Moses Mapesa
22 July 2008
opinion
Kampala — Of recent, there have been calls to make teaching of religion compulsory in primary schools. Religion is faith, belief, creed, conviction. Examples include Hinduism, Buddhism, Orthodox, Islam, Christianity, Animism, and Judaism. Even these have subdivisions. Christianity has Anglicans, Catholics and Pentecost's.
In Uganda, many of the schools in the past were religious-founded and for many, the different faiths still have a strong hold. It has become common that one takes up the religion of their father and most times, the wife takes up the religion of the husband.
Religion and morality
The proponents of compulsory teaching of religion are concerned about the declining moral inclination, especially of children. But are we making the right choice? Does teaching of religion necessarily make one an upright member of any society or nationality? And which religion shall we make compulsory? In the past, one's faith determined which school they went to and religion was unofficially compulsory. When it is made compulsory, we return to the 1960s, where one travelled several kilometres past the nearest school to go to the 'right' school, which must also have the 'right' teachers?
Negative effects of religion
Religion has had good and bad effects on society. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) war is based on religion. The Allied Democratic Force (ADF) is also based on religion. The Sudan civil war, that in Somalia and the Middle East, and the civil war in Scotland are based on religion. Worse still, within the same religion, factions fight each other. An example is the furore and destruction of life and property caused by the Denmark cartoons.
Even Jesus was hanged by high priests in Israel and to date, most Jews do not accept him as a son of God. But there is a positive contribution by religion. This is not by indoctrination through dogmatic teachings and coercive means. Our children should be allowed to make informed choices. Meet any ex-seminarians and hear what they have to say about childhood indoctrination.
Recently, I came across amazing writings on religion by Richard Dawkins tiled, "The God Delusion." Debate on religion and the existence of God has been on for over two centuries and some great thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson have said "The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next." Albert Einstein added, "I don't imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, in so far as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it."
Which religion should be compulsory?
Which religion shall we teach as a compulsory subject and what will it achieve? One society? A peaceful nation? Rather than opt for religious studies, we should consider more unifying subjects like language. I commend the Government for making Swahili a second language to be taught in schools. We could consider teaching theology taking on all religious studies and have the different religions as references but certainly not at primary level. Many people use the Bible and the Quran where they find the teachings useful for society. And there are many good Hindu, Orthodox and our African heritage teachings. Theology has also been described as characteristically obscurantist, which unlike science and most other branches of human scholarship, has not moved on in 18 centuries. This is because in theology one simply believes.
Belief types
Polytheism is the belief in several gods, while monotheism is belief in one God. Atheism on the other hand is belief in no God. The Catholic Encyclopedia dismisses polytheism and atheism. "Formal dogmatic atheism is self-refuting and has never de facto won the reasoned assent of any considerable number of men (and women). Nor can polytheism, however easily it may take hold of the popular imagination, ever satisfy the mind of a philosopher". This reasoning leaning to the one God provoked Ibin Warraq who has since denounced Islam to say "Monotheism is in its turn doomed to subtract one more god and become atheism".
We are walking a tight rope. What is the right religion? Every religion has its belief and little tolerance for the other.
The way to go is to learn all religions at an early age so as to allow the young make a choice but not coerce them by making the teaching of religion compulsory because its implementation would be complicated and may not achieve the moral values. Teaching of religion must, however, embrace a scientific approach that takes into account changing social fabrics of society.
The writer is the executive director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority
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