As it is now, to push for atheism in Africa is unattractive and a misplaced priority. What we need is shattering the glassy superstitions ensured and insured by religion and its implicit inhibitory mental illusion of holding God accountable in prayer and fasting if the latter even exist at all, to pave the way for holding leadership accountable for development. And erecting the house of scientific kits at its place.
That is doable. Actually, it is what all the supposed atheists contribute to even in Europe and America. The infamous Richard Dawkins and other vociferous atheists are not necessary promoting atheisms explicitly as they are defending the established scientific kits for development. In Europe and America, the intellectual, political and moral revolutions have culminated into the establishment of scientific kits with irreparable detrimental consequences for religion.
Consequently, the religious organizations, fully aware of how science is constantly wrestling the public mind from them are staging a fight indirectly through politics. We all know the relationship between religion and politics is stronger than that of science and politics despite the role of science in national development. They are both controlling tools. Therefore, to me, Richard Dawkins and co are just defending the established scientific kits against the charging generally dethroned religions staging a comeback via politics.
Let us turn to Africa. Here, we have not even had the intellectual and moral revolution. We seem to have had a political revolution. But, because we never had the necessary intellectual and moral revolution the socioeconomic benefits of political revolution that accompanies it are copiously missing. The necessary social and economic work needed to make it achievable, which is the scientific kits, is even yet to start decisively in Africa with any pragmatic political support. And you think, we should muddy the situation by promoting and defending atheism simply because you “misunderstood” the American and European situation to mean they are explicitly promoting atheism.
No, they are not promoting atheism. They are defending the established scientific kits against the dethroned religions trying to make a comeback via the political backdoor. Either than that, promoting atheism in Africa where the kit is yet to be imbibed consciously into the public mind seems to me like individualistic ideology without any linkage to whether we develop or not.
What is the point of being an atheist in an underdeveloped continent assuming that theism is explicitly wrong? So that one can call himself an intellectual just as the religious sycophants see themselves as morally superior, yet even as they outnumber the nonreligious in every sector in society, corruption remains the key to every door in Africa, oxygenating the underdevelopment. Sure, you have the right to be atheist just as everyone else has it to be anything. But in all that, let us link whatever we have the right to be to our national development and not just as a personal ideological aggrandizement.
To me, that is what I see Richard Dawkins and co doing. They are defending science and its reasoning kits in most of the books they have been writing than atheism even if you misleadingly think and conclude the book is about atheism because the author is an atheist. And you can only defend what is already established. I am not sure you can boldly say the scientific kit is already established in the Africa and does influence our collective thinking compared to religion. So let us project, promote and defend atheism.
I wish you could spot how the clash between science and religion differs continentally. In Africa, the religious people are on the defensive because they know their superstition is established and fossilized in the public mind. Whilst in America and Europe they are on the offensive to make a comeback. If there is anything atheism does for science, then, it only acts as a burglarproof. Therefore, projecting and defending atheism now in Africa is like buying a burglarproof for a house you have not built yet. If you see others using their burglarproof, it is because they had their house built. So let us work assiduously to build that admirable and needed house in and for Africa.
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