John Henrik Clarke (born John Henry Clark); was an African-American historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies and professional institutions in academia starting in the late 1960s. Clarke was the author of numerous works which have appeared in books, newspapers, and journals. He once said: “History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be.”
Furthermore, Clarke posited; “Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people by conquerors and used as the framework to control their minds.” “Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it.” This article seeks to discourage the promotion of religious bias, given the heated debate about same faith ticket..
Religion, or an organized system of beliefs that typically relates to one’s faith and trust in a higher power, is a defining characteristic of the way many people live and make decisions. A person may base a number of life choices on religious views, but when aspects of a person’s life conflict with religious ideals, it may be difficult to reconcile the two, and doubt and distress may result. Religion and spirituality are both rooted in trying to understand the meaning of life and, in some cases, how a relationship with a higher power may influence that meaning. While religion and spirituality are similar in foundation, they are very different in practice.
Religion is an organized, community-based system of beliefs, while spirituality resides within the individual and what they personally believe. “The idea of religion and spirituality is like a rectangle versus a square. Within religion there is spirituality, but if you have spirituality, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have religion,” says someone who practices both religion and spirituality. Both religion and spirituality can have a positive impact on mental health. In some ways, they provide the same impact. For example: Both religion and spirituality can help a person tolerate stress by generating peace, purpose and forgiveness. But benefits generally vary between the two due to their different nature.
Although, both religion and politics have one common goal: that is to acquire political power and use it to fulfill their aims. However, the methods and applications in the circumstances is more-or-less turning into war situation. Consequently, we should be able to transform from a nation that could look past issues of equity, fair play and Justice, as exemplified by the leading opposition party PDP and also allow religion to remain the prerogative of individuals. We need to be very clear and honest with ourselves when we talk about issue of fairness as enunciated below:-
The presidential candidate of APC in the 2023 general elections Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu married to his only wife of over four decades of blissful relationship Sen Oluremi Tinubu, a Christian and never converted her to Islam, instead he supported and watched her rise to the position of a senior pastor in the largest church The Redeem Church under our reverend Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye. The candidate of the ruling party seems to understand what spirituality means different from religious bigotry and appears to be more tolerant.
On the other hand, Atiku Abubakar (AA), the PDP standard-bearer and the candidate of leading opposition party in the 2023 general elections, married Chief (Mrs) Titilayo Atiku Abubakar, a Christian from Osun state in the southwest of the country, converted her to a Muslim and changed her name to Amina. He also married Jennifer an Ibo lady, a staunch catholic. ‘AA’ did not only did he convert her, he even changed her name to Jemila. This is aside from the contentious issue of zoning agreement that was violated by the opposition party PDP. Curiously, the campaigners and antagonists of the same faith ticket conveniently look away from the real issue, violation of equity, fair play and Justice.
Acting bare-faced partisanship, the religious body that pride itself as the gate-keeper and defender of faith are surreptitiously pursuing an entirely self serving agenda with intense anger and unwittingly espousing the gullibility of the masses, many of who cannot properly interrogate issues. Thus, the assemblage of those who promoted the failed “Judas Iscariot” agenda, hand in glove with the elements of separatism.
#SayNoToReligiousIntolerance
Richard Odusanya is a Social Reform Crusader and the convener of AFRICA COVENANT RESCUE INITIATIVE ACRI
