₦airaland Forum

Candidates are invited to enter an Essay Competition whose title is as follows;

“To what extent are superstitious beliefs, unsubstantiated claims and traditionalistic values responsible for undermining the intellectual, structural and moral development of the populace? How would a scientific, rational and naturalistic worldview alleviate the problems inherent in a highly superstitious society?”



Format

This competition is open to all students and non-students currently resident in Africa. Essays may be submitted by single individuals or as a team of no more than three persons. Where a team submission is made, evidence must be provided of all team members having made substantial contributions to the essay.

The essay should consist of no less than 5000 words and not exceeding 20,000 words and must include an abstract of about 500 words. All essays must be submitted in English and in electronic format, preferable in Microsoft Word document.

Credit will be awarded to essays that address all the main issues and that display a broad-ranging knowledge of the subject matter, including relevant use of reference materials (books, journals, internet resources). Additional credits will be given for originality, style and persuasiveness of reasoning and logic.

Registration for entrance

Registration of the competition must be received no later than 14th March 2008. All registration must be made by electronic form by sending a mail consisting of the following information to therationalist at yahoo.com;

Candidate’s name
Candidate’s date and place of Birth,
Candidate's address of residence

For team submissions, include all team members’ details, in addition to a team name. The first 20 entrants will receive a free copy of the book “The Age of Reason” by Thomas Paine. This book deals comprehensively with the main thrust of the essay and credit will be awarded for clever use of the material from “The Age of Reason”.

The final essay must be submitted by the 31st May 2008 and the results will be published on the 1st of July 2008.

Prizes

1st Prize: £300.00 (Three hundred Pounds Sterling)
2nd Prize: £150.00 (One-hundred and fifty Pounds Sterling)
3rd Prize; £75.00 (Seventy-five Pound Sterling)

All prizes will also include a selection of books by eminent scientists, philosophers and leading and influential intellectuals.

More Information

To request for more information on materials (books, journals, internet resources) that may be useful for the completion of the essay, send an email to therationalist at yahoo.com

About the Sponsor

This competition is sponsored by the African Institute for Rational Inquiry (AIRINQ). AIRINQ is dedicated to the rational investigation of mystical, religious, supernatural and superstitious claims, as well as the study of dogmatic and traditionalistic values and its contribution to societal development or underdevelopment. AIRINQ is also primarily concerned with promoting science education, critical thinking and philosophy and the development of a scientico-naturalistic worldview as the means of achieving human progress.

As Africans, you will be aware of the extend to which such claims affect the everyday life of Africans. AIRINQ is interested in investigating whether these claims can be justified in the light of natural scientific rationalism. AIRINQ holds the view that superstitious beliefs are instrumental in retarding intellectual development and advocates an approach grounded on critical thinking and scientific rationalism. AIRINQ believes that it is only by tackling the problems that handicap our thinking can we make intellectual progress.

The aim of the Essay Competition is to evaluate the extend to which African students are sympathetic to the ideas of critical/rational thinking, science and philosophy. So, this is a serious project and we would like to get as many participants as possible.

Note: If the deadline and scope appear too challenging, these can be amended with discussion with the sponsors.

KAG,

Whenever I get the Stalin, Hitler Pol Pot argument against atheism (which is a very bad argument anyway) I always given them back Romans 13; It never fails to do the job.

This is Romans 13;

[b]1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.
4 For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.
7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.[/b]

Check out what Exodus 21:17 says. Here it is. Do you live according to its precepts?

"Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death"

KAG,

My apologies. I mistakenly took one of the cut/paste in your posting as representing your views.

KAG,

did I misread your entries and ascribed a wrong understanding to you. Shout if I did

The foundational basis for the christian belief is the bible and the belief that the bible is the inspired word of god. I have tried hard to understand from christians which parts of the bible are inspired and which are not.

I have asked them questions about issues in the bible about which I have/had reservations. Yet no answers have been forthcoming.

