Dearth of Critical Thinking-The role of Religion and Culture and delinquent link to corruption

‘’ There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, as religion. Let it once enter into our civil affairs, our government soon would be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools, they would be destroyed. Those who made our constitution saw this, and used the most apt and comprehensive language in it to prevent such a catastrophe. [Weiss v. District Board, March 18, 1890]’’- Supreme Court of Wisconsin. There is another quote from Dr Seuss which says, ‘’How did we get so late so soon?’’. Given my observation, it seems time has flown in a terrifying speed without any evidence of judicious use by Nigerians to better their lot in several aspects of Nation building and National development. I want to use this piece to describe the complications and issues associated with sudden rise in religiosity in Nigeria, misapplication of culture in Nigeria and the degeneration of critical thinking and the consequent link to corrupt practices in the country. From my reading sources, I gathered that Christianity came first to the continent of Africa in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was still alive (he died in 632) according to BBC world service article ‘’Islam and Christianity’’. According to ‘Wikipedia’ Christianity came to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin monks from Portugal. The first mission of the Church of England was though, only established in 1842, the source emphasises. However being a Christian myself, my subject will linger around the effect of certain Christian teachings on unsuspecting adherents and complicity of our indigenous culture in degenerating critical thinking in our society. I am still wondering how our progenitors received the teachings of Christianity from the White Man; could it be that they were awed or cowed by the strong forces deployed by the Europeans and the evident sophisticated ways by which they operated, which our local civilisation could not match. Sometimes there are cases in point where Christianity practise is disbelievingly combined with menacing cultural practices (JUJU etc.), which has resulted in bifurcating the minds of the committers with the consequent confusion that comes with it. However, I have recognised that certain teachings that come out of our pulpits, strewed all over the nation can only prompt the society to produce less critical thinkers who slant towards superstition and miracle seeking. Rogue clichés like ‘’Sow a seed’’ and hammered emphasis on bible quotes that says, ‘’If you don’t pay your tithe; you are robbing God’’ has nonetheless made us the butt of every joke told in the world today as gangster preachers use same to scheme off unwary members. The teachings yelled out by the interlopers who call themselves Apostles, Bishops et al. could not have instilled critical thinking in our Society; supporting carefully thought out systems and processes that will make our nation great. We are now recognised all over the world as unserious-minded people whom commission of crime is first nature. This is evident in the kind of people who parade themselves as elected government officials and the bad policies that they formulate and the resulting delinquent corrupt practises the society members engage in as matter of survival. We can also see how impoverished every important sector in Nigeria have become. It is also obvious that Nigerians are treated all over the world as common criminals and chronic migrants except for a few who have excelled in their different endeavours. An exemplar is the recent killing of Nigerians in South Africa and the way we are typically handled in Embassies when we go seeking for Visas-With No Respect. The National Council for Excellence in critical thinking defines critical thinking as an ‘’ Intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualising, applying, analysing, synthesising and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication, as a guide to belief and action’’. The process tends to help us judge and evaluate situations based on understanding the related data, analyse it, build a clear understanding of the problem, choose the proper solution and take actions based on the established solution. The trending religious teachings nowadays in most of the new generation churches across the country do not support the scientifically demonstrated 6 steps of critical thinking: Knowledge, comprehension, application, analyse, synthesis and take action. Our orthodox cultural inclinations also conserves superstitious and pernicious beliefs that vandalise one’s intellectual privileges. However, the malady of regressed critical thinking in the Nigerian space has inoculated poor judgement into the very fabrics of the disprivileged society goading them to vote for iniquitous people when selecting public officials who will represent them in government positions. The average Nigerian has not clearly absorbed or has refused to engage in the 6 steps of critical thinking and cannot unmistakeably comprehend, analyse and apply the right action when exercising their voting franchise. Ironically, they could not interpret that intellectually bankrupt political candidates will only hunt them with defectively woven economic policies (scarcely debated in the parliament), poor economic planning and the attendant abysmal economic performance results. As it has been said that when human beings become mentally exhausted with scarcity and poverty due to broken down access to public social good and opportunities, they tend to allocate attention to survival instincts, which is the major root cause of chronic corruption in Nigeria today. The real Armageddon for me is the indifferent attitude demonstrated by the so-called religious leaders on the onslaught of these treacherous conditions as they bellow from their oracular platforms with all manner concocted prophecies in an attempt to hoodwink the gullible. We need to act very fast as a nation and embrace critical thinking as a way of life; implanting same in our Nation building. We need to indoctrinate the 6 steps of critical thinking in our education system; carefully embedded in the course components of the school curriculums from primary education to tertiary education. We also need to discard any cultural affiliation that promotes superstition including religious teachings that embolden miracle banditry. I will conclude by quoting His Royal Highness, The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II in his response to Zamfara State Governor on meningitis outbreak in his State; ‘’ The truth about the matter is that despite being warned of an impending outbreak, his government took no steps to prepare. Now he blames God! We are stuck with political leaders who only pretend to be godly because sycophants always refer to people in high political office as a God sent’’- Daily Post, April 12, 2017 Enyinna Efuribe is a Governance and Policy enthusiast whose objective is to support a critical thinking society in Nigeria