Violence on Traditional Religious Artifacts by Christians during Evangelism/Crusades in Igbo land of Nigeria (2000-2017): A Historical Discourse
- December 22, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: IJRISS, Religion and Cultural Studies
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue XII, December 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Professor Luke E. Ugwueye & Dr. Eusebius S. Adim
Religion and Human Relations, Faculty of Arts, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, PMB 5025 Awka, Anambra State-Nigeria
Abstract
One of the fundamental obligations of Christians is preaching and spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the purpose of conversion. In Igbo land of Nigeria, this quest for preaching has been on the increase with more Christians becoming extraordinarily zealous to evangelize all kinds of people by ‘fire or by force’. However, one disturbing thing is that some evangelism crusades organized in some areas are characterized by violent attacks on traditional religious artifacts. The main reason put forward for these attacks include the belief that traditional religious artifacts hinder the people’s progress because they (the artifacts) carry with them the heathen evils of traditional idolatry. A historical discourse of such evangelism crusades held in Amansea, Ugbenu, Oraukwu, Igboukwu etc bear marks of violent attack on traditional religious artifacts. Evangelism in itself is not the problem but the deployment of physical violence and verbal attacks on the artifacts of traditional religious adherents. It is discovered that this brand of Christian evangelism is becoming offensive and irritating to some concerned traditionalists who are at the receiving end. A situation as this when unaddressed could trigger off dangerous crises and reprisal attacks capable of destabilizing the peace of the society. In addition to this, the study found out that violence on traditional artifacts obliterates history, culture, arts, religion, piety and impedes robust cross fertilization of ideas between old and the new. As great and rich symbolic repository of knowledge, artifacts provide successive generations with abundant information about how, why, what, when and where they are coming from in a variety of ways; their destruction is a regrettable loss to every society.
Key words: Christian, evangelism, violence, traditional, religious, artifact.
Introduction
Christianity all over the world has remained one of the most popular religions with a basic duty to spread the gospel to every nook and cranny of the world in accordance with the biblical injunction to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28: 19). In Igbo land of Nigeria, the quest for evangelism has been on the increase among Christians with different churches engaging in one type of evangelism crusade or the other. One disturbing observation is that some crusades and evangelical outreaches often times are suspected not to be driven by the application of appropriate tenet and apposite evangelical ideology.
Perhaps this is the reason why instead of spreading the gospel during crusades some Christian participants and organizers of crusades take to violent attacks on traditional religious artifacts which are the symbols of worship and religious expression of the traditional religion adherents. Different reasons have been adduced by crusaders as to why traditional and cultural paraphernalia, objects of worship and artifacts must be done away with. Christians who indulge in these destructions are in consensus that these objects are instruments through which satanic stronghold is used to keep the people under attack, bringing to them all manner of ill lucks, misfortunes, and even untimely death. Many Christian denominations, one way or the other, are involved in this reckless destruction of traditional religious artifacts and therefore fall short of what peaceful evangelism crusade entails. This study investigated the violent crusade activities of some few Roman Catholic Churches or some organizations inside the church in some parts of Anambra state to typify that violence on traditional artifacts are made during crusades by many other churches in various parts of Igbo land.
