this battle will be one of grace: which is the better way

hello world, this got sent out on a hoodoo list
by papa gede nibo bey lakwa

in the assault on atr by the religions of the desert
i tend to think of christanity as less coercive than islam

but apparently this is not the case
they are both aggressor religions that try to impose

their exclusivity on others
we saw this same process in haiti and elsewhere

atr is under assault all over the world, including africa

got two dangers here, the aggressive proselytizing
costing us believers

and our own archaic practices costing us believers

christanity and islam both have proven to be more illuminated
traditions when in conflict with atr in traditional societies

i suspect some folk are going to object to that statement
but its been a factor in our loss of traditional ground in africa

islam and christanity both been pushing us back

the criteria of success for a good system is that its
believers live a good life

one full of meaning and significance, one of power
over self and adversity

and so forth along these lines
african traditional religion has failed this critical test

whereever in the world that you have blackfolk living
a traditional life they are behind in all indicators of social well being

they are sicker, weaker, poorer than other folk
and eager to find another way that will give them a better life

so when islam and christanity come hunting souls
they find atr to be fertile pickings

hopefully we can repel their aggressive search for converts
but our archaic and outdated practices will also have to be reconsidered

all religions, all traditions, have to evolve
there is this constant tension between tradition and evolution

this constant need to decide what must be kept
and what must be left behind

this constant quest
for illumination

we must become an illuminated tradition
competitive in the spiritual marketplace

we must become the illuminated tradition
of the 21st century

with a system designed for the 21st century
mind and sensibility

for in the final analysis this battle will be one of grace
which is the better way

all my love
rdoc

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  Christianity vs. the old gods of Nigeria

by Dulue Mbachu, Associated Press Writer, Tues, Sept 4, 1:19 pm et

 

Born to a family of traditional priests, Ibe Nwigwe converted to Christianity as a boy. Under the sway of born-again fervor as a man, he gathered the paraphernalia of ancestral worship — a centuries-old stool, a metal staff with a wooden handle and the carved figure of a god — and burned them as his pastor watched.

 

"I had experienced a series of misfortunes and my pastor told me it was because I had not completely broken the covenant with my ancestral idols," the 52-year-old Nwigwe said of the bonfire three years ago. "Now that I have done that, I hope I will be truly liberated."

 

Generations ago, European colonists and Christian missionaries looted Africa's ancient treasures. Now, Pentecostal Christian evangelists — most of them Africans — are helping wipe out remaining traces of how Africans once worked, played and prayed.

 

As poverty deepened in Nigeria from the mid-1980s, Pentecostal Christian church membership surged. The new faithful found comfort in preachers like evangelist Uma Ukpai who promised material success was next to godliness. He has boasted of overseeing the destruction of more than 100 shrines in one district in December 2005 alone.

 

Achina is typical of towns and villages in the ethnic Igbo-dominated Christian belt of southeastern Nigeria where this new Christian fundamentalism is evident. The old gods are being linked to the devil, and preachers are urging not only their rejection, but their destruction.

 

The Ezeokolo, the main shrine of Achina — a community of mainly farmers and traders in Nigeria's rain forest belt — has been repeatedly looted of its carved god figures. While no one has been caught, suspects range from people acting on Christian impulses to treasure thieves.

 

Recently, a village civic association volunteered to build a house to keep burglars away from a giant wooden gong decorated with carved male, female and snake figures. The gong in the market square is reputed to be more than 400 years old, and in decades past was sounded in times of emergency.

 

"We feared it may be stolen or destroyed like so many of our traditional cultural symbols," said Chuma Ezenwa, a Lagos-based lawyer.

 

But the move to protect a communal symbol has not changed the minds of others.

 

Ikechukwu Nzekwe, a 48-year-old farmer who belongs to a traditional masquerade cult, rues the action of his younger brother, a born-again Christian who destroyed the family's masquerade costume, including pieces dating back seven generations.

 

The masquerade cult was once part theater, appearing at festivals to perform songs and dances, and part traditional police — its members helped enforce mores and customs. Now its role is largely restricted to theater, including performances and races by men in costumes depicting ancestral spirits.