If these christians are presented with the doctrine of the muslims or hindus, I am sure they would be asking the same types of questions that I have asked on this thread. I would not expect them to believe blindly in the faiths of the Buddha, of Muhammed.

Why is it that when I ask these questions of christianity I get little or no answer? This has not been a discussion about the existence/non-existence of god, much as some would like to make it.

So let us get back on topic.

KAG,

You seem to conflate evolution (biology) with plate tectonic (geology).

Any Creationists to answer these questions:


1) How come there are no fossil remains of multi-cellular life pre- 500 millions years ago?

2) How come multi-cellular life developed late in the life of the planet, during the Cambrian explosion?

3) If all life was created in one instance as asserted in Genesis, how come there were no rabbit, dinosaur etc fossils in the Cambrian

4) Do you know what stromatolites are?

5) There have been many extinction events in the history of the planet. The most devastating occurred in the end-Permian period, about 250 million years ago, in which 99% of all life (plant and aminal) was wiped out. The dinosaurs had not even appeared then. Yet many millions of years later, the planet was able to re-populate itself. How do you account for the regeneration of diversity?

Imhotep,

You may be right about the ether stuff but this was never accepted as scientific theory. If it was it was rejected as you mentioned. But that is the beauty of science; anything that does not stand the tests of evidence is rejected.

I mentioned CMBR because when scientist started looking for it, they were discourage in the light of the failure to detect ether. CMBR is similar to the idea of ether in that it occupied the entire universe. But it is not a medium. It is just the left-over from the BIG BANG.

So if you were looking for proof of the BIG BANG event CMBR is the thing.

Well, you are the believer and expert on the bible and the fact that you are not willing to defend it here speaks volumes about the sincerity and honesty of your believe. It may be that you are unsure to venture a tentative view, but it is still worth saying so.

Nobody is perfect. Nobody knows everything. We are all here to learn and not to shoot down people for their beliefs. people and learning is more important than beliefs. It is possible to criticise someone's belief respectfully without causing them personal hurt, unless they have become too intricately connected with such beliefs.

Imhotep,

Your argument is much like saying that because science has not yet found a cure for AIDS, Cancer, therefore science is deficient. Science is the contineous quest for knowledge, with no endpoint.

You are making an argument to seize all currently existing scientific endeavours because we have not yet found a solution to all of human ills and we have not yet reveal the set of ALL possible human knowledge.

I am right in the middle of reading up on the exegesis link but will need more time to digest its content.

I wonder, when you talk to your christian brothers/sisters or prospective converts, and they were to ask you similar questions, do you have an opinion of your own or would you refer then to the site?

Anyone to answer these questions:



1) How come there are no fossil remains of multi-cellular life pre- 500 millions years ago?

2) How come multi-cellular life developed late in the life of the planet, during the Cambrian explosion?

3) If all life was created in one instance as asserted in Genesis, how come there were no rabbit, dinosaur etc fossils in the Cambrian

4) Do you know what stromatolites are?

5) There have been many extinction events in the history of the planet. The most devastating occurred in the end-Permian period, about 250 million years ago, in which 99% of all life (plant and aminal) was wiped out. The dinosaurs had not even appeared then. Yet many millions of years later, the planet was able to re-populate itself. How do you account for the regeneration of diversity?

You make a good point about ether but am afraid you have failed to understand how science works. Scientist make a speculation or hypothesis and then go out and look for supporting evidence for their hypothesis. If evidence is found, the hypothesis is accepted as a scientific theory. If not it is rejected.

Even after a theory is first accepted, the entire scientific community continously evaluates it through trials, replication and if it is found wanting it is immediately modified to accommodate the new evidence or rejected. Science moves by progressive forward, backward, then forward moves.

it is interesting you mention ether, because I am right in the middle of reading a book in which I came across this for the first time. It was widely believed that such a thing existed (so at that point, it was only a scientific speculation/hypothesis). But when tests could not find evidence for it, that hypothesis was rejected.

Incidentally, cosmologist have found something called Cosmic Background Microwave Radiation(CBMR) which has all the hallmarks of ether. This is the remnants of the Big Bang explosion and measures about 3K (kelvin). In fact, some of the radio and television interference on earth is cause by this radiation.

