Radical Pentecostalism: The Trend of Religious Casuistry -By Adimike John Owen

William James popularly defined religion as the “feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine”. Religion is hardly a phenomenon in ipso but is intimately bound to other dimensions of human existence, culture and the general society; this intricate liaison becomes more manifest in a number of African countries and in some notable manner, Nigeria. This interrelation of religion with various social systems and other areas as medical endeavours, often leads to an absence of an evident demarcation between the contents and subject-matter of religion, from the empirical referents of popular organization. As culture is, in a broad sense, the way of life of a given people, one presupposes that religion is so inseparably bound to culture. One major effect that I observe, in this marriage of culture to religion, is the propensity to admit religion into every rationale and even more, to exaggeratedly examine popular culture by an uncritical adoption of religious tenets. Thus exaggerated, one causes grave harm to deliberate reason and parses the condition of the vincibly ridiculous fellow.

Of exaggerations of this kind, two are immediate in our Nigerian vicinity. The trends of radical Islamism and radical Christianity stand out among other clusters and groups of religious zealotry. Radical Islamism and radical Christianity both have a common feature; the common element shared between them is what I should term as a literally uncritical adoption of scriptural magisterium. This is very much evident in the acerbically literal interpretation of the verses of Holy Writ, most times unassisted by the probity of any critical sort. The radical Islamism adherents are usually characterized by their use of force and their assumption of arms to literally ‘defend’ their cause. Most times, the term Jihad is used as a terminology smokescreen to attract some sentiment over what is being perpetrated. There is then a certain stereotype attached to the word.

Perhaps, more dangerous is the form adopted by Christianity. Most Reverend Godfrey Igwebuike Onah, the bishop of the Catholic diocese of Nsukka, recently laid very much plausible grounds for this claim. Generally, a trend noticeable among contemporary Christians in Nigeria today, is that of radical Pentecostalism. This form, according to the Catholic prelate, is even more deadly than the style adopted by the Islamists. He argued that in the case of radical Islamism, one could as well pick up arms to defend herself from the faith-spurred violent irruptions. However, on the side of radical Pentecostalism, the avant-garde target is the mind.

Radical Pentecostalism, like radical Islamism, misrepresents Christianity. It is spurred by a very much uninformed literal interpretation of sacred texts, and even worse, by a superimposition of personal devotion and private divine intuitions upon a large following. This trend exposes the gullibility of some who subscribe to religious belief, in that they fail to critically sift what is evidently shoddy in religious instruction from what is genuine. This does not imply that for everything reason cannot adequately and definitively exhaust, it is shoddy. Nonetheless, faith and reason as cognitive processes, are geared towards the acquisition of truth and thus, complement each other.

It is this Pentecostalism trend that breeds religious casuistry very notably in Nigeria. First, the idea of Pentecostalism as is generally understood in Nigeria—isolated from whatever may have been the sincere motives of Charles F. Parkham— is one that sources from the idea of the explosive unction of the Pentecost received by the apostles that surged that movement said to be the birthing of the Church.

Nigerian Pentecostalism is better viewed as an attempt to paint the explosion of religious zeal without first considering the periods of reflection, prayer, and discernment. Religious Pentecostalism admits of what I call ‘spiritual terrorism’. As to this, it must be respectfully noted that not only the so-called Pentecostal churches find themselves as victims of this activity; other orthodox faith communities also find themselves occasionally committing the same crime. Spiritual terrorism is now endemically rampart. We find it in those messages asking us to like Facebook posts, or we would not obtain blessings as though God needed Facebook following; we are compelled to market a particular faith centre by sharing their contents under certain timeframe in order to tap blessings and other related issues. Occasionally, I send such things to people in order to gather a mean popular reaction. Radical Pentecostalism projects images of religious personnel akin to mislaid persons giving directions to adventurers. We have turned now to religious casuistry.

In the bid to garnish our ‘religious swag’ and campaign the imminent Parousia, we have lost track of what exactly is the essence of faith. We have thrown away the treasures of the Christian heritage: the depositum fidei that we received from our ancestors in the faith. We have so watered down our religions that they are often termed psychotic associations. We have displaced reason and fidelity to religious tenet and have rather embraced the ‘sophism of faith’. Our religious gatherings now champion religious sophistry and pious tergiversations. As earlier mentioned, religion is hardly divorceable from other dimensions of human existence. What we do now, is to put religion as the standard of other human endeavours. It is alarming and absurd that we evaluate our social consensus and the public philosophies of governance according to the literal and uncritical dictates of a religion as interpreted by devout dogmatists. This does not mean that religion has no intersection with the public sphere: it does and it does so harmoniously.

