“…a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
– Daniel 2:34
There is something useful in the ongoing controversy concerning the unveiling of the past (religious extremist) life of Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami. It is a moment that could help us self-examine ourselves on the individual level. We could also consciously – and temporarily – isolate ourselves psychologically from our different religions, and then ask some critical questions of the faiths we ascribe to.
This is because the human being is an emotional creature. We are given to catharsis. Derived from the Greek word “katharsis” (meaning “purification” or “cleansing” or “clarification”) it is the purification and purgation of emotions – particularly pity and fear – through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. In events of mob judgment, those who throw the first stones usually do so because they are driven by the instinct which tells them that by destroying the guilty, they have indeed extinguished the demon resident inside their own selves.
So, we should not be in a haste to crucify Pantami before examining the scientific implications of the unfolding drama. This is because it affects all of us. The world is presently in an epoch that is described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution; a fusion of advances in Artificial Intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing, and other technologies. To understand what we are talking about, think of the GPS systems that suggest the fastest route to a destination; a voice-activated virtual assistant that opens your door, cooks your food and sings you to sleep; and Facebook’s ability to recognise your face and tag you in a friend’s photo.
While these new technologies are set to make the world a better place and bring us together as one big family, our individual religions, however, give us a different instruction altogether. We are told to convert our neighbour, and if they refuse to be converted, then they are not part of us. We are told they are going to burn in hell. We are told to pray that those who oppose us and our spiritual movement “fall down and die”. And, like Pantami in his past life, we are told to praise those who can make our prayers come true – since they are better religious people than we are.
The truth is that the world is not emotionally prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Our belief systems saw to that. This is why many Nigerians were shocked to hear the words that came out of the mouth of the minister whose duty it is to navigate the country through the ongoing global technological revolution. Pantami has explained that those views were held in the past when he was much younger and immature. But many people are sceptical. They believe he is still a closet extremist, what they describe as a “gradualist”, someone who takes one’s time to prepare for their own Jihad.
Why do I say so? All the major religions have an aspect that allows them to kill and destroy. Yes, they all do. The difference between them is timelines and, perhaps, settings. It is part of what is called Eschatology – which every religion has. For instance, in the scriptural quote I entered at the beginning of this column, the Christian faith foresees a time in the future when (its own) God’s kingdom shall crush every other political empire on Earth, and establish a worldwide theocracy. The key word is “crush”.
Eschatology is the doctrine of the last things. It was originally a Western term, referring to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim beliefs about the end of history, the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the Messianic era, and the problem of theodicy (the vindication of God’s justice). In the history of religion, the term eschatology refers to conceptions of the last things: immortality of the soul, rebirth, resurrection, migration of the soul, and the end of time. Often, these notions are contrasted with the experience of suffering in the world.
Interestingly, eschatological themes thrive during crises, serving as a consolation for those who hope for a better world or as motivation for a revolutionary transformation of society.
However, in religions outside the biblical tradition, there is no “end” but rather a cyclic pattern of cosmic destruction and rebirth. Just this week, there is a report that a Buddhist monk in northern Thailand beheaded himself with a guillotine hoping it would bring him good luck in the afterlife. Followers said the 68-year-old Thammakorn Wangpreecha had been planning the bizarre ritual sacrifice for more than five years. “His wish was to offer his head and his soul so that the Lord could help him reincarnate as a higher spiritual being in the next life,” they explained.
The truth about the matter is that even among the religious, Eschatology is not general knowledge. It is a highly exclusive aspect of religious doctrine in all religions; because therein lies the trigger to turning the particular religion into a weapon of mass destruction. Hence, the fieriest and most successful religious teachers are those who understood the Eschatology of their own religion. They lead, while others follow. Isa Pantami is an Eschatologist.
The variations in the violent/extreme aspects of the three major world religions are in their Eschatology. While Hinduism and Buddhism have no definite end-time timeline (because of their fundamental reincarnation doctrine, it is individual and cyclical); the others – Christianity and Islam – are free to set timelines and marshal out strategies of the “final protocol” in God’s judgment. However, Islam is more militant because of the circumstances of its origin.
What many would not know is that some Christian Eschatologists viewed the former president of America, Donald Trump, as the chosen one to hasten “Kingdom Dominion” on Earth. He was the one to match militant Islam fire for fire. According to an entry in the Apologetics Index, “An Examination of Kingdom Theology”, Kingdom Now theology states that although Satan has been in control of the world since the Fall (garden of Eden), God is looking for people who will help Him take back dominion. Those who yield themselves to the authority of God’s apostles and prophets will take control of the kingdoms of this world, being defined as all social institutions, the “kingdom of education”, the “kingdom of science”, the “kingdom of the politics”, etc.
Indubitably, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is entirely on a different lane from humanity and its organised religions. The way it is, we are all “sleeper cells” waiting to be activated by our own Eschatological forces to destroy perceived enemies with the same technologies we had designed to organise society. But we are not irredeemable, yet. There is still a window of opportunity to survive, if we can look religion straight in the eyes, and ask existential questions. And then, sift through the answers with peaceful intentions.
