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Christianity EtcRe: Religion Is The Opiate Of The Poor by huxley(m): 6:41pm On Nov 17, 2008
MandingoII:
As long as they can keep you HUMBLE, MEEK, and accepting of anything and everything and saying:


"its god's will"


then you will forever been CHAINED!

I believe in God - don't get me wrong.

but I CANNOT believe is FOOLISHNESS,

If you are part of a silly unmodernized religion, you are in trouble.


besides, all they do is come for your pocketbook.
So what kind of God do you believe in? What are his/her attributes and how did you come to know about this God?
Christianity EtcRe: The Truth About Christ Embassy Healing School by huxley(m): 6:22pm On Nov 17, 2008
donnie:
I saw this thread from its very first page but refused to contribute as i have seen so much of such threads on nairaland since 2005. They havent changed a thing except of course for the many who have not tasted of that true annointing and power from on high. . . these (unfortunately) are made to think that that glory which we see the scriptures is unobtainable today.

That is the purpose of these theads, to deny the power of God. it dosnt matter how religious they appear, they are not from the Spirit of God.
One thing i do when i hear an allegation such as this is to look at the life of the critics of accusers, for if their lives do not portray that power and glory as it should rightly be, i discard such allegations as thrash. . . null and void!

If not, how can you explain a christian trying tooth and nail to bring another down? My friends, that is evil, no matter how you look at it. Forget about whether the miracles are true of not, you and i know they are and have stood the test of time. Testimonies abound in Nigeria and all over the world to the glory of God. So now, what is your purpose for this thread? Are those miracles to big for God to perform? Is it impossible of is it a sin to say to the lame 'rise and walk' and have him do just that? Are you trying to cast doubt on the testimonies of God or you are simply envious?

I know that at the healing school we have bed and stretchers to meet the needs of those invalid who will need them as people may not always travel distances with of of these things. Plus that, there are trained doctors and medical practitioners on hand to attend to the needs of these people. Tell me, is it strange to have wheel chairs and stretchers around in a place that attends to the needs of thousands of sick people?
Besides there are some who come, get healed and refuse to take their wheel chairs and crutches along with them.

That will be too cheap and regretable a thing to do. We cannot even imagine such. It will suprise you, but i havent even bothered to look at the pictures. I know that some of these people are even carried on the back of someone to the healing school. I have worked there myself as a volunteer. I have led the sick by hand tto their seats to hear the Word. . . and hearing these allegtions, i am close to tears, not of self pity but, i think i can hear what God is saying: don't worry my children, they have not said those things against you but against me. It will take a crooked mind to think up such falsehood. Dignitories, captains of industry, ministers of the gospel have all visited the healing school of CEC. To come up with stories such as this is to insult their intelligence.
I did ask earlier - Why is it that if Pastor Chris is kicked read HARD in the arse he feel no pain?.

To the best of my knowledge, not a single Christian minister who claim to have enabled the healing of the sick have been able to produce medical evidence for such claims.  From the Benny Hinns, Haggins, Oral Roberts, Peter Popov, etc, etc, etc.  Not a single evidence for faith healing.  

Many of the so-called healed have returned home only to die with weeks and months of the very same illness they claimed was cured.

People like yourself who have made huge emotional investments in the Christian worldview and the business of Christianity are unwilling to look at the plain evidence, because it hurts real bad to realise that you have been hoodwinked all your life.

You are probably a minion in the ministry and have been blinded by faith to take an objective view.  Or quite possible, you are aware of the scam and play along with it as it earns you a living, status or respect amongst the equally delusional as yourself.


People who expose charlatan like Pastor Chris are doing humanity a service.  The sooner this man and his "ministry" is exposed and brought down, the better for humanity.   Did you ever hear of the Peter Popov scam and how he was exposed by James Randi.  Check it out and you might learn something from it.  But I suspect as a delusional christian you have not got the guts to stare at the depths of your delusion.


