In the same way, calling our individual selves Gods, instead of unifying and branding our values, ignorance and politics, would predispose us to anarchy, a society where everyone wants to disown and abandon!
The purpose of sociology is to find predictive patterns of collective human behaviour for development. That development too, is primarily collective in focus. This doesn’t mean individual behaviours, needs and objectives aren’t important. It only means, when designing a bridge for a village, the mentality of the villagers as a group, regarding bridge use, is more important than what individuals think of bridge use. If the villagers have a taboo against low bridges, the opinion of the evangelist, the National Service person or the errant palm wine tapper doesn’t matter. Those who established, supervised and enforced the taboo, politicians, matter more. Of course, anyone who controls people is a politician. Keep in mind that without controllers, AKA leaders, AKA politicians, society disintegrates!
Politics or government is not the only thing society requires to survive and develop. Also needful are education, marriage, economy and religion. What is the essence of religion to society? Marriage replenishes as the population retires and dies. Economy ensures the people ably harness their natural resources to survive and develop. Government controls and education imparts knowledge to the new and young. What about religion?
Religion provides explanation when knowledge is unavailable. Things the people don’t understand, religion cooks up a nice story about so that everyone can go about their daily chores without anxiety. Imagine a society where different members woke up wondering why water drops from the sky, why it sometimes get dark in daytime, why hot asphalt oozes from the earth or why some go mad. Religion gives them satisfactory stories about it so that they can focus on their farm, their market and marriage. “God does it”. Saying that it’s natural is no explanation. Saying that you yourself are God means you can offer comprehensive explanation. No one understands everything. Allowing everyone to create their own different stories too will only lead to confusion.
No matter how a leader is chosen, some will disagree. Some may disagree with the individual chosen, the process or the execution of the accepted process. Some may say, “As for this man, even if everyone agrees, I won’t recognize him as my leader.” Some may say, “I don’t agree to the process by which he is chosen.” Whether the process is democracy, monarchy or communism, etc, some will disagree. So after the choice is made, the biggest, supreme, Almighty, unchallengeable huhudious power is brought in to back the new ruler. That power condemns you to death if you disagree. So everyone agrees and we move on.
Saying one has natural ability will not be agreeable to all. Saying you are God and that every individual is God doesn’t tell who should lead. This is why society needs one God, or at the very least, a common understanding of what God is. For example, in Ghana, we all agree what “chop bar” is. So when I say I’m going to “chop bar” or building a chop bar for my spouse, everyone knows what. It’s not like in one context, chop bar means eating, another means rolling on the floor, yet another means surrendering all the money on you and another, cutting off one’s hand. Yet if you allow everyone to be their own God, that’s what you get. Different people feel differently, think differently and may act on their perceptions differently. If after choosing the leader, some Gods agree while some don’t, where does that leave the unity of the society?
Religion is also for the entrenchment of the vital rules of the society. Those laws are so essential to the survival and development of the society that they cannot be allowed to be questioned, challenged or overturned. This almost always include the water source, the vegetation and the sanctity of life. Others like owing, insulting or lateness can be left to common law. Can you imagine a society where everyone is God unto himself, deciding which are the most important laws and which to abide or trivialize?
These values above are too important to be left ordinary or scattered. This is why we tie them all together in one word, God. “Imagine a person who says I don’t know any family. All I know is my father, my wife, my children, my siblings, my uncle, grandmother, grandfather, cousins, grandchildren and my uncles’ wives’ children. What’s that? Can’t we tie all that into “family”? How about another who says “I don’t have family. All I have is nature because all these individuals are produced naturally” ? Isn’t he replacing “family” with another word ? Another word which could easily mean something else?
Either or both of these people may have witnessed or experienced family discord, strife or even bloodbath in the family and feel there has to be a great change from the status quo. But reformation doesn’t always need new names, especially when the new name is potentially confusing. The new name should be purposeful. When Francis Kofi Mbeah returned to Ghana to do politics, he acknowledged the dominance of Akans and changed his name to Kwame Nkrumah (based on the day he was born and sibling position) in order to gain the trust and acceptance of Akans. It worked fine but it helped bring his end too. Rawlings too married into Ashanti and famously named his daughter, Yaa Asantewaa. Both helped catapult him to leadership and fame. Eventually, his Akan wife let Akuffo Addo take him away. Mansa Musah of Ancient Mali empire turned Moslems to win the support and popularity of his people. Islam took him on the extravagant pilgrimage that wasted his wealth and attracted the attention of foreign powers to destroy his empire. Malcolm X became popular on the back of Islam. His disagreement with the Nation of Islam provided a decoy for his attackers to assassinate him. There are more less spectacular examples.
So when people say “Let’s revere black ancestors, African rivers and forests, people and values and call it Christianity, I know that one day too soon, the original brand owners will come to take over, resetting us back to Rome against ourselves again. It’s called revival. When Arabs copied monotheism and the divinity of Jesus, the only thing that saved them when Crusaders came, was their distinctive brand, Islam. If they had called theirs Christianity, many of their own would have helped the invaders and today, Mecca and Arabic would be nothing special. Palestine too would have more easily been lost.
Imagine today Israel starts a war with Ghana. Many Ghanaians would actually fight for Israel both openly and secretly. This is true whether the war is cold or hot. In fact, if an Israeli Rabbi or a Vatican cardinal instructed any of our leaders on something, chances are, our leaders will oblige without much recourse to reason or consultation. Needless to say, not all these edicts favour Ghana. Sometimes, the idea is mooted by the local Ghanaian cell in favour of Israel.
It’s the same with Arabia. Ghanaians are wooed, contracted and sold into slavery by opinion leaders and influencers in Ghana today. Maidens are trick sold into domestic servitude without freedom to opt out or freedom to leave unless their Arab slave masters allow it. This indentured slavery is ongoing today! Yet there are Ghanaians who will fight you just for raising the topic. These Ghanaians believe the Arabs are right even before they hear the details. For those who say Islam is not Arab, ask them why then Moslems have to pray facing Arabia, why Moslems have to pray in Arabic, why Moslems have to visit Mecca when monied, why Arabs have to see the moon before the commencement of Ramadan and why topmost Islamic scholars have to be Arabs.
Have you wondered why it’s neither in the.mainstream media nor on the agenda of our leaders? On the contrary, our leaders themselves seek validation from Utah, England, Mecca, Israel and Rome. It’s not uncommon to hear our leaders proudly quoting the values of these foreign societies for direction in government. When woke, we still shun ours so much that we’d rather call it nature or we ourselves Gods, than admitting the God of our ancestors into our society and our lives. In the same way, calling our individual selves Gods, instead of unifying and branding our values, ignorance and politics, would predispose us to anarchy, a society where everyone wants to disown and abandon!
Source: Mark McStill