This is a great book. "Wrinkles in Time" by George Smoot. He won the Nobel prize for physics for his work in proving the existence of CBMR.
http://www.amazon.com/Wrinkles-Time-Witness-Birth-Universe/dp/0061344443/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202415135&sr=1-1

Thanks for the link about exegesis. I shall be following that up tonite. In the meantime, could you respond to my six questions above, in your own estime opinions.

Imhotep,

Thankx for the compliment. Much appreciated.

I can very well defend my atheistic stand but it would be too long-winded and hard to maintain on a thread on a forum. I came to an atheistic worldview after many years as a christian. It was a long journey which would be hard to defend on a thread. Suffice it to say that if you are interested in looking into the defenses for atheism, you will have to do much of the work yourself. In fact I shall post some links later.

What drives me is the TRUTH and as humans we have no better tools for investigating reality than the scientific method. In the past when we relied of revelations we have gone disastrously awry as evident from things like slavery, the Inquisition, belief in a geo-centric universe etc.

Can you think of anything for which the scientific explanation, which may once have been the best explanation, has been rejected in favour of a faith explanation?

However, I am sure you can name many tens of things for which the faith explanation has been abandoned in favour of a scientific explanation.

That is the point I am making. Think HARD before you believe anything.

Imhotep,

With respect again, I am not arguing for/against the existence of god on this thread. I was making a point about interpretation of the bible. What is the correct interpretation; literal, metaphoric, allegorical etc. And how do you decide which portions to read literally or metaphorically or allegorically?

1) Should we interpret the creation story as given in Genesis literally or metaphorically in the light of the scientific evidence?

2) Should we interpret the story of the Jewish sojourn in Egypt literally given that there is little archeological evidence in its favour (I know this is an argument from silence, but this should cast doubt on its plausibility)

3) Should we interpret the Noah Flood literally?

4) Should we take the Exodus 21:17 literally?

5) Should we believe that jesus was born of a virgin?

6) Should we believe that state rulers are selected by god as given in Romans 13?



I would appreciate answers to these questions.

Imhotep,

With most respect, I submit that you too are an atheist. You are an atheist with respect to the Buddhist gods, the Hindu gods, the Muslim god(Allah), Zeus, Mithras, Thor, Dionysus, Horus, the African Stone/Tree gods etc etc.

I too am an atheist with respect to the above gods, as well as the god of the bible. When you understand why you reject the above gods, you will understand why I reject your god.

SysUser,

You seem to conflate a number of issues. There is overwhelming scientific evidence of evolution by natural selection. How else to you account for the diversity of flora and fauna on the planet. The Intelligent Design advocates like Michael Behe do not dispute this fact. The disputes lies in the mechanism that they claim started life and drives the diversification process.

Now some questions for you:

1) How come there are no fossil remains of multi-cellular life pre- 500 millions years ago?

2) How come multi-cellular life developed late in the life of the planet, during the Cambrian explosion?

3) If all life was created in one instance as asserted in Genesis, how come there were no rabbit, dinosaur etc fossils in the Cambrian

4) Do you know what stromatolites are?

5) There have been many extinction events in the history of the planet. The most devastating occurred in the end-Permian period, about 250 million years ago, in which 99% of all life (plant and aminal) was wiped out. The dinosaurs had not even appeared then. Yet many millions of years later, the planet was able to re-populate itself. How do you account for the regeneration of diversity?

Watch these videos and learn about evolution;

Watch out for the DNA evidence showing that human and some existing apes evolved from a common ape ancestor. (Chromosome No. 2 provides the evidence)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCayG4IIOEQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRsWAjvQSg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb1xFtDWSlU


If you are really interested, you would do well be reading the brilliant book by Kenneth Miller, "Finding Darwin's God"
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0061233501/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202408252&sr=8-1

The burden of proof lies with the party that asserts the positive. So if you assert that a god exist, it is your responsibility to provide proofs that such an entity exists.