Now, get you head off Pastor Chris's arse, so that when he is kicked he can feel some pain.
Christianity EtcRe: Bishop Mike Okonkwo Acquires Private Jet by huxley(m): 4:31pm On Nov 17, 2008
God rewards his faithful servants abundantly.
Christianity EtcAre You A Young Earth Creationist? by huxley(op): 1:04pm On Nov 17, 2008
Then why not check out Glenn Morton
Christianity EtcRe: Three Great Men Of God And Great Geniuses In Nigeria by huxley(m): 11:04am On Nov 17, 2008
What a waste of pure talent and it is sad to see such otherwise "intelligent" people involved in dragging Africa back into the dark ages.
IslamIslamic Theologian's Theory by huxley(op): 12:12am On Nov 17, 2008
Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophet Muhammad Never Existed
by Andrew Higgins, WSJ


Reposted from:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669909279629451.html

Professor Hired for Outreach to Muslims Delivers a Jolt

MÜNSTER, Germany -- Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.

So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure premises.

"We had no idea he would have ideas like this," says Thomas Bauer, a fellow academic at Münster University who sat on a committee that appointed Prof. Kalisch. "I'm a more orthodox Muslim than he is, and I'm not a Muslim."

When Prof. Kalisch took up his theology chair four years ago, he was seen as proof that modern Western scholarship and Islamic ways can mingle -- and counter the influence of radical preachers in Germany. He was put in charge of a new program at Münster, one of Germany's oldest and most respected universities, to train teachers in state schools to teach Muslim pupils about their faith.

Muslim leaders cheered and joined an advisory board at his Center for Religious Studies. Politicians hailed the appointment as a sign of Germany's readiness to absorb some three million Muslims into mainstream society. But, says Andreas Pinkwart, a minister responsible for higher education in this north German region, "the results are disappointing."

Prof. Kalisch, who insists he's still a Muslim, says he knew he would get in trouble but wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism. German scholars of the 19th century, he notes, were among the first to raise questions about the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Many scholars of Islam question the accuracy of ancient sources on Muhammad's life. The earliest biography, of which no copies survive, dated from roughly a century after the generally accepted year of his death, 632, and is known only by references to it in much later texts. But only a few scholars have doubted Muhammad's existence. Most say his life is better documented than that of Jesus.

"Of course Muhammad existed," says Tilman Nagel, a scholar in Göttingen and author of a new book, "Muhammad: Life and Legend." The Prophet differed from the flawless figure of Islamic tradition, Prof. Nagel says, but "it is quite astonishing to say that thousands and thousands of pages about him were all forged" and there was no such person.

All the same, Prof. Nagel has signed a petition in support of Prof. Kalisch, who has faced blistering criticism from Muslim groups and some secular German academics. "We are in Europe," Prof. Nagel says. "Education is about thinking, not just learning by heart."

Prof. Kalisch's religious studies center recently removed a sign and erased its address from its Web site. The professor, a burly 42-year-old, says he has received no specific threats but has been denounced as apostate, a capital offense in some readings of Islam.

"Maybe people are speculating that some idiot will come and cut off my head," he said during an interview in his study.

A few minutes later, an assistant arrived in a panic to say a suspicious-looking digital clock had been found lying in the hallway. Police, called to the scene, declared the clock harmless.

A convert to Islam at age 15, Prof. Kalisch says he was drawn to the faith because it seemed more rational than others. He embraced a branch of Shiite Islam noted for its skeptical bent. After working briefly as a lawyer, he began work in 2001 on a postdoctoral thesis in Islamic law in Hamburg, to go through the elaborate process required to become a professor in Germany.

The Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. that year appalled Mr. Kalisch but didn't dent his devotion. Indeed, after he arrived at Münster University in 2004, he struck some as too conservative. Sami Alrabaa, a scholar at a nearby college, recalls attending a lecture by Prof. Kalisch and being upset by his doctrinaire defense of Islamic law, known as Sharia.

In private, he was moving in a different direction. He devoured works questioning the existence of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Then "I said to myself: You've dealt with Christianity and Judaism but what about your own religion? Can you take it for granted that Muhammad existed?"

