BY: DOMINIC E.B. ANYALAGBUNA
1.0.Prolegomenon:
In his monumental work entitled Introduction to African Philosophy, the renowned scholar, John S. Mbiti
vehemently submits that “Africans are
notoriously religious…. Religion permeates into all the department of
[their] life so fully that it is not possible to isolate it.” In furtherance of
this view, Mbiti still aptly adds further that “wherever the African is, there is his religion: he carries it to
the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop.” However, the
truth of these statements can sufficiently be expressed in the ever increasing
number of religious grounds in our time. In fact, multiplicity of churches is a
fact, a truth! This diversity is pioneered by different reasons which may range
from supernatural, financial, economic, or socio-political reasons. Moreover, man
has sought for avenues to express his worship of God. Unfortunately, this has
been done in questionable places. This has left man with a horrible phenomenon which
may be termed ‘irreligious religiosity.’ Irreligious religiosity is a
phenomenon exhibited by faithless, lazy and hollow spiritually-minded
individuals who are externally looked upon as holy people by others whereas
inside them is full of contradictory qualities. Consequent upon this, this work
will expose the concept of irreligious religiosity under the factors that encourage
the multiplicity of churches, causes and consequences, together with some
possible remedy.