Wasiu Olasunkani drops to his knees in the sacred grove, lowers his chin to his chest and turns his palms skyward: a gesture of thanks to a traditional water goddess embodied by the massive stone idol with outstretched arms that sweep over an ancient shrine.
Olasunkani, a Muslim whose 1998 pilgrimage to Mecca fulfilled one of the five pillars of Islam, joins tens of thousands of ethnic Yoruba people each year to pray before the idol and offer libations to her mermaid-like spirit, Osun. Last year, Olasunkani beseeched the goddess for a baby. This year he’s thanking her for twin boys, Farook and Cordroy.
“If you want to get a baby, you come here and pray, and you’ll certainly have one,” said the 46-year old doctor after finishing his riverside reverie. Speaking of his fellow Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria ”” 20 million strong and roughly evenly split between Christians and Muslims ”” he says: “We’ve been doing this for centuries.”
Across West Africa, churches or mosques can be found in virtually every settlement: evidence of deep Christian and Muslim roots sown by the merchants, missionaries and slave traders who brought the religions hundreds of years ago. But also firmly settled in the red soil are indigenous practices that West Africans integrate with the foreign beliefs.
The results may sometimes seem to flout the monotheistic holy books, the Bible and Quran. But many West African faithful say their interpretations are equally valid ”” although they don’t always tell their pastors or imams.
It’s a good thing that Nigerian Christians are not captives to their culture like North Americans are.
Oooh Dale! Some iron in your breath perhaps …..
Anne Holmes Redding, call your office.
Any of them anglicans? What do you figure the over&under;is on that one? There have to be some. So what is worse our decadence or their decadence?
Mr. Rye is, of course, referring to the recent Nigerian HOB resolution pledging not to authorize polytheistic rituals, although they will retain a full range of pastoral options for their polytheistic brothers and sisters. He is certainly aware that a polytheist is nominated to become bishop of one of their dioceses, but should remember that the Nigerians bishops have pledged to exercise restraint in giving consent to his consecration.
“‘We Yoruba people, we have many small deities, but they are all servants of God,’ says Osunleti, the artist. ‘All these idols are servants of God: I’m a Christian, I’m a Muslim, I’m an idol worshipper, I’m an artist, I believe in everything,’ he says. ‘I just believe in God. We’re all servants of God, and we can pray through anything'”
Osunleti the Artist, meet the Diocese of Northern Michigan.
Northern Michigan, meet Osunleti.
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/6799/
Apt comparison, Irenaeus.
When the pagan cultures of Europe were converted to Christianity, there was a rather long period of overlap where both the old and new religions were practiced side by side. Eventually the trappings of the old were subsumed into the new or became mere cultural superstitions. We’ve seen similar patterns with the conversion of Native American cultures as well, especially in the Caribbean, Central, and South America. This is just another chapter in the same story.
RE: “He is certainly aware that a polytheist is nominated to become bishop of one of their dioceses, but should remember that the Nigerians bishops have pledged to exercise restraint in giving consent to his consecration.”
And after all, Words Matter — the only “openly polytheistic bishop” certainly needs to be invited to Lambeth since it is about him that the Communion is dividing. Surely he will represent the voices of all of the other open polytheists — and closeted polytheists — in the Anglican Communion. It is a travesty not to invite him, when he is the only one brave enough to be open about his loving, and affirming polytheism.
The Holy Spirits – all of them! – are doing new things, but those bigoted theophobic monotheists are standing in the way of what is so evidently the right thing to do for some reason… something to do with a book or something… dunno.
So Ancient Rome was right after all. Polytheism is the way to go. All are welcome except those intolerant Jews and Christians. After all, all you need to do is throw a little incense at the Emperor to support the official cult and there is nothing to worry about. Only a very narrow minded God would say things like:
[blockquote]Exodus 20:2-6 2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me. 4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected– even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [/blockquote]
and
[blockquote]John 14:6-7 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” [/blockquote]
Chris Molter (#8) is correct.
Pre-Christian pagan words persist in the Englich language. Some of them are Easter, Wednesday (Woden’s day), Friday (Frigga’s day), Saturday (Saturn’s day).
Pagan holy days were replaced with Christian holy days. Hence, Christ’s Mass coincides (almost) with the pagan celebration of the sun being at its lowest point on the horizon at sunrise/sunset, Christ’s death by crucifixtion and His resurrection coincides with the pagan holiday celebrating the spring or new growing season of Eaoster, the point when the sun is halfway between its highest and lowest points of rising and setting on the horizon.
Because residual pagan polythesism can lead to regression by Christians, it is necessary to always be alert for its appearance in the Body of Christ, the church.
Hence the concern of orthodox Anglicans when we found that two Episcopalian priests in the Diocese of Pennsylvania were Wiccans and that on of them was/is a coven leader. We were also concerned when we discovered that ECUSA’s web site contained a pagan ceremony for the blessing of monthly menstrual cycles.
Thank for the blog entry. I am assured that human nature is pretty much the same everywhere. Again, what’s the difference in what they’re doing and what TEC is doing? Maybe they have a polytheist bishop somewhere maybe not. The difference I see is they do not make such a Federal case out of it. The polytheists are picking on the universalist homophiles!How am I wrong?
#13 Roy,
The difference is, the Church of Nigeria has [i] not [/i] approved the worship of other gods, and they do [i] not [/i] have polytheistic bishops. The posts above suggesting this are satire.
If the Nigerian Church were encouraging the worship of Ba’al or whatever, I assure you that Reasserters would not be inviting them to serve as bishops for churches here.
The difference then, is that the theologically-confused in Nigeria are new converts or marginal members. In the U.S. they are the leading clergy!
Wilfred, um, neither does TEC. You simply offer slander, as you have no evidence. You say that we worship Baal, but I have not heard from any of my bishops to change our liturgy.
Uh John? Have you been reading the thread? The original question was “So what is worse our decadence or their decadence?” Along with other comments like “It’s a good thing that Nigerian Christians are not captives to their culture like North Americans are.”
The ensuing comments have not claimed that ECUSA is “polytheistic” . . . but they have made crystal clear the distinctions we are dealing with here in ECUSA.
John, you misunderstand. I did not say that.
This item is about Moslems and Christians in Nigeria, who still have pagan beliefs & practices, which they hide from their clergy. Beginning with #5, there are several comments satirizing how TEC would respond to this, not how the Nigerian Church actually is dealing with it. It confused Roy too. Go back & re-read the thread, slowly.
But you do bring up an interesting point. If TEC were worshipping Ba’al, it would explain their love of child sacrifice, I mean, abortion. And only devotion to Aphrodite or Eros would explain the recent unpleasantness.