To develop Africa needs god

To which I ask which god and why?

This is a comment to  a response by Ikenna Okonkwo; To develop, Africa needs god, to a response by Leo Igwe; Africa needs development, not god on a post originally written by Matthew Paris: As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs god

My response to this post, in case the OP does not allow it to go through moderation is

There is no place in the world, that I know of, where people killed each other for being reasonable and as such to equate free-thought and skepticism to the ideologies of Stalin and Mao is to miss the point by a mile.
If as you imply Christianity provides the means for men to be good, pray tell me, why this is not reflected in the conduct of many of the leaders in African countries who identify as christian?
And why do you look down upon African traditions? Have you been so colonized in the mind to not notice that Africa lost so much with the coming of the colonialist? We had a rich culture and engagement with each other and the world, The language of a creator god who creates from nothing does not have a parallel in most African languages because it is far from logical.
What Africa needs is education and good education at that. She requires that governments expend money in ways that promote development and are accountable to the electorate. She must develop systems that are efficient. And she must be free from religion and its ability to numb the brain.
No one denies that the missionaries built schools and hospitals in many places in Africa. All we are saying is the African must begin to break free of religiosity that stops him from engaging rationally with his government, always resorting to prayers when firm action is required and to rise above the bigotry you are trying to spread here promoted by the christian worldview about gays, assisted dying, abortion among others.

Related reading

TOWARD DECOLONIZING AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION.

Reflections on bereavement

I was recently at a funeral and the thoughts that I had written a few days ago about grieving and the subsequent discussions we had resurfaced in my mind. As I was there listening to each person who spoke to the bereaved family and to all those present, it occurred to me that for most people, or rather for those who spoke, that this life is just a preparation for another life, a future life of bliss for those who follow the right god and damnation for everyone else. While this thought alone irks me, for why would a person who thinks his particular god is loving, also hold in the same brain that this god will punish others for eternity for not bending to his whims, forget that the said god is also said to be all-powerful.

There is a particular speaker who did say they believe, or rather their religion teaches, that if a child dies, they go straight to heaven and  encouraged the parents to stay on the path of the lord and they will be sure to go to heaven. He added, even though it is sad to lose a child, the parents should have cause to be happy for their child would at the required time refuse to go to heaven?unless all those she loved are in heaven. I have a problem with this line of thought for a few reasons

1. If god cares that we go to heaven, and children head there straight away, why not ensure we all die as children?
2. If to go to heaven, all one requires is the innocence of a child, why not just populate heaven?
3. Why do people want to live after they have died? 

The other thing I no longer can reconcile myself to belief is that there is more after this life. There was a time, long ago I could have wanted it to be true but not anymore. The life we have here is temporal but it is the ONLY one we know and as far as we can tell the only one we will live. It is time imams, priests, church ministers and other fraudsters in the names of deities started to tell their followers the truth, and that truth is that life here is much more important that any other imaginary life. People must be told that death marks the end of their existence and they will go back to where they were before they were born. To accept this will go along way in making people look to this life in a different light, as a life worth living and that we need not make preparations for a future existence, especially since we did have to make preparations for this one.

If I should remember what others said, I will update this post… I promise 😛