 

Ukpai, the evangelist, tells followers the artifacts bear "curses and covenants" linked to the gods they represent.

 

"Since the curses and covenants do not automatically disappear when we repent, Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai is a man called by God for the total liberation of mankind," he says on his Web site, claiming to have the spiritual backing of Jesus to break the curses.

 

Efforts to speak to Ukpai were unsuccessful, and e-mails to his office asking for an interview received no reply.

 

Early missionaries to Nigeria condemned most traditional practices as pagan. Roman Catholics and Anglicans later came to terms with most practices, even incorporating some traditional dances into church liturgy. But there was no room for local gods once their erstwhile worshippers became Christians.

 

Similarly, Muslim preachers in Nigeria's predominantly Islamic north forbade interaction with figures dedicated to local idols, although many cultural dances featuring traditional masks are still tolerated.

 

Most converts are in constant tension over how much of the old beliefs can be incorporated into their new faith, said Isidore Uzoatu, a specialist in the history of Christianity in Africa affiliated with Nnamdi Azikiwe University in southeastern Nigeria.

  "Where the older Catholic and Anglican denominations are more tolerant, the Pentecostals reflect more strictly the idea of a jealous God that would brook no rival," said Uzoatu. The changing attitudes have not escaped the attention of art dealers.   "This work you see here is from a shrine. It was brought to me by one woman who said her pastor had asked her to get rid of it," said Wahid Mumuni, a dealer at Ikoyi Hotel in Lagos, gesturing toward a carving. Mumuni said the price was the equivalent of $1,500 and he expected a European visitor to take it away soon.   The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, which is responsible for protecting the country's cultural antiquities, has responded with a sensitization campaign.

"We are ... telling the Christians that they can't detach themselves from their past, that there is a beginning to their history," said Omotosho Eluyemi, a senior commission official. The commission urges those who do not want to keep sacred objects to take them to local chiefs. It also seeks stricter enforcement of the law prohibiting export of artifacts. Okwy Achor, an archaeologist, fears the government's response has been weak compared to the fervor of the evangelists.   Achina is part of the region where famed Igbo-Ukwu bronzes were discovered in a private compound in 1958. Older and more sophisticated than the better-known Benin and Ife bronzes, the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes date to between the 8th and 10th centuries and provide proof that a unique form of metallurgy evolved in Nigeria. While Achina had few Christians 60 years ago, they now constitute more than 95 percent, says Emmanuel Eze, a retired teacher.

   

"There is hardly anyone around these days to speak up for tradition," said Eze.

Comments

[snake 2G]

peace rickydoc,
I recently met a woman from Jos (Nigeria) here in Brooklyn, my home town.
I told her I had begun the process of planning a trip to Igboland
hopefully in 2008- 2009 at the latest
She told me to go as soon as possible because, as she said
"the Igbo are losing their way"
I see she did not misspeak (shaking my head)
by the way
that artifact will eventually probably be worth millions of dollars
It needed to stay home

one
snake2G

[omi]

hm.

i wonder how much of that "better life" is coming from outside africa (e.g., u.s. and arab financed faith-based groups).

i wonder why so many born in the diaspora are discovering, as you put it, "a good life, one full of meaning and significance, one of power over self and adversity" in african spirituality across the diaspora.

it seems to me that christianity/islam works for the continental folks because they need the material comforts, while we're called TO them because we're more in need of the (in my opinion more fully developed and collectively compatible) spiritual edification.

i could go on for days on that notion of "breaking curses" and such, but i think i'll link this post on my blog and do a follow-up there.

as always, peace & blessings to you & yours.

[snake 2G]

peace rickydoc,

I think it's important to remember there's still a war going on
-a crusade -a jihad .
And that during a war the collaborators always live good.

in 50, 100 or 200 years when western science beings to "discover" how African Spiritual Science works...
and use it to save this sick planet of ours (one that's been sickened by the very people struggling to destroy tradtional wisdom)
the people who owned it will have lost it.
Then they will have to buy it from Pfizers or whatever western corporation hold the patent to save themselves from an illness they didn't cause and in fact were immune to.

one

[omi]

yes, yes, YES.

precisely.