RELIGION AND THE WEALTH OF NATIONS 2.
Why do we seem to delude ourselves that Religion will make us a wealthy nation? It has never made any nation truly prosperous. Throughout history, all the great depressions of nations as a result of prolonged wars or natural disasters were all revamped by industrial revolutions and not by Religious revolution. Our experience with the civil war and the attendant Reconstruction and Rehabilitation that followed should have provided sufficient proof.
As our population grew over the years, without a commensurate increase in infrastructure building, we were headed for poorer times, and instead of using our God given resource, Oil to embark aggressively on expanding our industrial base, to mop up the teeming unemployed youths, we witnessed massive proliferation of Religious houses as our new industries. The new churches became our industrial revolution.
In the last 20 years of the new revolution, it is not clear yet if Nigeria has become wealthier, by reason of these churches, but what is clear is that the Churches are being revolutionalized. If it is true that the churches are prospering, why is it not reflected in the generality of the people and the nation? After all, the church is made up of people. Why do we look poorer today with churches and prayer houses but we were richer without the churches 20 years ago? There are more beggars and hungrier people than hitherto. Why?
Perhaps, we are not praying enough as we seem to think or we are praying amiss. Again, it's possible that corruption has debased our faith as a nation otherwise, with our posturing as being religious, we should have no affinity with poverty. If that were the case, then our solution may not lie in how many churches or mosques we have, but on how the millions of unemployed youths should be fully engaged and made to be self employed through massive capacity building which a declaration of emergency in industrial revolution would engender.
Please bear in mind that Christianity, is not a religion. The distinction is necessary for deeper reflection.