Arts/Literary
Absurdities In The Garb Of Beliefs
BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: Belief: A Trail Of Blood
(Random Reflections
Volume Two)
Author: Ikechukwu Nwanze
Pages: 496
Publisher: Renaissance
Communications Ltd
Reviewer: Boye Salau
Ignorance, according to Molly Ivins, is the root of all evil. And the legendary Martin Lurther King Jnr. also said “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”.
Regrettably, ignorance constitutes the quintessential elements of livelihood in our society. While ignorance and follies in the olden days could be attributed to backwardness, primitiveness, paganism and barbarism, ignorance in the modern world is rooted in religious beliefs, intolerance, extremism and destructive fundamentalism.
In the medieval ages for instance, ritual murder was a daily routine in many parts of the world. Thousands of innocent people were killed to make sacrifices, with the belief that by so doing they would appease the gods who they believed, were capable of providing them wealth, power, good health and long life.
Even in today’s world of civilisation, high technology and religious awareness, certain irrational, obnoxious and mysterious beliefs, myths, superstitutions, traditional cosmology and foolish bravado leading to needless deaths still dominate some societies.
For instance, every failure, misfortune in African society is attributed to witchcraft. Whenever a man dies a sudden death, witches or enemies are blamed for it. Whenever business fails, it is attributed to witchcraft. Whenever car accident occurs, accusing fingers are pointed at witches, even when it is obvious that the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol.
In other words, witchcraft is made a convenient scapegoat for every natural and man-made disaster and misfortune.
These are some of the beliefs and traditions Ikechukwu Nwanze captures with a demur in the Volume Two of his Random Reflections which he titled Belief: A Trail of Blood.
Nwanze makes argument that most of these atrocious beliefs and traditions are rooted in human ignorance and follies. He justifies this through historical analysis supported with dates, employment of quotable quotes of great writers and authors like Martin Lurther King Jnr., James Michener, Molly Ivins etc, and by making references to Biblical verses and some mysterious happenings around the world.
He particularly devotes a whole chapter to some of these beliefs, and another chapter to some ancient practices and traditions, some of them still subsist till today, such as voodoism, witchcraft, reincarnation, ritual murders, supernaturalism and other mysterious happenings that are commonly found among the natives of West Indies, South America and ultimately among Africans.
Nwanze gives an historical overview of some absurd and dangerous beliefs and traditions from the medieval Europe to modern Africa and how these beliefs and myths have claimed millions of lives.
He writes, “Today, the world suffers the consequences of the actions of some groups that believe that if they wear vests laden with bombs, and blow themselves up along with numerous innocent people, they would be doing God a huge favour and earn His commendation and reward in heaven with multiple virgins and other indulgences in the eternal paradise of heavenly comfort…”
He argues categorically that these atrocious and stupid beliefs and fantasies are founded on sheer ignorance.
Although, Nwanze believes it is what a man professes that comes to pass, as in the case of the Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi whose judicial victory at the Supreme Court, he says, was attributed to his avowed and professed belief, faith and conviction that “I prayed myself to this office… I prayed and prayed and I believed that God will make me the Governor”, he says it is wrong and foolish for people to subject themselves to the beliefs of other people without subjecting such beliefs to questioning, examination, investigation, scrutiny and analysis.
He states, “Yet, some of us carry on with our inherited beliefs without questioning, without examination, without scrutiny, without investigation, without analysis.Our faith in our religion is therefore superficial and lacks depth and is absolutely dependent upon what the teacher of the religion told us. We fail to realise that, had it been intended for us to be totally dependent on what we are told, the holy books would not have been necessary. There would not have been need for the mind in the first place. We were given a mind and the capacity to think, to make choices, so we can analyse things independently. The holy books enjoin us to be critical in things we hear and to subject what we are told to examination, to be sure that the teacher is following the doctrine as the scriptures provided”.
