The Crisis of Religion: An interview with Adebowale Ojowuro

The Crisis of Religion; It’s an imaginative and thought-inspiring title for an incredibly well-written book. I was lucky enough to discuss some of the finer points of the work with the author, Adebowale Ojowuro. Among other things, we discuss the inspirations for The Crisis of Religion, how it can help the secular community, and the questions which he attempts to answer in the book. I hope you enjoy the interview and, if you find yourself wanting more, information on how to purchase The Crisis of Religion is located within the last question. Thank you all for your continued readership.

 David G. McAfee

 Q: What actually made you to write The Crisis of Religion; is there any Crisis in Religion?

 A:  Three things prompted my agitation into writing The Crisis of Religion. Firstly: My foremost aim of investigating religion was to disentangle the mystery that surrounds the illogical omniscient God and the fictionalized “only begotten son” that the religion of my birth had fabricated for him through Mary and Joseph in a village called Nazareth. From childhood, I have always wondered if the God of Christianity is actually the universal God of all races of humankind, or whether he is the special God of the Jews that the Europeans have hijacked and imposed upon humanity for the purpose of power, trade, and profit.  My doubting in this regards emanated out of the several biased actions that I have either been told or read of him in the Holy Bible, the book that claims to contain the word of God in print.  

Secondly: I have always wondered why is it that this famous book is so full of irreconcilable contradictions and extreme discrepancies that are too repugnant to reason. Furthermore, I was curious to ascertain why this legendary book that alleges its origin from divine source should compulsorily require the prolific salesmanship of self-styled prophets and professional preachers to flourish among the ranks of humankind, if truly it contains the word of God? 

Lastly: As you are most likely aware, I hailed from a country famously known all over the world for its proclivity towards religious fanaticism, sectarian extremism, religious intolerance, and the brutal acts of killing in the name of God. At a given point in time, the progressive upsurge of these appalling religious conflicts in my motherland – Nigeria – became a repulsive source of worry to my keen mind. It was clearly evident that the influence of the two dominant religions in Nigeria – Islam and Christianity – have undoubtedly transformed into becoming far more dangerous narcotics than alcohol, marijuana, and any other illicit drug could be to my people. I therefore decided to conduct an investigative search into the root cause of these emblematic religious conflicts that chronically afflict Nigerians, day after day. The Crisis of Religion symbolizes the result of that insightful investigation.   

Q: Could you shed some light into the results of your investigation into the root cause of religious conflict in Nigeria?

 A: Regrettably, my investigative search into religion explicitly revealed such incontrovertible details that largely implicated religion as a big fraud. Our ignorance is actually the God that we serve today; and the architects of religion had in point of fact made their fictionalized Gods out of the stack of ignorance and extreme gullibility that is inherent in humankind. I’ve emphasized it many times and times again that, throughout my fervent search for God, establishing the natural truth of Him in all the several denomination of churches and sanctuaries that I have so far attended becomes exceedingly intractable. Unto this day, what I empirically discovered is man’s inordinate search for security and not a fragment of his search for gospel truth and faithful worship. Furthermore, my findings evidently revealed the deceptive imposition of man’s word upon the entire life of humankind as the word of God, which has grossly transformed into booming organized trades for the trickery of overwhelming multitudes of gullible devotees.  

What’s more, my investigations into the recurrent religious conflicts in my motherland – Nigeria – specifically incriminated the untamed excesses of self-styled prophets and professional preachers in the so called Pentecostal Churches of the Christian faith, as the culpable culprits-in-chief, who are liable for promoting the nuisance of religious fanaticism and terror in that country. When this preposterous hag of ‘Born Againism,’ which several greedy and counterfeit evangelists of Christ routinely promote for the purpose of trade began to hypnotize their credulous followers in the path of extreme stupidity in Nigeria, they adamantly kept propagating the silly dogma, until the influence of it had oddly overwhelmed majority of those that subscribed to it as the true command of their Messiah. The devout madness that consequently emerged out of the ‘Born-Again Indoctrination Project’ had consequently caused uncontrollable damages that went beyond what alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs could do to any human being. As a result, many credulous believers fanatically lost their perceptive minds and became insensitive to the fundamental rights of other citizens to either want to become religious or irreligious. Their outrageous obsessions for being ‘born-again’ could no longer contain the reality that the desire of anyone to choose his sectarian faith is a free choice that is constitutionally protected within the full ambit of the law. As such, the unfair irritants that the evangelists of the Christian faith periodically engendered through the calculated imposition of their belief upon established territories of the rival Islamic faith had episodically caused the outbreak of religious conflicts and the brutal acts of killing in the name of God in my motherland – Nigeria.  Therefore, to curb the furtherance of my people’s life in the path of this appalling stupidity, I felt it is reasonable to make the verification more evident to them that all the foreign religions, which they have oddly subjugated their own ancestral faiths in its place, and the fantasised God in whose name they have committed the most horrid of human carnage, are altogether fables. Consequently, what I have practically done through the writing of The Crisis of Religion is to indignantly expose and denounce, in strong terms, the fallacy of the theology that these organized religions have patently promoted at the expense of valid reasoning. This endeavour is calculated at lessening the harm that this terrible hag of superstition called, ‘belief in the word of God’ could further cause in our supposedly free civilization.  