He had no doubts at first, but slowly they emerged. He was struck, he says, by the fact that the first coins bearing Muhammad's name did not appear until the late 7th century -- six decades after the religion did.

He traded ideas with some scholars in Saarbrücken who in recent years have been pushing the idea of Muhammad's nonexistence. They claim that "Muhammad" wasn't the name of a person but a title, and that Islam began as a Christian heresy.

Prof. Kalisch didn't buy all of this. Contributing last year to a book on Islam, he weighed the odds and called Muhammad's existence "more probable than not." By early this year, though, his thinking had shifted. "The more I read, the historical person at the root of the whole thing became more and more improbable," he says.

He has doubts, too, about the Quran. "God doesn't write books," Prof. Kalisch says.

Some of his students voiced alarm at the direction of his teaching. "I began to wonder if he would one day say he doesn't exist himself," says one. A few boycotted his lectures. Others sang his praises.

Prof. Kalisch says he "never told students 'just believe what Kalisch thinks' " but seeks to teach them to think independently. Religions, he says, are "crutches" that help believers get to "the spiritual truth behind them." To him, what matters isn't whether Muhammad actually lived but the philosophy presented in his name.

This summer, the dispute hit the headlines. A Turkish-language German newspaper reported on it with gusto. Media in the Muslim world picked up on it.

Germany's Muslim Coordinating Council withdrew from the advisory board of Prof. Kalisch's center. Some Council members refused to address him by his adopted Muslim name, Muhammad, saying that he should now be known as Sven.

German academics split. Michael Marx, a Quran scholar at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, warned that Prof. Kalisch's views would discredit German scholarship and make it difficult for German scholars to work in Muslim lands. But Ursula Spuler-Stegemann, an Islamic studies scholar at the University of Marburg, set up a Web site called solidaritymuhammadkalisch.com and started an online petition of support.

Alarmed that a pioneering effort at Muslim outreach was only stoking antagonism, Münster University decided to douse the flames. Prof. Kalisch was told he could keep his professorship but must stop teaching Islam to future school teachers.

The professor says he's more determined than ever to keep probing his faith. He is finishing a book to explain his thoughts. It's in English instead of German because he wants to make a bigger impact. "I'm convinced that what I'm doing is necessary. There must be a free discussion of Islam," he says.

—Almut Schoenfeld in Berlin contributed to this article.
Christianity EtcRe: The Truth About Christ Embassy Healing School by huxley(m): 8:46pm On Nov 16, 2008
SirJohn:
This 'mind over matter' phenomenon is what gives this folks temporary symptomatic relief from these conditions, note that I said symptomatic this is because the underlying cause of the ailment is never healed, only symptoms attached to the real conditions are suspended for a while. This explains why these people later die or become worse. Pastor Chris knows this principle and thus applies it.
Question:why does he discourage people from running a medical test after they have been 'healed'? Answer: because the ailments will still be found in a lab test, only the symptoms were suspended.
I shudder to think the number of people Pastor Chris has sent to an early grave by preach the WORD OF GOD. Is God aware that this man is sending people up to him much earlier? Why is God not taking action? He (God) must presumably like the work of Pastor Chris.
Christianity EtcRe: Want To Know Who God Is? by huxley(op): 1:33am On Nov 16, 2008
olabowale ,

You say that the universe had a beginning in time. How long ago was that beginning?
Christianity EtcRe: Are Nigerian Pastors Deceiving Nigerians? by huxley(m): 4:24pm On Nov 15, 2008
In politics, people usually get the kind of leaders they deserve. So if a society is largely corrupt, it is no surprise that their leadership tend to be corrupt. Likewise, in church matters, people get the kind of Pastors they deserve. So if the ordinary church-goer or believer is a simpleton and corrupt, their leader tend to be simpletons and corrupt as well.

