In the last post I said the key to solving the problems of West Africa is that, “The populations and societies of West Africa must commit to and practice righteousness”. I questioned, “Ask yourself, why is West Africa so destitute of love for each other when so many people claim to follow this religion or that religion?”.

Dear reader, the answer to the question relates to all Christians, all Moslems, all Jews and all other religious peoples and non religious peoples. The fact is that most if not all religions claim that they follow righteousness but if this is so why are all the religions broken into various factions, doctrines and ideas with some proponents even horrifically maiming and killing others, even members of their own religion! Surely there is only one form of righteousness and not many. Surely all religions and people desiring to be righteous should have much in common.

Unfortunately so many religious proponents blindly deviate into dastardly and delinquent deeds with the idea of earning their way into heaven or some such place. Some even think their reward is seventy two eternal virgins.

Others think they will be raptured away from trouble as they fly up into the air to meet Jesus, and others fear or long for being reincarnated into an ant or something similar. There are others who worship mushrooms and others who worship lumps of wood and stone. It is amazing what some people will do to get virgins, or fly or to become an ant or to live in mushroom heaven or to be favoured by stone or wood!

Now here is the hard fact of the matter, the one that will attract the screams and bellowing from the religious sector and all those who make money out of pretending to be men and women of God!

Start bellowing because here it is:

Religion is the greatest hindrance to knowing God than anything else!

If this statement isn’t true, why is Africa in such a mess, in fact why is the world in such a mess when so many of its people are proponents of one religion or another where most claim that their religion is the correct one representing God. When so many pastors, imams, preachers, evangelists, prophets, spiritualists and others are praying to their various God /gods why aren’t things different, why aren’t they better than what they are? Some will say there is no God. This is a lie. There is a God, the problem is not with God. It is with man and all his manipulated and manufactured ideas, doctrines, lies and machinations.

If you are already screaming and bellowing, prepare for the next statement. The statement is not mine. It was written by King Leopold II of Belgium to Colonial Missionaries in 1883. You can find it at

http://allafrica.com/stories/200510060035.html or

http://www.fafich.ufmg.br/~luarnaut/Letter%20Leopold%20II%20to%20Colonial%20Missionaries.pdf

“Reverends, Fathers and Dear Compatriots: The task that is given to fulfil is very delicate and requires much tact. You will go certainly to evangelize, but your evangelization must inspire above all Belgium interests. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. They speak and submit to a Mungu, one Nzambi, one Nzakomba, and what else I don’t know. They know that to kill, to sleep with someone else’s wife, to lie and to insult is bad. Have courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. Your essential role is to facilitate the task of administrators and industrials, which means you will go to interpret the gospel in the way it will be the best to protect your interests in that part of the world. For these things, you have to keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty in their underground. To avoid that, they get interested in it, and make you murderous competition and dream one day to overthrow you. Your knowledge of the gospel will allow you to find texts ordering, and encouraging your followers to love poverty, like “Happier are the poor because they will inherit the heaven” and, “It’s very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” You have to detach from them and make them disrespect everything which gives courage to affront us”.

Christianity came to Africa under very dubious circumstances and for equally dubious reasons, and so did Islam.

In the next post we will look at how Islam came to be in Africa. We will also take a closer look at righteousness according to the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

In the meantime, think well and ask yourself: What is Righteousness? Search deep within yourself and ask what does righteousness mean to me? Surely the answer is akin to doing the right thing but to you what is the right thing?