Leo Igwe on why Africa is so relgious.

The reasons why Africans are the most religious people in the world are not far fetched. Africans go through religious indoctrination from cradle to the grave. Africans are not allowed by family, society and the state to think, reason or live outside the religious box. In Africa religion is by force not by choice. Religion is by compulsion and not according to one’s conscience. Africans are brought up to believe that there is NO alternative to religion. When in fact there is. So in Africa, it is either you are religious or you are nobody-you are not a human being, you are nothing. There is too much social and political pressure on Africans to be religious and to remain religious. The social, political and sometimes economic price of leaving religion, renouncing religion or criticizing religion is so high.

So Africans are religious willy nilly. Africans profess all sorts of religious crap even when they know it is all nonsense.

At home, religious indoctrination is the first form of orientation an African child receives. At a very early and impressionable age, infants are taught to recite meaningless syllables called prayers. Children are brainwashed by parents with various religious and spritiual myths. Their minds are infused with all sorts of religious dogmas.

Full article:  http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=25840

Leo Igwe is the director of the Nigerian Humanist Movement and International Humanist and Ethical Union in Western Africa.

The BHA ran a campaign in November 2009 against the “labelling” of children according to religion or ideology: the Please Don’t Label Me campaign. You can donate to fund the BHA’s work against ‘faith’ schools and the legal requirement of collective worship in the UK at www.humanism.org.uk/donate. Select the “No faith schools” campaign when making an online donation.