Namibia Must Promote Secularism
THE religious violence in Nigeria and Egypt is of real concern. This demonstrates again that religion could be manipulated in the battles for land and other resources. The state of Israel is another example of where religion is blatantly used to justify the oppression of the Palestinians.
This is of course what happened in Namibia during colonial times when religion served as a smokescreen for the racial and economic oppression of the majority of the people. This has unfortunately left Namibia with a legacy of Christian fundamentalism from which we have not yet decolonised our minds. Religion promotes mystical thinking and of particular concern is the justification of the oppression of women.
The Egyptian activist, Nawal El Saadawi, founder of the Global Solidarity Movement for Secular Society, recently stated that:
“We cannot have democracy with half the society oppressed; without the liberation and freedom of women, without equality between the sexes. Women are oppressed by religions – by Christianity, Islam, Judaism – and a secular society helps the liberation of women.”
It is important to understand the connection between feminism and secularism. El Saadawi’s movement has targeted polygamy as a form of oppression of women. And with the shenanigans of Jacob Zuma, who has taken us all backwards, the issue of polygamy should be opposed. We should rather fight for a secular family code that treats women as equals.
Another vital issue is to oppose mystical thinking. A secular society should promote reason and science. One of the crucial questions in this regard relates to Darwin’s theory of evolution. If Namibia was serious about being a secular society, than surely evolution as the most important scientific framework should be taught at least in the biology curriculum at high schools? And conservative teachers who refuse to teach evolution should be encouraged to seek employment elsewhere. Government should also pressurise so-called private schools about the curriculum. Too many Namibian students complete high school without even having heard the name of Charles Darwin. And then we complain about the poor performance of students when their minds are constantly being closed by Christian fundamentalism.
One of the important implications of Darwinism is that men and women are equal, that humans desire to help others and to cooperate. The theory holds many progressive implications to counter sexism and racism with. The full implications of the theory of evolution have not yet been fully grasped. It for example contradicts the neo-liberal view of a static, selfish, competitive and xenophobic human nature. Darwin follows in the footsteps of Copernicus in that his scientific views are effectively being suppressed today in this so-called modern society.
It should be stated that the Christian services imposed on students in the schools (both public and ‘private’) are not only unconstitutional, but contradict what they teach in the science classes at the very same schools. No wonder that we do so poorly in science. Do these schools ever ask the permission of parents or students to do these religious services? Christianity is not about ‘civilizing’ us, but about keeping us in the Dark Ages so that all kinds of social injustices (e.g. sexism, racism, ageism) could be justified. We confuse our children with that unscientific claptrap and cripple their understanding of the world. People like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have called religion a form of child abuse and they are right about it.
Recently, we had some debate about a pornographic television channel, but we ignore the many unwanted Christian television channels and radio stations that are unconstitutional. They certainly do not have the right to be in my house without my permission.
Namibians should have a countrywide debate about the differences between a secular value system and a religious one. The Bolsheviks were correct in saying that Christianity holds us back by a thousand years, but the solution is not to ban it. We should rather focus on promoting secularism. The Cuban approach to religion makes sense in that the state simply ignores religion but conscientise the people.
We should try to transform Namibia into a truly secular society. What is happening in Nigeria and Egypt could also occur here.
R. Negonga
Katutura