So until the ordinary man/woman elevates his/her thinking they will continue to be served by the scum of society.
Christianity EtcAre You A Naturalist? by huxley(op): 1:08am On Nov 15, 2008
If you are, check out this
Christianity EtcRe: Why Is Nigeria The Most Religious Country! by huxley(m): 12:18am On Nov 15, 2008
I think low levels of education, poverty, credulity, gullibilty are all part of the problem
Christianity EtcWant To Know Who God Is? by huxley(op): 11:43pm On Nov 14, 2008
Christianity EtcRe: The Truth About Christ Embassy Healing School by huxley(m): 10:50pm On Nov 14, 2008
Pepeye:
@ Poster investigator

Pastor Chris will continue to remain on top as always while you and your folks will keep on running from one prayer room to the other, seeking for help…helpless peep, you no dey shame! if truly u are born again and filled with the Spirit , you should lay hands on the sick and they recover that is what the Word says. You don’t wait for any Pastor

What are you hands meant for?

Next Please
Why is it that if Pastor Chris is kicked real HARD in the arse he feels no pain?
CultureWitchcraft In "white" Clothing. by huxley(op): 10:42pm On Nov 14, 2008
Is there any Christians today who would have wished for Jesus not to die?   Not to die for their sins? What was really achieved by Jesus supposedly dying on the cross?

Most forms of African witchcraft cults are centred around the sacrificial giving of humans and objects as propitiation to the spirit world.  In this sense, witchcraft and Christians are no different - they inhabit the same world of the spirit and demand exactly the same type of propitiations.  In the Christian worldview, Jesus is said to have paid the ultimate sacrifice, a sacrifice which it is claimed, is being carried out daily by those who refuse to follow him.  In fact, the similarities between African witchcraft practices and Christianity are legion:

1)  Both are centred are human sacrifice in which others are supposed to have benefited from the death of the sacrifised human.

2)  There is ritual eating of the body of the sacrifised human

3)  The sacrifised human carries on living in the spirit world, confering benefits to those who sacrifised him/her in the real world

4)  They both inflict great fear and terror to the unsuspecting


It is no surprise that in parts of the world rife with irrationalisms such as most of Africa,  Christianity and witchcraft should have become so close bedfellows. Christians, like practitioners of witchcraft have got no epistemic methods of demonstrating the truth of their claims. Yet, this does not prevent the growth of both irrationalism.



If a Christian Pastor condemns some members of this community as witches, what authority would dissenters have for rejecting the claims of the Pastor?  To whom can they turn for an objective opinion on the matter?  How could it be demonstrated that the Pastor was right or wrong?

Christianity EtcChristianity Is Witchcraft In "white" Clothings by huxley(op): 10:35pm On Nov 14, 2008
Is there any Christians today who would have wished for Jesus not to die?   Not to die for their sins? What was really achieved by Jesus supposedly dying on the cross?

Most forms of African witchcraft cults are centred around the sacrificial giving of humans and objects as propitiation to the spirit world.  In this sense, witchcraft and Christians are no different - they inhabit the same world of the spirit and demand exactly the same type of propitiations.  In the Christian worldview, Jesus is said to have paid the ultimate sacrifice, a sacrifice which it is claimed, is being carried out daily by those who refuse to follow him.  In fact, the similarities between African witchcraft practices and Christianity are legion:

1)  Both are centred are human sacrifice in which others are supposed to have benefited from the death of the sacrifised human.

2)  There is ritual eating of the body of the sacrifised human

3)  The sacrifised human carries on living in the spirit world, confering benefits to those who sacrifised him/her in the real world

4)  They both inflict great fear and terror to the unsuspecting


It is no surprise that in parts of the world rife with irrationalisms such as most of Africa,  Christianity and witchcraft should have become so close bedfellows. Christians, like practitioners of witchcraft have got no epistemic methods of demonstrating the truth of their claims. Yet, this does not prevent the growth of both irrationalism.