The weak atheists asserts that there is no justification for a god-belief (given that theism is the belief in god). So a weak atheist simply says all existing justification do not meet the standard of proof, although there may be a god who is currently hidden from us.

The strong atheist makes a claim that given all the existing evidence, the probability for god's existence remains very weak.

Consider the following challenge;

Can you prove that there is no red-eye, green-tailed rhino sitting in the middle of your living room?

Imotep,

Basically, what I am trying to do is point out the dangers of biblical literalisms. Any form of literalism about any of the ancient text is dangerous. For instance, literal understand of the bible misleads us in the understanding the following;

Human origin and the diversity of life on the planet. Present-day humans have only walked this planet about 120 thousands years, as proven from genetic, paleontological and acheological studies. There are simply no human fossils in the Cambrian rocks whereas there's a vast amount of other early lifeforms from that period. It is easy to find out - if you live next to a good museum, walk in and ask the curators. I am fortunate to live in Manchester (UK) quite close to a museum where these fossils are on regular display.

Global flood event as narrated in Genesis. There is simply no evidence that such an event occurred

The sun standing still in order to allow Joshua to massacre his enemies. It is simply not possible for this to happen.

etc, etc


Now you may still believe in god, but I urge you to filter such believe through some form of scientific rationalism. Otherwise the whole story looks very implausible.

By the way, how did you come to know about god and his nature. Did he inform you through a vision, dream, written text, spoken word etc? How do humans know the attributes of god and do these attributes correctly define god?

Imotep,

Thanks for your questions. Please allow me to explain if you do not already know.

Science is a purely human-created enterprise whose main motivations is the uncovering and understanding of nature and the reality around us. At its core, science has no biases; it is simple interested in revealing hitherto unknown facts about reality. It makes no arguments about ethics, metaphysics, technology, morality etc.

It is simply concerned with uncovering knowledge. I am sure you would have no opposition to science.

Now the interpretation and harnessing of science is another kettle of fish. Scientific output may serve as input into technology, morality, ethics and metaphysics etc. But this is where we have to be careful how we apply scientific knowledge.

For instance, the scientific discovery that splitting the atom generates vast amounts of energy can to be put to good and bad uses. The society as a whole (mainly politicians) decides what applications is made from such scientific discoveries.

So when scientist discovered that the earth is about 4 billions years old there were not driven by a desire to discredit christianity or religion or the bible. They were simple satisfying the human desire to understand our place in the vast universe.

Today, we know that the earth is but one planet in the solar system. Our solar system is one of several billions in the Milky Way galaxy and there are billions of galaxies in the known universe, which is estimated to be about 13.7 billion years old. These are facts that have been proved with very small margins of error.

Now I cannot account for why the bible implies the earth is only about 6000 years, simply that it is derived from Jewish mythology. In the light of the most plausible explanation, don't you think it behooves you to re-look at the biblical narrative?

With due respect, you are not getting my point. I am not making an argument for atheism (although I would describe myself as having no god-belief - which is the correct definition of atheism). I am making an argument for scientific and naturalistic rationalism. I have asked several questions but you consistently avoid them. I wonder why;

Do you believe in the biblical age of the earth or the scientific age?

By the way, Hitler was a christian and he was never excommunicated from the catholic church and the Pope had his anniversary celebrated throughout Germany.

Stalin was atheistic later in life but started out as a siminarian. As wicked as he was, he was not motivated by the principles of rationalism.

What does Romans 13 say about rulers? And they all supposed to have been ordained by god? So was it gods plan to have rulers like Pol Pot, Hitler, Amin, Sadam?


Romans 13:

[b]Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.[/b]

There are essentially two faculties at opposition to each other here; faith and reason.

Faith is the belief and assertion of a position with no evidence and in fact in spite of the lack of evidence. For if there was/is evidence, then there is no need to appeal to faith. Any propositions supported by evidence is take as a fact of knowledge rather than an article of faith.