Frans Vansina attests, in Ancient Symbols and Modern Myths, that “indeed, the function of religion is to bring and keep together life, nature, man, mankind, and eventually God. Essentially, religion is a personal, unconditional, and committed concern with some ultimate and absolute ground of meaning-giving and healing”. Religion is the recognition of some utter basis of self-fulfillment. However, we have turned religion into a profit-oriented machinery targeted at extortion from the impoverished and taxation of the upper-crust.

Nigeria turns religion—especially Christianity—into a business: not for [the salvation] of souls, but for monetary and kindred objectives. I dare to ask the motive behind this sophistry of religious faith.
I should add in further words, that a very lethal adaptation of this contemporary religious casuistry is the fitting of the Gospel message to and for the comfort of cultural lifestyle. This is a fundamental mistake and an unfolding disaster. Religion does not exist to align to the preferences of people, nor to conform to the wishes of an oligarchical few.

Religion is, so to say, a movement for a cause: an agenda with a manifesto. Radical Pentecostalism, however, accommodates certain unfounded doctrines; these doctrines favour the social condition but are pitifully unrepresentative of the Christian manifesto. A number of clergymen of the orthodox churches also admit of some unfounded and unchristian doctrines all for the sake of retaining an opulent congregation or, sustain kindly benefaction from some select congregants. This is increasingly alarming because it paints Christianity—and religion in general—as being operative on casuistries as well as taking unjustified advantage of the socioeconomic status quo. There is a degradation in clerical and, generally, Christian [or, religious] decorum such that there is no difference in admitting of religious creed, religious indifference or, being dismissive of religious faith. Our subscription to radical Pentecostalism has deformed us to sophists: shopkeepers with spiritual wares.
Religious sophism thus originates from the gross deviance from the truth of religion: Christianity, Islam, or any other. Religion derives from the Latin word: religare; some put it as religere. As a certain scholarly fellow from whom I learnt basic Latin—Anthony E. Okonkwo, SDB, PhD—puts it, the both can go for the roots of religion. The former interpretatively suggests ‘to tie again [to something]’. It is from the word ligare that we derive the word ligament. Re-ligere means to read again or, to interpret afresh. Thus, taken together, religion suggests a fresh interpretation of a reattachment to something. Religion fundamentally assumes that we as people are already bound to God but, our commitment and reverence of him is what we consciously undertake in religious faith. Taken as the case, religion—monotheistic especially—ought to assist its subscribers reinterpret their commitment to God, on a vertical scale; and their connection with people, on a horizontal plane.
Religion, being both a vertical and horizontal affair, cannot be divorced from human existence. Religion ought to be our moral compass, pointing out the divine commands in human duties. It is quite appalling then to see religious leaders subscribing to casuistry and twist of facts. We must not forget that the religious misery is the expression of the real misery; religion ought to advocate for social wellbeing. What we experience, contrarily, is that in Nigeria, religious leaders misappropriate their position so that it seems that religion now becomes a lucrative business and a show of sophism. Radical Pentecostalism specifically, has its feature, some kind of adulteration of the Christian good. We notice some kind of exaggerated practices of the Christian faith among the subscribers of Radical Pentecostalism; some are out of all proportion in terms of civic responsibility and do not conform to social policies.

This Nigerian Pentecostalism [i.e., Radical Pentecostalism] attempts to paint the explosion of religious zeal without bearing in mind the prior phases of reflection, prayer, and discernment. Radical Pentecostalism interprets social phenomena disproportionately, from a religious backdrop. There is the tendency for people to act in a very questionable manner, following the bidding of religious instructors. Religious instructors subscribe to administration of opiate religious doctrines in order to placate the congregations. Religious misery is but a reflection of the real misery; we have a longing for self-actualization that we believe can be realized only through and ultimately in, a Transcendent Deity. Religious leaders, especially the Christian leaders, should therefore not turn to psychological manipulation of their congregants in order to achieve fleeting material goods. These leaders are the figures of their religion; their misconduct equals the impression their religion makes on popular psychology.

Religious leaders ought to drive at making responsible citizens of their congregants as they strive to make of them good children of God. It becomes disheartening to see that these fellows subscribe instead to an unchecked psychological manipulation of the people who have entrusted themselves to their religious direction. Religious casuistry is not a new phenomenon; people are only now emboldened to speak of it. As aforementioned, the deadly form of this casuistry is that of radical Pentecostalism. We must learn to speak the truth, to stand in for the truth, to represent the truth.

Religion stands as the moral compass of society; should the conscience happen to be malformed, what then becomes of the society that it serves?