Nwanze gives example of the Guyana tragedy in which “a preacher in the USA was able to convince his followers that if they all took poison and die, they would all go to heaven and live with God in eternal paradise. His followers believed him and they all took poison and died in their numbers”.
He also gives examples of how many people choose their respective denominations just because they are either infatuated by the eloquence and oratorical prowess of their Pastors, or admire the beauty and dressing style of their Pastors.
In a nutshell, Nwanze’s book reflects on human follies and how many people have taken absurdity to a high level in their beliefs, especially in Africa.
Nwanze is indeed right. If our ancestors could be forgiven for doing all what they did in ignorance, in this so-called modern times of civilisation when we brag about accomplishments in science and technology, and when we preach religious tolerance and appear to have divine endorsement, what excuse do we supply for all the oppressive, repressive and coercive tendencies that characterise our existence that go with our beliefs?
The way out of these erroneous beliefs and absurd perceptions, according to Nwanze, is to give room to education and enlightenment, which would provide us the ability to examine, question and scrutinise our beliefs.
He states, “To continue to live in the error of our absurd perceptions is to accept we are less than human”. After all, he continues, “no one should see or be told of fire and dip their (his) hand(s) in it”.
Nwanze’s book might be considered as a confrontational work against some beliefs and traditions, it is a well-researched and must-read piece that should be seen as a wake-up call to all our religious leaders and their followers in Africa, some of who have taken absurdity to a high and noble level in their beliefs.
It also serves as a wake-up call forAfrican nations to retrace their steps from the belief systems that are not only injurious to natural justice, but also retard African progress and development.
The book is indeed a great improvement on its volume one. However, the voluminous pages of the book might be in bad taste to impatient readers, while lack of references to other religious books apart from the Bible makes Nwanze’s argument narrow and religious biased, and may make the book less appealing to adherents of other religions.
It is the idea of God that family should exit. Children form part of the family. God loves family so much that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph.
Everyone’s family is good and important. Children should not look down on their family whether they are rich or poor.
Children should respect and honour their family and foster love among their siblings. They should work together and make peace in the family. They should always stand in the gap. It is good for family members to carry all along since everyone may not be doing well.
The Christianity that children learn is practised in family. Faith-based organisations do a great job in moulding children’s character. Those are the behaviours that children exhibit towards siblings in family.
Every child born in a family is there for a purpose. A baby born into a family is supplying something. It may be joy, wealth and so on. Everyone is important in a family.
Adolescents who have graduated from school but may not be contributing financially can do one or two things at home. You can engage in preparing meals at home while parents are away for a job or business. Contributing in house chores will go a long way to relieve parents of stress after a day’s job.
What do you contribute to your family, especially during holidays both in nuclear and extended family?
The family you were born is constant but friends are temporary. You can decide not to continue in friendship but you cannot cut off your family. No matter how bad you think your family is and you decide to leave home, you must surely return. Your friends can harbour you for a while.
The child’s first identity comes from the family. What the child learns first comes from the family.
Family is the centre of love and care. People have started playing down on marriage because of neglect on basics of family. Marriage starts today and and the next few months, it is threatened. Respect for family plays a crucial role in marriage.
No child grows without parental control and influence. If a child refuses to grow without taking instructions from parents, he may grow up being wild. There are consequences when children do not obey their parents. There are those who want to be rebellious against their parents. They should know that their length of days are tied to their parents.
Your bioligical parents know you more than every other person. There is the wisdom and knowledge your parents have that you do not so it is proper to listen to them before choosing carriers both in academics and job. A young man or woman can choose who to get married to, but a greater role in the choice of who to marry and the marriage proper comes from the parents.
They know what is best for you. No matter how modern trends will influence you and prove it wrong, parent is the key. No one can love you more than your parents because they are your blood.
A lot of parents have been traumatised due to the fact that children they nurtured and trained turned their back on them at older age. Children should not abandon their parents for any reason.
As you grow up, situations may arise in marriage when you decide it is over with your spouse, but no matter the level of provocation with your parents, they will not despise you. Parents will also play a role in that regard. Problem arises in every family but how it is handled matters a lot.
