NON-BELIEF AND ENLIGHTENMENT IN BLACK COMMUNITIES

Nonbelief is a growing phenomenon in black communities because a growing number of black people are going open and public with their nonbelief and irreligiosity. Many people in black communities are making it clear that one can be black but not religious, one can be black but not a Baptist, and one can be black but not a Christian or a Muslim. One can be black and godless. Nontheism is motivating various campaign initiatives for positive and progressive change in black communities. The work of black nonbelievers is going on on different fronts and forms. The first is at the level of humanism. Black nonbelievers are campaigning to make humanism happen in their communities. They are working to provide an alternative to supernatural religions and dogmatic faiths. 

More importantly, the humanist association is pressuring the authorities to release Mubarak Bala. Bala is a Nigerian humanist imprisoned since 2020 after he made some Facebook posts that some Islamists claimed insulted the prophet of Islam. Humanists are campaigning against blasphemy and apostasy allegations, and the persecution of humanists, atheists, and other religious, and belief minorities. The arrest of Bala plunged the humanist organization in Nigeria into an unprecedented crisis. It tested and stretched the movement to the limit. The arrest orchestrated a crisis that saw many humanists go underground or disaffiliate due to fear of being picked up, attacked, arrested, or killed by Muslim jihadists and their state allies. Thanks to local and international support, what many projected has not materialized. The humanist movement has not disappeared. Humanists have not cowered away in fear as many envisaged. Instead, many humanists have stood tall and firm in the face of threats and adversity. Humanists have refused to be silenced. Humanists have defended Bala, and are gradually turning the crisis into an opportunity for growth and development of humanism in the country. It may interest you to know, that we organized in 2021, an interfaith and belief dialogue. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, nay Africa, people and leaders from faith and no faith traditions came together. They discussed how to improve relations, trust, communication, and cooperation. Believers and nonbelievers met under a roof, sat side by side, and explored ways to foster peace, harmony, and understanding. We hope to build on the gains from the dialogues in the months and years to come.

It is pertinent to note that black nonbelievers have not only gone after their interests, or catered only to the needs, safety, and protection of those who think, believe, or not believe like them. Humanists and atheists have also deployed the facility of nonbelief to do good, to intervene and help in areas where faith and dogma are deployed to perpetrate or sanctify harm. Black folks who are nonreligious have used nonbelief to address social problems linked to superstition, such as witchcraft accusations, witch persecution, and ritual killing. The continent of Africa is still one of the few places in the world where alleged witches are brutally attacked and killed, as in early modern Europe or 17th century America. 

Leo Igwe, Ibadan