The Fault in His Logic: A Succint Reply to the Oluwo's Self-Inflicted Dilemma by Koye Ladele

"Ifa says that whenever we wake up, we must be teaching each other wisdom. Ifa warns that we must not start the morning on the foundation of foolishness. Ifa advises us that whatever matter we ponder upon and arrive at no resolutions, we must consult the oracle"- Otura Owonrin

The Oluwo of Iwo when he was on OAU campus said the following. I would love to reply the King. Of course, he deserves the respect of a King. But the moment he trashes tradition, the same ones that make him unquestionable. He must be engaged in a manner we will also do other mortals. His quote is below and the itemized rejoinder to each sentence is below it.

"all gods are legends in Yoruba land and Yoruba people turned them to gods. How will you tell me that one person came to this world with a chain, bird and sand to create the world? The gods are static and can't move from place to place, subjecting myself to these gods mean I'm also static. They are dirty, where they've been kept for years are not clean. Some of our gods still ask for human sacrifice, are these gods so inhuman? Move from all myth and superstitions that bring u down, we must move from this stage to the advancement in technology."

"I don't ask for the wisdom of Solomon, he has never seen an aeroplane, he has never flew in one, if Solomon watches a television and sees someone running towards him, he'll run because he does not understand how these things work so I ask for wisdom greater than that of Solomon, wisdom to survive in today's world"

1. All gods in Yoruba land are legends before people turned them to gods.

I agree. The same must be said of Christianity and Islam too however. All over the world, those who became main characters of religion used to be men. It does not reduce our religion. Our people have still conformed to international standards of god creation.

2. How will you tell me one person came with chain, bird and sand to create the world.

If the Oluwo is an atheist. He would have a good argument and would be left alone because it will be evident he adopts the same approach to all instances. But since he is a Muslim, he must explain to us why stories abound in Islam for instance of how a child was hitting the ground with his feet and crying till water sprouted out of the place. There are other such stories in other religions which defy logic. Yoruba people must be allowed to believe in their dogma no matter how unreasonable it appears. There is the story for instance that Jesus fed 3000 with five loaves of bread and two fishes. I am a Christian. I believe this story. But at the same time, it grants me no say to rubbish the Yoruba creation story. All creation stories are not proven scientifically plausible yet.

3.The gods are static and can't move from place to place, subjecting myself to these gods mean I'm also static.

Is any god moving? Has the Oluwo seen a god/God in motion? Church pulpits don't move neither do mosque mats and kettles for instance. If carved images of gods in Yoruba mystics don't move. It does not render it incorrect. They have still conformed to international gods standards of no movement. Static is not enough to discredit the religiosity in African worship modes. Items don't move. That's accepted. We all know. Even the Yoruba do not see those statues as the gods but mere figurine representations and communication mediums.

4. They are dirty, where they've been kept for years are not clean. Some of our gods still ask for human sacrifice, are these gods so inhuman? Move from all myth and superstitions that bring u down, we must move from this stage to the advancement in technology."

If you dont sweep a church, will it remain automatically clean as a sign God is there? What if you dont clean a mosque? If Yoruba shrines are dirty. It only indicates they are not being swept and this indicts the Oluwo as not preserving the sites for which he was chosen as a King to preserve.

If the gods ask for human sacrifice. Internationally, do you know how many people have died from religious wars? Religious motivated killings? It can be assumed that religion takes human casualties. A lot of traditional worshippers condemn human rituals. So, is the Oluwo telling us he is aware of gods that require human sacrifice? He should report to the police those doing such.

The Oluwo asks us to move to advancement in science and technology. The Japanese worship the gods of the Shinto. Yet they are advanced. What about Indians who worship cows and snakes? Do they not have technology? Yoruba gods are not to blame for technological backwardness. In fact, when we were worshipping them, we had brass technology and iron melting that most of the world did not have as at then. So... Maybe the fact that we stopped worshipping them slowed us down in science and technology.

6. "I don't ask for the wisdom of Solomon, he has never seen an aeroplane, he has never flew in one, if Solomon watches a television and sees someone running towards him, he'll run because he does not understand how these things work so I ask for wisdom greater than that of Solomon, wisdom to survive in today's world"

God has already said no man will be wiser than SOLOMON. This explains why the Oluwo's prayer is not answering. He should settle for the wisdom of Solomon and not ask for more than it.

Solomon as a King with so much wisdom would not have rubbished the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He built a temple for God even. Oluwo should do the same for the gods of his fathers and stop running them down in Universities where he is invited to speak wisdom.

KLM
Obafemi Awolowo University,
12th of March, 2018