Reason is the faculty by which we deduce knowledge through the application of critical analysis using such tools as the scientific method. The fruits of reason and science are all around you today (medicine, computers, satellite communication etc) None of these would have been achieved through the application of faith.

When the clerical authorities held sway, it was widely believed that the earth was flat and that the earth was at the centre of god's creation and that man was the focus of his creation. All of these propositions were held as articles of faith. Today, through the application of reason these have now been comprehensively abandoned by all thinking men.

So you see; faith is a dangerous epistemic methodology for deriving knowledge.


According to literal biblical understanding, the earth is only about 6000 years old. Do you believe this as an article of faith or do you believe the scientific explanation of a 4 billion year old earth?

Please refer to the five points I made in my main article and come up with answers consistent with the scientific and religious worldviews and see to what extend they harmonise.

The is absolute no sense of verisimilitude in this story nor in your explanations, as contradictory as they may be. All you are left with are speculations as to what may have happened.

First, if the disciples were asleep, how could they have overheard him?

Second, it is stretch credulity to think that jesus would re-narrate incidents in his daily life with the hope that some (or was it all) would be written down 40-50 years later.

Thirdly, even you bible believer have no consistent explanation of the event. One of you said "tearing blood" was figure of speech another was it was real blood.

On the night of his arrest and crucifiction, Jesus goes off with some of his disciples in the Garden of Gathsemane to pray to his father. He leaves them off and asked them to stay awake and keep watch. He walks off into the distance and the blackness of the night to prays to his father. He spends some time all alone in emotional supplication to god. In fact, he is so distressed that he is said to shade tears of blood.

Now, given that jesus was all alone in the darkness of the night and that he himself never wrote a single word, and that his disciples were all fast asleep, how do we come to know exactly the words jesus is supposed to have said?

How do we come to know that he shade tears of blood?

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. http://newhumanist.org.uk/1637

Also see http://forum.nigeriantimesinternational.com/index.php?topic=2413.0.

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 qu-ran 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

Origin Of Christianity And Diabolical Mimicry In Anticipation
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113860.0.html

Hell Past, Hell Present; Which Do You Prefer?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113947.0.html#msg1971669

On The Prophesy Of The Virgin Birth Of Jesus, Part 2:
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113676.0.html

When And From Where Did Jesus Ascend Into Heaven
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113519.0.html

When Was Jesus Born?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113449.0.html

On The Prophesy Of The Virgin Birth Of Jesus [/b]13012dg
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113342.0.html#msg1963529

[b] Was Jesus The Prophesied Messiah? Let's Look At The Evidence.
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113303.0.html

What Are Your Chances Of Being Saved?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113283.0.html

Who Wrote The Gospels And When Were They Written?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113277.0.html#msg1962589

God Selects The Rulers Of Countries; G W Bush, Sadam, Pol Pot, Abacha, Hitler
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113186.0.html#msg1961537

Cannibalism In The Bible: Det 28:53-57, Lev 26:29, Jer 19:9, Ezek 5:10, Lam 4:10
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113181.0.html#msg1961343

What Are The Core Tenets (doctrines, Value And Virtues) Of Christainity?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-112990.0.html

Faith-healer And Evangelist, Maurice Cerullo, Investigated
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113871.0.html

What Fate For Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Constantine And Tomás De Torquemada?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-112997.0.html#msg1958617

Is The Doctrine Of Trinity Biblical? The Johannine Comma
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-112865.0.html#msg1957266

On The Authenticity Of The New Testament, Part 2
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-112848.0.html

How Is Salvation Achieved?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-112833.0.html

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#msg194111quc02137

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

What Is The Evidence That The Bible Is The Word Of God?
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113161.0.html#msg1960928

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

Please, Help Me Out With Your Knowledge Of The Bible
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-111474.0.html

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

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Are the rampant ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria the result of critical thinking?

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. http://newhumanist.org.uk/1637


By the way, if you are going to respond to the issues raised in this post, please, please, please deal with the issues it addresses viz - education, biblical literalism, superstition, dogmatism, and scientific rationalism.




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
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