Before the white man and people from the east brought their own forms of religion to Africa and Ghana, Africans in their own communities had their own forms of worship and religion.
The form of worship changed from community to community, however, they were heavily influenced by the history of the people and the kind of traditions they held dear.
African religious practice is not a homogenous form of religion, however, it was soon regarded as negative and pagan when Christianity and Islamic religion came to our shores.
Since then, most Africans have subscribed to the Christian and Islamic way of organized religion.
While most people find solace knowing that they belong to a church or a mosque there are an increasing number of Africans who don’t buy into that idealogy.
More so when there seems to be systematic failures in some of these churches and mosques.
Like a mega church not treating its congregation and junior pastors right, even when their treatment of these people go against the same Bible they swear to.
When the church or the mosque becomes a perking order favoring the rich and powerful and silences any form of dissent.
Where founders of mega churches build considerable wealth from the contributions of members who can barely afford a three squared meal.
All of these add to the disenchantment of organized religion.
However, to help us understand these issues from the point of view of students, four students from universities located across the country engaged in a conversation with Kuulpeeps.com.
The views they outlined are quite eye opening…
Why do you have to join a certain group of people before you can find solace?
What the churches are doing is more like the placebo effect.
Frank, UENR
The ability and the power for self-empowerment are already in us.
The church only wakes it up then you’d become indebted to the church or religion making you feel you’d have to rely on them for your happiness or something
The fact you’d have to join a group of people or have a specific set of beliefs to have ” the correct way of life ” seems weird for me.
Mathias, UCC
However, not all the students shared similar feelings about the religion.
Going to church gives people purpose to live, stops them from being suicidal. gets a sense of community… fight the witches in their family.
Gloria, GIJ
But also looking at the question of the afterlife, why would one still not be religious? Either Christian, Muslim or whatever religion you (could) belong to?
Mike, Legon
Conversations about the religion and the part it plays in our daily lives will continue for a long time.
It is, however, safe to note that a number of young people are increasingly not buying into the concept of belonging to a religion when they can form different kinds of societies to gain similar community experience.
Already, we have a number of them shunning the supposed “moral” codes propagated by these religious institutions that go against human rights, especially when these religious institutions themselves sometimes hypocritically fail to live by.
Source: Kuulpeeps.com
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