  

Q: From which point of view did you actually write The Crisis of Religion?

 A: Of course, I wrote The Crisis of Religion from a Freethinker’s eye. Using the wisdom and positive insight of doubt, I articulated a range of convincing and incontrovertible philosophical arguments to strengthen series of valid campaigns against absurd articles of faith, which the dominant reigns of religion have agelessly promoted and imposed upon humanity. It is baffling to note how this hag of superstition called belief in the word of god has totally conquered the universal intelligence of humankind, and surmount it into the path of dangerous folly under the umbrella typology of these organised religions. It is absurdly rife for gullible devotees of diverse faiths to regard the heap of fallacies in their respective sacred books as the authentic inspiration of the holy spirit, which are directly under the command and handwritings of God himself. As a result of this unfounded belief, religious adherents have committed the most extreme atrocities of unspeakable magnitude. The Crisis of Religion simply bears out a no hold exposé on the blizzard of outrageous deceptions that thrive in the theology of these fictionalized gods; that it might help eradicate the nuisance of bigotry and terrorism that have established their root cause in religion.

Q: What do you mean by writing The Crisis of Religion from “a Freethinker’s eye?”

 A:  This signifies that I entirely wrote the book from a Freethinker’s point of view. Free-thought is a philosophical viewpoint that signifies opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason. Therefore, a freethinker is someone who forms opinion strictly on the basis of reason, rather than the foundation of hearsay and theological programming of self-styled prophets and professional preachers, as well gullible belief system that have plagued the society as a result of superstitious beliefs that organized religions have relentlessly sponsored.

Q: Why did you choose to attack traditional religion?

 A: I have not on purpose chosen to launch any attack on organized religion. Rather, it is the foundation of the theology they chose to promote that is actually attacking them. The tenet of their theology is absurd and repugnant to reason than logic and common sense could ever comprehend in its analytical tangibility. One of the reasons why I am against religion is because of the fact that it propagates deceptive notions, other than the truth. The authorities of these organized religions have continually imposed outright fallacies and repugnant absurdities, which do not correlate with any natural truth and reality in our world, but solely reliant on the prolific salesmanship of their cunning preachers to thrive amongst the human ranks; thereby making their followers commit extreme atrocities, as a result of crafty manipulations of those that pretend to be prophets and proxies of divine authority on earth. This is the most extreme form of human abuse, which should be classified as a criminal offence. Unfortunately, no government has seen how church ministers are obtaining properties from credulous devotees, under the false pretence of God’s command. How firmly could this silly allusion subsist with the rational mind as the ultimate truth of God’s command before its foundation falls to the ground as the utter fabrication of man? Just watch it; the end of faith is very close at hand.

 

Q: Each of us non-theists have a story behind our beliefs, why don’t you believe in God?

