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For Paul the ‘pneumatic’ or spiritual person is one whose whole being and life are ordered, led and influenced by the spirit of God, according to W.H PrincipeC.S.B in the New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality. Christian spirituality is also the response of the Christian to the divine call of the church – the body of Christ. Here we are talking of the life of the spirit of Christ, which transcends the chaotic propensity of the carnal mind.
Christian spirituality extends from the Medieval period through the Reformation period to the present day. Thus, apart from the Medieval and Reformation spiritualities, other spiritualities have developed in Christianity in Nigeria; different Christian spiritualities have emerged in the country. In his article, “Varieties of Christian Spirituality in Nigeria,” Dr. E.A. Offiong gives the variety of spirituality to include “….Christian Missionary Spirituality, Orthodox Mission Spirituality, Aludura Spirituality as well as the Pentecostal Spirituality.”
Without going too deep into the above, it is imperative to assert here that misunderstanding of the term ‘spirituality’ has made many to disregard it in their voyage to materialism. Even most modern priests are caught in the web of sensuality and materialism. Modern spiritual seekers must take over the office of priesthood and must, therefore, visit the paradigm sites of spirituality with ultra sensitive spiritual-measuring apparatus in order to rediscover the unity of spirituality in Christianity.
In world history, the 20th century will be remembered for all the religious insurrections, rascalism and unrests it witnessed. In every continent of theworld, there is a trouble spot rooted in religious intolerance. Europe has her own share of religious conflicts. In India, religious conflict is a perennial question and has led to the death of one of her Prime Ministers, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. In the Middle East, the war going on between the Israelis and Palestinians could be blamed on the Bible and the Koran and not on God. It would be recalled that President Anwar Sadat was killed by religious fanatics for his romance with the people of Israel.
Religious conflicts in Nigeria today have not been as serious as the ones witnessed inIndia and the Middle East. However, if not checked, they could assume a dimension comparable to the Middle East. As if he was defining religion, Paul Tillich says that “the presence of the demand of ultimacy in the structure of our existence is the basis of religious experience.” According to Hegel, “the object of religion as well as of philosophy is eternal truth in its objectivity, God and nothing but God, and the explication of God.” Karl Marx, ninetieth century German philosopher, was suspicious of religion and viewed it as the instrument of oppression and exploitation… “the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions.”
For convenience sake, let me briefly examine the term “Nation.” Chambers Dictionary defines nation as “a body of people marked off by common descent, language, culture or historical tradition…” In other words, a nation should have a common culture. However, it is obvious that it is within the structure of culture that one locate religion, ironically, a nation like Nigeria does not have a common culture or common religion. It does not have a common language either. Westernism and, for that matter, Arabism and Imperialism used Christianity and Islam as fronts in acculturating Africa. That is why we are talking about the need for peaceful co-existence and tolerance among religions. Otherwise, the basis of Nigerian unity is her traditional values, religions and cultures.
In any case, religion and ideology are parts of a wider culture of which politics, economics, science, arts and law are parts too. All these culture components must interact harmoniously to make a consistent whole, otherwise known as nationhood. However, in the Nigerian situation, not only that the indigenous religions, Islam and Christianity do not understand each other, the politics, economics, science, arts and law are Westernized. Islam and Christianity are in cut-throat competition for domination in national affairs. Consequently, the legacy of our forebears, the indigenous religions, values of culture, are relegated to the background.
What I am saying in effect is that religion and ideology (economics and politics) should be part of a culture consistent within itself. But in the Nigerian case, not only are the foreign religions fighting each other like political parties, the indigenous religion is hardly considered on important issues like foreign policies and so on. In what looked like a worsening of the national cultural crisis, the dominant ideology is the ideology of get-rich-quick and selfishness.
In Nigeria, political parties and social organizations are often organized along the line of one religion or another. Christianity and Islam have unduly influenced the course of political and social events. Whenever, for example, the choice of presidential or governorship candidate is to be made in any political party, petty-minded and selfish people are concerned first and foremost with the religion the candidate professes. Religion as a disintegrating force is being taught and propagated with fanaticism and dogmatism. Adherents of some of these religious sects are being so brainwashed with various doses of dogmas and false ideas about other religions that they become fanatical and rascally and could go to any length to maim and harm members of other religions.
In Nigeria, members of every religious sect claim to be the only righteous people on earth and to have the monopoly of the knowledge of God. Paradoxically, the Nigerian indigenous religion is regarded by the religions as having little or no knowledge of God. According to Bertrand Russell, the Jews developed these ideas of righteousness and knowledge of God during their captivity as a reaction against the attemptto absorb the Jews into alien population. To the Hebrew prophets, what is righteous is what is approved by them and Yahweh. In the Bible, a new prophet could claim that his revelation was more reliable and authentic than those of his predecessors. These attitudes of the prophets have influenced Protestantism and Pentecostalism today. Today, these two sects have split into innumerable denominations in order to weaken one another.
In medieval times, from the age of Constantine to the end of the 17th Century, the persecution of Christians by Christians and by Roman emperors was partly due to the fear, conceit and hatred taught in religions. Prophet Muhammad was quoted as saying during his farewell pilgrimage, “ye men harken unto my words and take ye them to heart? Know ye that every Muslim is a brother to every other Muslim, and that ye are now one brotherhood.” If Muhammad is quoted rightly, he is saying that every Muslim is a brother to other Muslims and not to non-Muslim. I find it very difficult to believe that Muhammad could have meant this. However, some Muslims today are behaving as if only Muslims are their brothers and sisters. Christians too have this kind of attitude. But I think that the ancient Greek philosophy, the stoic doctrine ofuniversal brotherhood is applicable to Muslims, Christians, traditional and soon.