If a Christian Pastor condemns some members of this community as witches, what authority would dissenters have for rejecting the claims of the Pastor?  To whom can they turn for an objective opinion on the matter?  How could it be demonstrated that the Pastor was right or wrong?
Christianity EtcRe: Theology And Teleology by huxley(op): 6:49pm On Nov 14, 2008
pilgrim.1:
@huxley,

I wonder if you expect anyone to reason with you if on the very same subject you had concluded that it is nonsense? If that is the way you have already concluded the subject even before reasoning with others, why yet ask if there is "any thought"? Anyway, hope you're doing okay?
The thing I called nonsense was exegesis (not teleology or theology). By the way, if you disagree it is nonsense, why don't you make a case for that. I am prepared to change my view is your case is reasonable and plausible.
Christianity EtcRe: Questions For Evolutionists And Atheists by huxley(m): 5:04pm On Nov 14, 2008
OLAADEGBU:
And for your excuses that you've given upfront on copying and pasting, I'll give you this challenge to check how many posts that huxley(he also goes by therational and other names) has copied and pasted since he began posting on NL and then come back and give us the feedback.
There is a big difference between the way I use cut&paste and the way you do. I paste article that I find interesting and want to share with members of NL. Rare do I use this as my line of debates and I don't use other people's articles as a means to fob off or avoid answering questions put to me.

Go take a look, all my threads soliciting debates are usually started off with my own words.
Christianity EtcRe: There Are Many Other Virgin Births Besides Jesus. by huxley(m): 1:00pm On Nov 14, 2008
Bastage:
Huxley.
Although I agree with you in the main, at least one point you've posted has been proven or pretty well accounted for. I've read that astronomers have matched an astronomical alignment of some sort with the supposed year of Jesus' birth for example.

But in general, you're absolutely correct and there is one thing you've mentioned that needs further clarification.

One should note that Jesus was executed by Crucifixion. This was a punishment that was only carried out on slaves, rebels, pirates and especially-despised enemies and criminals of the Roman Empire. It was not an execution method carried out on Jewish citizens. As Jesus was condemned by Jews (or so the Bible tells us), his death would have been that of stoning.
But as the Bible tells us that he was crucified, one can only assume that he was executed as an enemy of the Roman Empire. Not what the Bible tells us.
If this was the case, there would have been a record of the execution. The Romans were the documentors of their day - they would most certainly have recorded the crucifixion of Jesus. Not in just a single document, but in many. This plainly never occured - thus pointing to the fact that a Jesus as depicted in the Bible was never cruciified under Roman rule.
Mostly agree with this, except for the point about documentation of the Roman execution. The Romans executed people by the dozens weekly or daily. In fact, it is well attested that many of the highways were littered on both side with crucified bodies of criminals of all sorts. I doubt the Romans would have gone through the trouble of documenting the trial and crucifixion of many common criminals unless they were very significant individuals. But I suspect I am wrong. My reasoning is this - in times of great political and sociological upheaval, law and order is stretch to its limits and it is reasonable to assume that many of the victims of Roman "justice" might have gone unrecorded.

Mark you, my doubts about Roman documentary record of JC execution does not make his existence any more likely
Christianity EtcRe: There Are Many Other Virgin Births Besides Jesus. by huxley(m): 12:19pm On Nov 14, 2008
If Jesus lived around the time it is claimed by Christians and had performed all the activities attributed to him, it is a great surprise that no independent accounts so much as mentions him.  If he performs all these great acts, why are there no accounts contemporaneous with his life and and works.  These are the things one would have expected to find in other independent accounts:

1)   His birth

- Accounts of the star that guided the wise men
- Account of the slaughter of the innocent children by Herod
- Accounts of the census conducted by Quirinius on 4BCE
- Account of massive movements of population to register for the census
- Accounts of his family and their specialness

2)  His life and works (his ministry)

- Accounts of this visiting the temple and causing a commotion there
- Accounts of the unrest he occasioned
-Accounts of the miracles he performed


3)  His death

- Accounts of his trials by the Sahandrins and Romans
- Accounts of this sentencing
- Accounts of this death
- Accounts of the resurrection of the saints
- Accounts of his resurrection
- Accounts of his activities post-resurrection

4) His ascension into heaven


If this man was really significant, how come nobody saw it fit to mention him even once while he walked the earth.  And it was not as if this period was devoid of chroniclers.  There were many historians active around this period who you might have expected to have recorded his activities. Philo was particularly active in this period but fails to mention him. This is quite telling.

