Slog
News & ArtsMonday, April 13, 2009
Religion From Isaac to Daniel
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 9:58 AM
The future of Christianity is perfectly captured in this sad New York Times Magazine image. 
The pastor, Daniel Ajayi-Adeniran, is Nigerian, and his chapel, Chapel of Restoration, which is in the Bronx, is a branch of a church, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, that's based in Nigeria. Daniel is the son of Okonkwo's son, Isaac. But what we see in the image of him and the American lady on her knees is not just the result of the tragedy in Things Fall Apart (something like "the return of the repressed") but also the unification of underdeveloped spaces. Parts of the Bronx have less and less in common with Manhattan and are more and more becoming one with Lagos and São Paulo.
Ajayi-Adeniran belongs to one of its most vigorously expansionary religious movements, a homegrown Pentecostal denomination that is crusading to become a global faith.
As Mike Davis points out in Planet of the Slums, the rise of Pentecostalism (in African and South American slums) is linked to the rise of neoliberalism. It is a faith that flourishes in zones that have little or no access to basic state services. Faith is fast replacing the withering state.
3
I think the fact that most of the seats appear empty shows us more about the future of Christianity and other fairy tales.
4
Charles,
I've read Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and "Anthills of the Savannah". I enjoyed both though prefer the former. I also read the article regarding that preacher and others in the New York Times Magazine. What fascinates me is how Africa (and African Preachers) is becoming a magnet for conservative Christian practice. The next Pope may be an African (Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria) and a Conservative splinter group of American (Canadian?) Episcopal/Anglican churches are following a Nigerian prelate (Archbishop Peter Akinola) in reaction to the elevation to bishop of a gay priest, Rev. Gene Robinson.
I've read Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and "Anthills of the Savannah". I enjoyed both though prefer the former. I also read the article regarding that preacher and others in the New York Times Magazine. What fascinates me is how Africa (and African Preachers) is becoming a magnet for conservative Christian practice. The next Pope may be an African (Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria) and a Conservative splinter group of American (Canadian?) Episcopal/Anglican churches are following a Nigerian prelate (Archbishop Peter Akinola) in reaction to the elevation to bishop of a gay priest, Rev. Gene Robinson.
5
It is good to see others are optimistic about the decline of religion. I read the Joel Connelly article a couple of days ago and it was like some sappy Readers Digest piece promoting the power of prayer. Religion is on the decline and reporters should report that fact rather than attempting to revive it.
6
Charles what I notice everytime I go back to my native central america is that these crazy pentecostal churches go about spreading the gospel by establishing as many churches as they can in slums. sort of like mcdonalds, they use a franchise model a church every 2 kilometers. its a franchise model. they are filling the gap left over by liberation theology churches and the christian based communities that did a lot of work in the poor barrios and favelas. its really amazing how quickly they set up. one week theyre having those crazy revival massess in a garbage filled ditch and the next theyre building a church. so my point is that i think the rise( at least in latin america) is due more to the decline of the liberation theology churches than the fact that theyre in poor communities.
7
I think it's a little simplistic and borderline arrogant to think that people of faith who have not always felt comfortable in old hierarchical and euro-centric institutions like the Catholic church are somehow now being brainwashed into congregating in churches that they feel more comfortable in. There is no 'rise' in religious beliefs within communities of color, people of color have always been geared more towards the spiritual side of life, they're just congregating now in places and with people of a similar background instead of with some distant figure in the Vatican.
8
every time i read a mudede post it's the same. i never check who posted before i start reading. i read the first couple lines and think, huh, this looks like an interesting post. intrigued by the promise of some nice insightful critique of capitalism, or religion, or race relations, i press on.
but soon i get this thick knot in my stomach as i realize that the sentences i'm reading have no substance; they have no meaning; they are academe-speak shadows, intellectual cockteases. i've been reading bullshit -- earnest, thoughtful bullshit, which is the worst kind. its author's belief in its substance and value succeeds in drawing you in, so that before you know what has happened to you, your mind is soaked through with shit.
"mudede", i whisper to myself, when i smell the bullshit, when the promise of substance evaporates, when my mental hard-on wilts. i look at the "posted by" line, and my fears are confirmed. "MUDEEEEEEEEDE!" i scream, pounding my fists on the table, weeping for the wasted minutes of the short time God has allotted me to walk the earth. and, resigned, i set to the long and painful task of bringing my mind back up into an ordered and useful state.
but soon i get this thick knot in my stomach as i realize that the sentences i'm reading have no substance; they have no meaning; they are academe-speak shadows, intellectual cockteases. i've been reading bullshit -- earnest, thoughtful bullshit, which is the worst kind. its author's belief in its substance and value succeeds in drawing you in, so that before you know what has happened to you, your mind is soaked through with shit.
"mudede", i whisper to myself, when i smell the bullshit, when the promise of substance evaporates, when my mental hard-on wilts. i look at the "posted by" line, and my fears are confirmed. "MUDEEEEEEEEDE!" i scream, pounding my fists on the table, weeping for the wasted minutes of the short time God has allotted me to walk the earth. and, resigned, i set to the long and painful task of bringing my mind back up into an ordered and useful state.
10
Why do people think the phrase "colored people" is offensive, but simultaneously think "people of color" is respectful?
11
10, for the same reason many people can live w/gay marriage as long as you don't call it "marriage." words push our buttons, and we a irrational beasts at heart. go figure. we've been trained that "colored people" is a phrase from the backwards, racist mid-century and that "people of color" is a phrase from the enlightened eighties, even though they are almost identical.
12
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT CONFIDENTIAL
FROM DR CHARLES PIEDO
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AFRICA
TEL 228 0-5-5-1-5-2
LOME - TOGO
ATTN: Charles Mudede
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Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and partner to enable the whole plans and idea be pofitable and successful during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$14m (fourtheen million united states dorllars). As it may intrest you to know, I got your impressive information through my good friend who works with chamber of commerce on foriegn business relations here in Lome-Togo. It is him who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem. Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foriegn account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your intrest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity.
More...
FROM DR CHARLES PIEDO
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AFRICA
TEL 228 0-5-5-1-5-2
LOME - TOGO
ATTN: Charles Mudede
I am DR CHARLES PIEDO, the director in charge of auditing and accounting section of international bank of Africa Lome-Togo in west Africa with due respect and regards. I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
During our investigation and audting in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on November 1997 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development.
Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and partner to enable the whole plans and idea be pofitable and successful during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$14m (fourtheen million united states dorllars). As it may intrest you to know, I got your impressive information through my good friend who works with chamber of commerce on foriegn business relations here in Lome-Togo. It is him who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem. Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foriegn account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your intrest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity.
15
And the rise of Neoliberalism through the pentecostal Christians is the only thing standing between the oil corporations and a populist Muslim majority in Nigeria.
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