The harsh economic realities in Nigeria and the feeling of injustice among our people have opened the door to neo-paganism for many. This condition has kept open what many perceive to be the wounds of colonialism, inspiring hatred and excuses for all manner of collective and individual moral failure. Some who have strayed into stealing online, creating chaos, and even dealing drugs blame anything assumed to be a product of colonialism, and find the idea of revenge appealing. Others reward the aid they receive from foreign shamans and diabolical powers in their businesses and affairs with advocacy for what they falsely call return to the way of their fathers. Religion, more specifically Christianity, has been at the forefront of this reprisal. Typical of any angry response borne out of real or perceived injustice, the reactions have mostly lacked depth. People read meaning into everything, and reactions tend more to rebuke, accuse, and destroy, than to make corrections and to build.

It would be an extreme lack of depth not to acknowledge that there are those in the movement who know exactly what they are doing. Those who know that both in the times past, before the embrace of Christianity, and now when some people feel disillusioned by failed expectations of the Christian mission, existence has always been a battle between good and evil. These people being fully convinced of the narrowness of the road towards good, preferred to follow the wide gate of evil. Clearly, they are desperate to stifle every voice that reflects what they were called by their creator to be. The rebellion is coming from all corners of the earth, even from the so-called colonisers whose own cultures were saved from barbarism by their embrace of Christianity. Among the descendants of the Romans, the Gauls, the Nordic people, the Dutch, the Greeks, you find an army of neo-paganists boldly rebelling against the Christian faith and the gospel of salvation which built their roots. Sadly, there is a much bigger section, those motivated not strictly by evil, but more by their idolatry of worldly riches, who have been unwitting foot soldiers for the generals. 

For the foot soldiers and everyone who genuinely desire to see a working society, you cannot do away with religion; man’s pursuit of meaning beyond his material existence. What you are doing is an attempt to replace one order with another. Some are aware of this and that is exactly what they want to do. But do we really think we are smarter than our forefathers.

Or that the gods we call now to our side would be stronger than the ones whose weakness they conceded when the light of Christ shone on the land. This generation may have access to a wide source of information. However, it is convincing that the generation of our forefathers was wiser and they were stronger. 

The civilisation we had then evolved caste systems. People kept slaves. Some aspects of the collective sense of morality and modesty, which was part of what bound the society, are things the average person amongst us would not be impressed about by today’s enlightenment. Like other ethnic groups and communities across Europe and the rest of the world, our spirituality was (mostly) polytheist and savage. Yet we know there were people who sought for the revelation of Chukwu Okike Abiama, The Almighty God, and guided by their conscience and ordered nature pursued truth, justice and fairness. The Christian mission which started well before the Mormon inspired colonialism brought answers to that seeking, and did so creditably and convincingly.    

Unfortunately, starting from colonialism itself, the mission field got a fair share of tares. Then we have fought war(s) and we have been bedeviled by very bad leaders for decades. These are people who got the best of education from Christian schools, who were bequeathed impeccable ideals to steer society and build for us an esteemed identity. But here we are.

How is that the fault of Christianity? How is it that our collective confidence has been so badly beating? Why are countries like South Korea and India who are deeply religious advancing and we are not?

We are not the only group that passed through excruciating experiences in the last 100 years. Why do we keep chasing this perceived enemy, spending more cynical time analyzing what we claim they are doing than taking responsibility for our fate? Can we not stand up from where the past and wars left us, taking practical steps, collectively, and making the right choices?

Understandably, we have been so badly beaten that we are ready to latch-on to the straw of materialism and neo paganism, with the value of life measured by what you can count and carry around. This is why some have found it convenient to pollute the message of salvation, to accommodate those who want a Christianity that suits their whims.

They have not learnt from their controllers that there are very painful rules and ordinances to follow, whilst they protest a lighter burden. These people have only opened their ears to the Christianity that promises material gains – ignoring the admonition which says “contentment is great gain.”

This gains, which the Bible book of Hebrews (6:9) calls condiments of salvation, form a small part of the message and it is misleading to take it in isolation. God promised to bless the works of your hands. God promised that righteousness exalts a nation. If the gains are condiments of something more primary, how well have we sought that primary thing? Do we pursue righteousness and justice at the community and personal level? Or do we want to pluck the fruits without climbing the tree? It is mischievous to attempt to change what you have not really been a part of.

The Christian message primarily calls the souls of men to salvation. In Jesus Christ, it absorbs the history of mankind and presents to us a more fulfilling present and a glorious future. The Igbo say, uwa bu ahia, onye zucha y’alawa. We are sojourners here. The accessories of life should not be dealt with as if they were now the core essence of the life God gave us, thereby leading us to seek succor in ideals that do not guarantee genuine fulfillment. Our forefathers were seekers. They embraced what they saw. We cannot fall into the trap of searching for the fading moon when the sun is rising on us.

• Hussein writes from Sokoto