Is church for man or God?
Coming from Africa like I do, religion is almost automatically a part of me. For people like me it’s the default setting to go to church or mosque. Baby christenings, funerals, birthdays and almost every other social convention are closely linked to religious institutions. It’s very safe to say, then, that Africa is religious.
Abroad, in Ireland and indeed in almost every other country where Africans exist, we seem to have taken our religion with us. African churches seem to spring up in every other business park in Dublin. I remember on one occasion taking a taxi to such a church. I tried to explain to the driver the basis of my beliefs and the notion of the existence of God, who I’ve believed in all my life. His argument, however, was not to counter any of my points, but simply to say he wasn’t sure if the churches were really a place of worship any more than community centres. And right there and then he hit a chord with me. He was dead right.
Many churches have become places of reminiscence about common values. In a country like Ireland, a lot of churches are predominantly filled with immigrants, and hence we have a environment that’s conducive to people sharing past experiences with like-minded others. Similar second languages are shared, similar senses of humour. Blending and fitting in becomes easier. It’s like a bustling microcosm within the macrocosm of Irish society. And as human beings, wherever we can metaphorically let our hair down, we really do let our hair down.
Churches are meant to be places of divine impartation, or at least a sort of moral treatment table. The values that should be most important in church are connection with divinity, community help and general betterment of the lives of anyone and everyone who walks through the door. These should be primary. But what happens when these values are relegated or made secondary for the sake of being the most noticeable or most respected? What becomes of the church then?
I don’t think anyone can argue it’s a bad thing to have a great sense of camaraderie among worshippers of the same God, among people who believe in the same mode of accessing the same deity. But when a religious organisation becomes only a social machine, then politics is involved, and it becomes about impressing or even oppressing other elements. How can that be right? Shouldn’t there be a balance?
Olajide Jatto is a software engineer and writer based in Dublin.