A:  Affirmatively, the evidence of a God or Creator is not just there. The empirical evidence of what we have is that of cumulative natural selection, ranging from the formation of the awesome universe to the smallest atoms and molecules. The overwhelming evidence of this is largely convincing, and specifically discards the need for any illusory ‘God’ or ‘creator.’ How then should I believe in a God who’s not just there? Life, as we see it today on planet earth, has not been finely fashioned by any creator or God; rather, all assortments of life as we find them on our planet have truly evolved, and finely moulded their existence to fit the distinctive conditions that prevail in their atmosphere. To corroborate my point, I once left remnants of yam porridge and a bowl of water at a corner in my kitchen; within weeks of my return to the kitchen, no one would ever believe the uncountable assortments of life that grew out of the remnants of the yam porridge and my unkempt bowl of water. The reason why there is no life on planet Mercury, Mars, Pluto, or any other known planet in the universe is because the atmospheric conditions that prevail in those regions are just not suitable for life to develop; otherwise, life would have also evolved on those planets. The idea of a creator is a heap of deceptive imposition upon humanity. Our in-depth knowledge of science has now disproved of this personal God that religions have erected for their competing trades. In the wise sayings of Heinrich Heine, “In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide…when daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides.” This statement is absolutely true. From the lingering evidence of history, we know that primitive humans that lived in dark ages did not have any clue about their world; therefore, religion primarily became their best guide, which naturally explains why the ancients had absurdly invented gods for everything they could comprehend in nature, including trees, irons, and rocks. Now that science has brought daylight into our modern age, and we can now see clearly into our world through enhanced knowledge; what then is the use of these “blind, old men?” It is absolutely foolish and useless beyond doubt to continue using old religions as guides to navigate the terrain in which they are totally ignorant. If at all humankind must indulge in religious worship, which in any way is no crime; I mean, let’s for the sake of common sense invent logical gods into our modern world.

 Q: What do you hope to achieve by writing The Crisis of Religion?

A:  My aim for writing The Crisis of Religion is very simple. I decisively intended to make the verification more evident to humanity that our ignorance is actually god. Therefore, I dug out internal evidences from the so called Holy Scriptures to clearly indicate to the people how the entire races of humankind (including Doctors, Lawyers, and Professors) have relentlessly been fooled through the ages by religionists. In writing The Crisis of Religion, my intent was to bear out a no hold exposé on the cartloads upon cartloads of shocking lies that the architects of religion have told concerning God. The study of Theology today is the study of blatant lies and of downright fabrications concerning countless gods that do not truly exist. It is therefore my hope that the revelations in the book will give those who grope and stagger under the confusion of what to believe or disbelieve, the rightful precept to make their religious or irreligious choice. It is my resounding opinion that belief should have some ethics, devoid of believing every fairy tale in an exceedingly gullible manner. What do I mean by this? For any statement to be considered true, it must be testable in every logical manner. The Crisis of Religion has essentially added additional light into illuminating the gloom that veils several religious doctrines. The book has practically added another resolute voice of reason into denouncing the damages, which the imposition of religion has brought upon humanity. The revelations in the book will definitely push some steps further into eradicating the nuisance of religious fanaticism and terror.

  

Q: Despite the abundance of strong criticisms from Non-Theists, religion has continued to wax stronger; Why?

 A: The fact that those recurrent exposé on the absurdities of religion did not seem in any way to affect the reputation of those religious organizations that have encouraged the propagation of these absurd stories; as is evident in the remarkable growth of evangelism at very explosive rates worldwide, is a conclusion that is not far-fetched. Throughout the history of humankind, from civilization through civilization, it has always been the natural tendency of humans to believe what is not true. As I have mentioned in the opening part of the second chapter of The Crisis of Religion concerning the gullibility of man, that is, when humankind has become like the robotic belief machine and has developed the habit of accepting any piece of claim that comes his way without any recourse to logic, reason, and scepticism to access the truth of such claims. As such, whatever disguise of religious schemes or irreligious schisms, superstitious beliefs, or fraudulent prophecies, which any person might introduce to that society where gullibility rules will forever flourish like wildfire in the dry tropical forest. With the general assistance of our institutions of learning, which specialize from  elementary level of education to tertiary education in raising gullible belief engines for religious sanctuary, as well as training professional preachers in the proficiency of telling lies and preaching fallacious theology to humankind; together with man’s uncontrolled fanaticism that includes his extravagant search for security and tainted spiritual enlightenments; in addition to the precarious level of humankind’s unrestrained dependency on fabulous spiritual authority; either of the church, or of the mystical elements. All these, with the assistance of man’s obsessed love for hazardously adorned religious frenzies and fallacies would greatly fan the flames of the advancement of counterfeit evangelism at a very alarming rate. The success of one evangelist, priest, or pastor would immediately encourage another to establish his own ministry. Consequently, the spread of commercial evangelism would progress at a very staggering speed. Every jobless man would metamorphose overnight into being a man of God, to join the bandwagon of proprietors of an exceptionally lucrative business; where devotees that deposited their tithes and generous offerings certainly never come calling again for withdrawals. All these factors have contributed immensely for growing commercial evangelism all over the world. More than ever before, the case is now worst in Africa.

 

 Q:  Religion has been credited with driving virtuous morality in the society, what’s your viewpoint on this impression? 

