidence for such a global flood event. In fact, this account can be categorically scientifically refuted in no less than 1000 ways.

3) The belief that the soul enters the zygote at conception. This stupid idea forms the cornerstone of the opposition to stem-cell research, the next-generation therapy for the treatment of a multitude of ailments.

4) The belief that dinosaurs and humans once walked the earth some thousands of years ago. Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago and humans (humanoids) have only walked this earth in the last 250 thousand years.

5) The belief that death, evil and suffering was the result of Adam and Eve disobeying a commandment in the garden of Eden. How about all the animals and plants that died out millions of years before humans evolved? These facts are easy to check, not least by a university student. Any good bookshop or university library should stock materials on these subjects.

Can our education system sink any lower? Anyone looking for an object lesson on the impact of dogmatic, uncritical thinking should look no further than the persecution Galileo suffered for propounding that the earth travels around the sun (heliocentrism), rather than the sun travelling around the earth, geocentrism (as was maintained by the Catholic church). It was only in the 1990s that the Pope officially apologised for the persecution of Galileo. It is thanks to the Galilean understanding of celestial mechanics (not the biblical cosmology) that satellite technology is possible today. The potential for damage to our civilisation with biblical literalism, dogmatism and uncritical thinking is incalculable.

The forces that assail us as a human civilisation are numerous and enormous. In Africa, these problems are compounded, principally due to poverty, scientific and technological illiteracy, rampant corruption and poor governance, attachment to unproductive superstitious beliefs, unfair global economic and trade agreements and natural environmental forces beyond our control. In the face of such problems, the last thing we want is a degradation of our only means of a resolution - education. Nigeria seems to have taken a path to intellectual barbarism through the spread of the barbaric beliefs of primitive nomadic stone-aged tribesmen from Judea (Check out the barbarism of Numbers 31, Exodus 21:17, Joshua 10:26, Leviticus 27:29, etc). Every survey shows Nigeria as the most religious country in the world, but yet also the most corrupt and the most socially inequitable. Does such contradiction not say something about the parlous state of education and thinking in that country? Such beliefs are simply incompatible with enlightened 21st century thinking and inimical to the development of a universal humanistic ethic. It is about time we leave the literalism of the bible and koran to the stone-age where they rightly belong and adopt and scientico-naturalistic worldview more suited to the challenges that confront us.

If the entire African continent does not want to go down this degenerate road, we must find a way of arresting the decline in our institutions of learning and encourage the next generation of students to develop and think more critically. But am afraid, where Nigeria leads, the rest of Africa is never too far behind.

vowiski:

THE TRUTH IS BITTER.
GO! POSTER, M WITH YOU.

Jerie:

hey poster, in your no. 1 somersault, u were vomiting rubbish about the world being billions of years old. i doubt if you read the bible because if you do, you can't advertise your ignorance this way. anyway, the holy bible says that a thousand years with us is as one day with God, and one day with God is as a thousand years with us. so, go dust your bible and your brains.

Wordsmith:

Why don't you get your mind out that which influences you and think in the Bible for once?

camchupa:

therationa, are you still waiting to give your life to christ? imagine someone who knew nothing about your debt coming to pay for you? it is because of the love he has for you and me. please do not let this year pass you by.
i have an offer to make to you and i am sure you would like it. why not surrender your life to christ just for thhree months. obey the instructions in the bible and fellowship with the saints of God. if after doing all these you do not see something strange that God will do for you, you are free to call me whatever names you like to.
be warned that if you insult me without trying my suggestions, you will receive a curse from above.
try this and you will never regret it. take care, jesus loves you.

camchupa:

my God in heaven knows i have done what he asked me to do. i therefore dust my feet off you. it is better you learn the lesson on your own. remain blessed and goodbye.

JayFK:

Therationa you're my hero lol

People just trust the bible wholeheartedly and take it word for word instead of actually looking to science and pure common sense, that's why you have universities in which you are required to go to church? and why we have Creationism accepted in schools even though it has nothing to do with science rather than Evolution where there is at least some semblance of proof to it.
I feel the sooner Nigerians abandon religion the sooner we go forward, I mean it gets annoying really, i lived in PH about 4 years ago and theres what? over 2000 churches!! are you freaking kidding me? and all these pastors just milk Nigerians for their money, belief that you are healed? look up placebo effect, fall under the power of God? look up hypnosis, its actually a technique, plus you have Nigerians praying for change and shit instead of actually doing something about our situation, It's sickening really, plus people say have faith? Lemme say something about "faith", "faith" is exactly that "faith" wholehearted belief in something without sufficient proof, for those of you that believe in God, I want you to tell me something God has done for you that you couldn't do for yourself? I know most people who will reply will say God forgive you and shit like that but I want you to please argue to the contrary.