Is it true that when people are not far up on the ladder of development, one way the find solace for their circumstances is to turn to religion? What I mean in simpler terms is can it be true that poverty is what drives people closer to religion? Whatever the case maybe or the argument for and against the answer to this question, it is obvious that the more dire your situation in life, the more you seem to recognize the role God plays in your existence. This is not saying that the rich have no tending towards God, but in terms of the ratio, poor people are more likely to call on God than the rich. Personally I can assert that the richer you become, the more of a small role God take in your life because of the many concerns that arise because of your wealth. Also to further this point, collectively we see that richer nations have less recognition of the religion factor than in poorer countries, which even impregnate their culture and value with religious seeds to even extreme levels.
In such countries where religion is held in very high regard, we see and hear people associate moral standing in society with a substantiated commitment to the divine, and an outward show of fervency in the things of the supernatural. In Nigeria for instance, in order to give credence to the decency of a man we hear statements like “he is a deeply religious figure”. Religion is so woven into the fabric of society that it is impossible to find a person who is not conversant with the several religious anecdotes that form the basis for morality in society. ‘Better’ still, when you walk through the streets of any city in Nigeria you will surely conclude that these people are God fearing, because of the number of churches you find everywhere. It is absolutely amazing the number of churches you find all around the country. On a one mile street alone, you can have about 5 churches running side by side all with committed members of their own. Even when I lived in the Northern part of the country, in a village where Sharia law was observed, there were about 5 churches right there in the belly of Islam. The most populous city in the country, with over 15 million people; Lagos, becomes like a ghost town on Sundays because most people have gone to church. Anyone will quickly conclude that indeed Nigerians are a deeply religious people.
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It is amazing how this global economic recession has become a propagator of tales; tales ranging from misfortunes, financial wreckages, broken hearts, soberness, and more frequently an increased art of prudence. Everywhere you turn you hear stories of how people have been battered and tattered by the melt down around the world. You read new blogs, which the writers were forced to start since they lost their job, chronicling their lives with no pay and how they are attempting to make the best of it. Others share logs of woes that have befallen them, while seeking advice from a host of readers from the corners of the earth. Lives have been touched by the economic travails and many seem beyond redemption. But the stories that amaze me most are how much of a lie many people had been living when the system seemed to have been working fine. As much as the capitalist driven world laid its foundations on mere paper and had a sudden collapse at a little shove from a sector of one country, many people have had their illusionary cloaks stripped from them. Now nakedly they stare at an unforgiving world and wonder what happened.
Thoughts of a Calabarboy. 