Josephus's work appears to mention Jesus but this account has many problems.  First, it was written decades after Jesus and secondly the passages that refer to Jesus appear to have been doctored by Christian scholars.

Pliny, writing in the middle of the 2nd century mentions Christians as followers of a man called Jesus.  But this only testified to the existence of Christians rather that the existence of Jesus.

If fact, there is a widepread Jewish and Jewish-Christian tradition, attested in Epiphanius, the Talmud and the Toledoth Jeschu (dependent onn 2nd century Jewish-Christian gospel), that Jesus was born about 100BCE and was crucified under Alexander Jannaeus.

So if anyone has any account of an independent evidence of Jesus, let them present it here.
Christianity EtcRe: Theology And Teleology by huxley(op): 11:35pm On Nov 13, 2008
any thought?
Christianity EtcRe: The Nonsense That Is Biblical Exegesis And Hermeneutic by huxley(op): 11:33pm On Nov 13, 2008
Where are our exegesis experts to shed some light on this very vexed subject?
Christianity EtcRe: Questions For Evolutionists And Atheists by huxley(m): 11:08pm On Nov 13, 2008
For an object lesson on how damaging religion can be, you don't have to look further than OLAADEGBU. This man has lost all his reasoning faculty. To try to engage him in a discussion is worse than engage a zombie. He will scuttle away to some website and cut&paste without even reading the stuff.

Bastage, you have got him spot on. Little or nothing of what he posts are his own formulated arguments. How would you debate with someone how cannot formulate a single coherent argument.

Sad, really sad. And to think that I apologise to him for calling him names. Well those names were entirely justified.
Christianity EtcRe: The Truth About Christ Embassy Healing School by huxley(m): 10:47pm On Nov 13, 2008
DavidDylan:
bla bla bla . . the usual religious language anytime they are confronted with their deciet. Christ provided concrete proof of his healings . . . he didnt just heal in secret and come out shouting "Praise God!".
Wrong and wrong again. JC asked those he healed to keep it secret and many occasion. Just how he thought such would be kept secret is beyond anyone. Why did he want it kept secret? If it was really kept a secret why do we have the entire account recorded and handed down to us?
Christianity EtcRe: Pastors Kill 'witch Children' In Akwa Ibom? by huxley(m): 9:35pm On Nov 13, 2008
Why is any one surprise? It is axiomatic that where the bible reigns supreme barbarism is round the corner. I am not surprised in the least about this. I had predicted this many years ago, and it will not be long before most of Africa is afflicted by such savagery since Christian fundamentalism is sweeping thru the continent.
Christianity EtcRe: How To Brainwash The Christian Way. by huxley(op): 9:23pm On Nov 13, 2008
naijacutee:
Please now, don't let this thread die. cry I really would like to discuss this and "enter" the mind of your average Nigerian atheist.
so what would you like to know?
Christianity EtcRe: The Truth About Christ Embassy Healing School by huxley(m): 9:38am On Nov 13, 2008
DavidDylan:
Depending on where the tumor is sighted. It can affect motor coordination. Muscles that are required to walk need to be innervated by impulses from the brain.
I thougt god walks in mysterious ways. smiley
PoliticsRe: 'child-witches' Of Nigeria Seek Refuge by huxley(op): 12:26am On Nov 13, 2008
~Sauron~:
Are people this ignorant to think there are no witches in Nigeria??
Oh yes.  There are many millions of witches in Nigeria and they walk about carrying their bibles. The minute I see someone with a bible, I give them a wide distance.
PoliticsRe: 'child-witches' Of Nigeria Seek Refuge by huxley(op): 12:24am On Nov 13, 2008
Note that it was only about 300 - 400 years ago that the same was happening in America and Europe.  Ask yourself the question - What developmental changes did they undergo to now have consigned belief in witchcraft/demons, etc into history?