Some children honour their mentors more than their parents. Although there are parents who shy away from their responsibilities. It is important that parents take full responsibility of their children. You cannot bring a child to the planet earth and refuse to perform roles as a parent. But parents may not quantify what they spent from childhood to adolescence. That is a blessing children cannot get from another person.
There are people who have attributed their failure in life to the fact that their parents, especially mothers are witchcraft. It is wrong to feel that your mother is instrumental to your failure in life. The only way to success is hardwork.
Let money not determine the level of love for your parents. Wherever a child goes, family is constant.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
Naturally, when a child is born, it is the role of the father and mother to decide a suitable name for the child. The husband and wife normally discuss and suggest the English or vernacular name of the baby.
But sometimes, when a baby comes into a family, grandparents hearts are usually filled with joy to the extent that they want to answer present, by giving their own names not minding the fact that the biological parents have given theirs.
This happens mostly when the marriage is an inter-tribal one. It also happens even in intra-tribal marriage. Grandparents want equal representation as far as naming a child is concerned. They also have special names as a result of circumstances surrounding the birth of the child.
This is still happening till date.
A lot of people have viewed this in different ways but there is nothing wrong about it. The most important thing is that the child bears as many names as he or she can. But one thing is certain, the child must bear one name in school.
Should circumstance determine a child’s name?
Women who are more emotional are always eager to name their children considering the circumstances surrounding the child’s conception and arrival.
The issue of grandparents naming a child comes up mostly when it is the first of the family.
In naming children by some parents in the olden days, they named their children according to the days in the week in which they were born, like Sunday, Monday, Friday and so on.
You may be shocked to hear that whether a child is given 10 names by parents or grandparents, when he or she grows up, will decide to change. There are several cases where some persons decided to change especially when they feel that the names given by their parents and grandparents do not give them joy. If they are not doing well in life, they may claim that their misfortune is caused by the name their parents.
Competition among children in schools be it primary, (kindergarten) and secondary come in different forms. It can be Mathematics , debate, quiz, spelling bee,competition, from organisations like Cowbell, multi-national companies, faith-based organisations among others.
They are organised mostly for selected intelligent ones, the best among their peers to represent a class, school or group. Prizes are normally set aside for the best as well as consolation prizes for runners-up at the end of each session.
The question is, are children willing to accept defeat when they fail? As parents, guardians, can you encourage your children or wards to accept defeat instead of shouting and comparing them with others who may be performing better either in schools or outside.
Some parents may be blaming their children for not doing well in competitions. They will like to tell their children if others who may perform better have ten heads. Those group of parents blame their children for every failure.
For your children to do better in competition, the parents too must have emotional intelligence. When you continue to blame your children for failure, how intelligent are you?
Some parents always want their children to be in the 1st position and unhappy whenever they secure 2nd position. There were instances where children smashed their trophies because they never got the position they wanted to get and their parents supported them.
Children should be able to accept it whether they win or not. They should be encouraged for every performance. Discourage the issue of “shame, shame, shame, shame”.
A parent says she always tells her children to win even if they will fail. Always give them the mentality that they can win. Children should be given the impression that they can win prizes and laurels in every competition.
Parents should not isolate their children from others in the neighbourhood. Allow them to play with others. Don’t threaten your children that you may not pay their schools fees if they fail. Comparing them with others may encourage or discourage them.
Coming first or getting award as a first class student from the university sometimes does not mean that the person is the best. And if the child does not merit any award in the lower classes, does not mean that he can not merit first class also.
It should be noted that coming first in academic competition may not really mean that the competitor will be the best at work place or business.
Accepting defeat is a way to move higher. Even if a child who competed with others did not come first, there are consolation prizes for runners-up. When you advise the child to accept defeat, you are encouraging her to win in next competition.
Remember all children cannot be on the same knowledge level Their learning abilities defer.
Eunice Choko-Kayode