The data shows a correlation between countries that are very religious and least developed, but like one reader said that may not mean causation.
I agree.
Now, let’s attempt to answer the question raised: why are the most religious nations the least developed? Let me take you to France. Late 17th century. It was right after the revolution that the French people revolted against Catholicism and launched the Cult of Reason.
The Cult of Reason was started by the French revolutionists and embraced by all and sundry as a replacement for Christianity or Catholicism, taking into consideration the Church’s support of the monarchy, abuse of powers, and its wealth amidst the abject poverty the masses were living in across France. Like Rousseau opined ‘man is born free, but he is in chains everywhere.’ Most of these chains belonged to the Man holding religion in one hand and politics in the other.
French intellectuals and the public at the time were woken up to the fact that religion had become a tool for exploitation, subjugation and oppression and they rose against it, overthrew it, and paraded the god of reason through the principal streets of Paris. Both the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution were the products of the Age of Enlightenment.
The Age of Enlightenment was an epochal period of human intellectual activity. People started asking questions, challenging authority, interrogating the status quo and waking up to the truth that despite the Church’s promise of heaven and streets paved with gold in the hereafter, one deserves the very best things here including food to eat and good roads to travel on.
The best thing about that age was probably its advocacy for the separation of church and state. Any country in which religion gets mixed with politics and politicians get to decide the good of the state with their religious godfathers and religious concubines is doomed to remain undeveloped. The Church in France was rich and displayed extravagant wealth at a time when most French people lacked bread to eat.
Take a look at us. Who are some of the wealthiest among us? Politicians and religion vendors. Who are the poorest? Most of their followers. An abstract titled ‘Religious Change preceded Economic Change’ published in 2018 in Science Advance, Vol. 4, Issue 7 makes enough arguments and presents proof that a lot of countries’ march to development occurred hand in hand with some form of secularization or decrease in religious practice or beliefs among people.
It is thus not true that the developed countries were religious and then became less religious after developing. Other researchers have similar findings and history buttresses that point. The French Revolution for instance and the Industrial Revolution were both products of men thinking more about how to better their lot rather than wait on God to change their story.
Juxtapose the Age of Enlightenment with the Dark Ages or say the period of the Spanish Inquisition. Copernicus arrived at the knowledge that the Earth was not the centre of the Universe, but was scared shitless about sharing the news. He was afraid of the church. The Church was against scientific inquiry and almost all religious folks lived in fear and were content with their lot, patiently waiting to die and go walk on streets of gold in heaven when they lacked even a silver penny on Earth.
The Age of Reason changed things, inspired the Industrial Revolution. Now, that we’ve gotten the prologue out of the way, why are the most religious countries the least developed? Saudi Arabia and the UAE make it into the list of most religious countries, but don’t make it into the topmost developed countries according to the Human Development Index Report.
Of course, development is not just about infrastructure, economic might or state wealth. It encompasses more and most importantly has to be evident in the lives of citizens. The most religious countries are least developed because religion oftentimes impedes socio-economic development, especially in Africa.
Granted, churches in Ghana built a lot of our basic and secondary schools, but their universities charge the most ridiculous fees that the average church member cannot afford. And most towns and cities in Ghana, today, have more churches than schools. I know a smart girl who wants to read engineering at the university, but her very religious parents think that living on a campus far away from them will corrupt her morals and want her to choose between attending the local nursing training college or doing a distance education course. That’s someone whose personal development is being affected by religion.
I know a community of people who are not rich and not able to afford stuff their kids need for school and complain of how hard Ghana is, but they sow seeds at church every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday! In our part of the world, the more religious people become, the less they use their brains. Only a few sophisticated and cultured people are able to not let their beliefs in God impede their reason.
Having an education doesn’t even help some. They are the ones who instead of remaining silent or empathizing with the victims, stand with their church leaders even if they are wrong. Instead of standing with your church leader or church, how about you stand with your brain? They are the ones who will defend their political party and leaders even if they are wrong.
Maybe it’s our belief systems and how we live our religions. Maybe we are too brainwashed by colonialism and our current religious leaders and need some time to recover. Maybe I should read more about this. Don’t think I have the answer yet, but it is an ironclad fact: the most religious countries are the least developed.
And here is a piece of advice for my young readers: Churches and religious leaders are not infallible. They can be wrong. History proves that. Just because somebody works in the church does not mean they have all the answers. You can develop yourself enough to answer most of the questions life will throw at you. Don’t let anybody deceive you. Take charge of your faith. You can believe in God and be part of a religious community if you want to, but don’t let it hold you back, and don’t let it stop you from thinking.
Think.
Let’s do this.
By Stan Dugah
StantheStoryTeller
