The Paradox of Religion

Mathew Parris of the Times Online recently wrote an article I found both contradictory and baseless titled “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God”. In his article he essentially makes the statement that although he is an atheist, he thinks Africa needs Christianity because of the work missionaries are doing on the continent.

What kind of person prescribes one set of beliefs to himself while advocating something else for others? That would be like me saying, I support Obama but I think America needs to vote McCain. Or I choose to be a vegetarian but clearly you people need to eat meat. Where’s the personal conviction in that? Let’s be clear, there’s a difference in choosing one thing for yourself while not caring what other people choose for themselves, and choosing one thing for yourself while demanding others choose something different. That’s what I’m taking issue with here.

One’s personal philosophies (especially when it comes to religion) are reflections of universal truths and conclusions that we each reach while trying to understand the world around us. So for a person to become a Christian, a Buddhist, or even an Athiest should mean that they’ve come to some ultimate conclusion about life and how they understand the world. People either then take that belief and actively try to spread it to the people around them, or they rest easy, content that they’ve come to an understanding and they navigate life, perhaps sharing their ideas, but not trying to covert people.

I don’t understand how one person, who’s a self-proclaimed atheist, can tell someone else they need God. It makes no logical sense and it’s presumptuous at best.

Of course, what Mathew meant to say (and what he rather inarticulately and indirectly does state) is that the work missionaries are doing in Africa seems to be more effective in changing lives and thinking.

Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

I used to avoid this truth by applauding – as you can – the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It’s a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.

He goes on to describe the endurance he perceives in missionaries…

But this doesn’t fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.

First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world – a directness in their dealings with others – that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

In other words Christianity is ‘contagious’ in a way that he feels other religions aren’t….and that the fundamental aspects of Christianity (‘do unto others…’, ‘love thy brother…’, ‘thou shalt not….’ etc) are values that African needs. He observes that native African cultures and customs tend be very much self-preserving and shortsighted, where missionaries can instill insight and values that teach Africans to value life in a different way. But these values aren’t inherent to religion.I read Plato’s Republik and came to the same conclusions. For me these things are questions of logic, philosophy and critical thinking, not necessarily religion. The only variable in this case is the messenger. Do secular organizations focus on this type of value teaching? They could, but they don’t. and that’s what I’m gathering from Mathews article. He feels that the values missionaries are able to instill in rural Africans are virtuous, penetrating and lasting. Is this true? Absolutely, but it doesn’t mean that non-religious organizations can’t have the same impact.

Furthermore, replacing one form of religion with another isn’t necessarily a good thing. Most Africans are already religious in a way that would be considered by some to be tribal or pagan.

Does Africa need God versus Buddha, Allah or something else? As an atheist I’d never make that statement so I couldn’t say. What I do know is that if I choose one philosophy for myself it’s rather absurd to demand anything different from other people.

Photo by Arguez