Until African undergo similar changes such beliefs would continue to haunt us.
CultureHow Religions Could Drag Us Back Into The Dark Ages by huxley(op): 12:12am On Nov 13, 2008
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 great book. 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 great book 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.


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Some of my other threads


The Dangers Of Religious Fundamentalism To Intellectualism
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=110955.msg1929006#msg1929006

Only For Those Who Know Their Bibles And Some History: Who Was Jesus?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112697.msg1954632#msg1954632

Only For Those Who Know Their Bibles: Old Testament Stories
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112679.msg1954426#msg1954426

Human Sacrifice In The Bible: Lev 27: 29 & Judges 11
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112584.msg1953340#msg1953340

Please, Please, Please: Christians - Read Read Read Your Bibles
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112578.msg1953311#msg1953311

When Was Jesus Crucified?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112557.msg1952665#msg1952665

On Conversion To A Religion (christianity Or I-slam)
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112547.msg1952353#msg1952353

Faith-healers And Tele-evangelists
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112398.msg1950528#msg1950528

Where Did Sin Originate?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112377.msg1950291#msg1950291

For The Non-beleivers Only, 1
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112262.msg1948957#msg1948957

Would Christains Be Criminals And Offenders If They Were Not Christians?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112259.msg1948919#msg1948919

On The Authenticity Of The New Testament, Part 1
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112240.msg1948631#msg1948631

Has Atheism Got Principle? No
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112216.msg1948180#msg1948180

It Is Biblical To Have Sex (and Lots Of It) Before Marriage
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112139.msg1946940#msg1946940

Should The Old Testament Laws Be Observed In The Modern Era?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112114.msg1946682#msg1946682

Founding A State or Nation On Religious Principles
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=112086.msg1946268#msg1946268

Great Books About Non-belief
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111928.msg1943935#msg1943935

Who Are The Self-declared Non-believer? Resources For You
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111806.msg1942137#msg1942137

Beware of a Simplistic Interpretation of Jesus's 2nd Coming Passages
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111677.msg1939992#msg1939992

Archbishop Cause Furore Over Sharia Law In The Uk
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111645.msg1939155#msg1939155

Eminent Christian Scientist (francis Collins) Explains The Evolution Of Humans
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111482.msg1936158#msg1936158

Please, Help Me Out With Your Knowledge Of The Bible
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111474.msg1936099#msg1936099

Why Biology Is So Important To Our Modern World
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111466.msg1935975#msg1935975

Genesis Vs Genetics
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111227.msg1932655#msg1932655

Jesus Genealogy
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111222.msg1932616#msg1932616

£300 (three - Hundred Pound Sterling) Essay Competition
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=111143.msg1931508#msg1931508

Beware Of Religious Fundamentalism In Your University Campuses
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=110965.msg1929160#msg1929160
PoliticsRe: 'child-witches' Of Nigeria Seek Refuge by huxley(op): 11:58pm On Nov 12, 2008
lucabrasi:
wonder when all these tribalism and religious bigotry will stop in nigeria,

even though the lady evngelists videos started the whole child witches saga,i still blame the government for abandoning their responsibilities, I'm a christian and ill nerver say anything bad about a man/woman of GOD but i think the woman should be held responsible either implicitly or explitly for the abandonement of these children on account of her video, moreover the pentecostal churches without being made to have a fiscal social responsibily to extend some sort of help towards these traumatised children, after all thats the christian thing to do, would have wished the documentary was more balanced with interviews from accomplished men of GOD as well like pastor adeboye,kumuyi e.t, c
This is typical Christian pussyfooting about. Might I ask - by what means can a Christians Pastor or Man of God diagnose demon possession?

If you found youself in a church with your family and the pastor comes along and said your child was a witch, what authority have you got to dispute the pastor's claim?

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