…Says you don’t have to choose between culture and faith
By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
His Eminence, John Onaiyekan, Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Abuja has called on Nigerians not to ignore their cultures for religious faith but should rather cherish and nurture them as cultures are God-given.
Cardinal Onaiyekan made the call as spiritual father of the day at Ilemila Royal Family Day celebration featuring cultural re-awakening among the Owe people of Kabba, Kogi West Senatorial District on Saturday.
Speaking on the theme, “Re-Awakening the Cherished Tradition Inherent in Our Culture”, the Catholic Arch-Bishop said every culture is God given and each people have their own culture as God’s gift to them.
“And because of that we cannot in any way ignore our culture and allow it to go into disrepute or worst of all, to go into extinction.
“Now, as a cardinal, I claim I’m an important member of the Catholic Church, I let them know that those who brought us the Christian Faith had limitations in their understanding of the religion of our people.
“They came with their enthusiasm to give us the Christian Faith, they tell us to throw away our traditional religion.
“It was like “either or”, we have to choose between our culture and our religion. But that was nothing 1920s, 1930s, 40s, 50s.
“Sixty years ago, we had begun to see that it need not be so, that even the religion that they brought to us was wearing a culture, the culture of others which they brought here.
“My father was a very staunch Catholic. Even though he was a member, he practised our traditional religion before he became a Catholic.
“But when I asked him why he abandoned the God of our ancestors, he told me bluntly, “I never abandoned the God of my ancestors because it is the same Olorun.
“In my own case, I’m a Christian; there are Kabba people who are Muslims. You can be Muslim but you still be a Kabba man, an Owe man who respects his culture.
“In some of the dances I’ve seen and especially, the lyrics I saw there, there’s nothing stopping those things from going into the church when it is properly packaged just like others did with their own”, the Cardinal said.
He opined that by blending cultural songs into praise and worship of God, “we raise the level of the importance of our culture. What I’m saying for Kabba is valid for every culture in our nation.
“It will also help us in getting cultures to understand each other. As you noticed, whenever we have different cultures singing and dancing, we always understand each other.
“Look at children, they will dance Ibo songs, they will dance Yoruba songs and dance Hausa songs without any difficulty. Why? Because culture is God-given”, he said.
