Religion keeping us in poverty - Raymond Ijabla

We need a new set of tools to solve our problems in Africa.
Religious superstitions are keeping us in poverty. Corruption has increased in tandem with the exponential growth of religious houses. In Nigeria, you could easily count 10 religious houses on one street yet our religiosity has not translated to good standards of living. We hand over every single one of our problems to God and take zero responsibility for finding solutions to them. In place of industries, factories, laboratories and science missions we have prayers. Our able-bodied men and women expend their energies praying all-night to an imaginary God about problems they can solve themselves.

We must change the way we think about ourselves and our problems. The solutions to our problems lie in our hands and not with some bearded man in the sky. We must start by dispelling the notion that prayer builds a nation, creates wealth and solves problems. It does none of these things. It is not a coincidence that corruption has increased in our society in tandem with religious superstitions. One is both the child and the father of the other. Wealth is not created by magical thinking but by innovation and industry.

Only by placing evidence and critical thought above superstitions would Africa be able to attain sustainable development. These are the new tools I refer to.