A:  This impression is very faulty and fraught with incorrect assessment. Several religious beneficiaries have always manipulated and imposed the deceptive impression upon humanity that religion is the driver of moral or positive behaviour in the society today. That’s absolute nonsense and falsehood. The reality is that the driver of moral conduct in the human society is that natural conscience that is innate in every normal human being. We have ceaselessly witnessed the chronic commission of evil and criminal activities within all sorts of religious enclaves; be it Catholicism, Pentecostal, or the Islamic house of worship. Through millennia of the dominant reign of religion, it is evident that gross delinquencies and criminal activities have always been on the increase in every human society. The biggest wars in humankind’s history have found their root cause in religion; so also is the growing hatred amongst mankind. The acts of killing in the name of God, bigotry, terrorist attacks, to mention but a few have found their taproot in religion. If religion is truly the driver of moral conducts in the society, how then can we relate its impact on the regressive decline in good behaviours and increasing criminality in a society of countless mosques and churches and several other religious sanctuaries, as we witness it all over the world today?  Why is it that every religious government is always cruel and evil? Although, I will not deny the fact that several religious organizations have also contributed their own positive quota into social development in the society.

Q:  What is the relevance of your book to the society?

A:  I am very much aware of the extreme folly to which the gullibility of man can go in our modern society. I am also very cognizant of the extreme danger that the impositions of several absurd articles of faith have called upon human dignity all around the globe. Therefore, the essence of what I am doing now is to discourage redundant gullible belief system that have brought untold over-dependency on fabulous spiritual authority through the strangulating claws of theological programming. Therefore, the relevance of this book is to educate the people, and make the verification clearly evident to the wise amongst them that, all religions doctrines and dogmas are utterly coined out of downright fallacy. Those that are not yet informed deserve to be properly informed that the stories in all the so called sacred scriptures are entirely human inventions, which are devoid of any fragment of divine revelation. Therefore, people should desist from committing any brutal act in these words of man, cunningly turned inside-out as the word of God, for it is truly not worth the while. 

 

Q:  What are people’s opinions regarding this book?

A:  Certainly, opinions are very much divided about this book, especially on those burning and elucidating topics that The Crisis of Religion has intrepidly uncovered. Several revelations in the book have truly hurt the feelings of those that have continually fed chucky and chubby through religion. This group of people have called me names and have labelled my work as a sacrilege. However, what is of great interest to me is that those who tried to refute this work have not been able to do so in any way, because they cannot precisely indicate any lie that I’ve actually told against their religion.

On the other hand, several people are very happy with the work, and regarded it as the ‘bitter truth’ that people need to know. This is a summary of how Stephanie Norris, the first reader who reviewed The Crisis of Religion on Amazon Canada has described the work, which she rated (5 Star): “This book is a masterpiece, a passionate and intellectual skewering of religion that gives a fresh perspective from a new author. I couldn’t put it down! I found this author’s command of the English language rather like that of great authors of the past, able to describe difficult concepts eloquently, clearly, and passionately keeping the reader glued to the conversation, wanting more. I love this book… I would recommend this reading as a critical analysis of religion from the texts themselves, the logical dissection of their very illogical ramblings and stories, and as a very eloquent presentation of why religion hurts us all, especially the dispossessed.”  Stephanie D. Norris – Anthropologist / Archaeologist. http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=9780620445832&x=19&y=17  

 

Q: In one sentence, what is your message to the people from this book? 

 A:  I have carefully articulated all the arguments that I presented against the fallacy of theology and its absurd articles of faith, with special focus on illuminating the gloom that envelope the numerous doctrines that religious priests and clerics fervently promote. It is my hope that several revelations in The Crisis of Religion would redirect the steps of the wise ones from meandering through the dark forest of religion, and effectively steer the untamed excesses of the credulous ones into the veritable path of common sense, especially where it concerns the name of this ageless superstition called God.

Q: Where can we find the book?

A:  The book is available on Amazon.com in the US, Amazon.co.uk in Britain, Amazon.ca in Canada, Amazon.fr in France, Amazon.jp in Japan, Amazon.de in Germany, infibean.com in India, etc. It’s also available in Barnes and Noble, Campus Books, and several leading bookstores in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South Africa.

One can buy autographed copy of the book via PayPal from my publisher’s website www.veritypublishers.co.za

EBOOK VERSION is available through the following channels: Diesel eBooks, MRSDIRECT,  Powells.com,  Bookbytes, Ingram Library Services, Campus Books, Coutts, ProQuest,  etc.

The Crisis of Religion