I did a one-post-a-day marathon on my blog in March this year and I promise to be writing at least once a week afterwards. Well, I didn’t keep to that promise and Titi that I challenged didn’t do either. Shame on me. Feel free to share part of the shame, Titi.

In one of those posts, I pointed out two articles I was going to publish: one about my belief and the other about my boring love-life. I was done with the former since but kept it in my draft with the others. Good news, Tope. Thanks to Techpoint, I would be doing at least one post a week and will probably be pushing out all my drafts. I’m too broke for a penalty, in case there’s any. I had to take a break from InDesign for a final read and publish this.

I think the ‘religious’ tolerance level around me growing up might have impacted my belief in a way. Let’s start from the beginning. I moved in with my maternal grandparents in Ogun state while I was about 10 and there was another cousin of mine who had been with them since birth.

So, my grandparent’s household is a house of religions: my grandfather was a Christian, my grandmother worshiped Oya, the Goddess of Storms and Winds and my cousin, wait for it, a Muslim. My parents were Christians — my father was one of the top guys in the church back then.

Everyone was doing their thing without disturbing others. Looking back now, I’m thinking I was the black sheep of the household because I took part in everyone’s religious rites. I do attend church back then but once in a while and mostly when a particular aunt of mine is around.

I was always present at grandma’s Oya shrine during their festive period and I also observed the Ramadan month for a couple of years, until my first year in senior secondary classes, I think.

It doesn’t end there, my favorite paternal uncle is an Ifa Priest. And other than the last four years that I haven’t been home often, I do attend his annual Ifa festival. Interestingly, his festival is always on August 22nd which is the same with Thabeorah, a day in which the members of The Church of the Lord (Aladura) nationwide assemble in Ogere Remo, Ogun state for an overnight service till 23nd. So, myself and a couple of other cousins would attend the Ifa festival during the day after which we would head for the service in Ogere which is just about 20 minutes drive or so.

I don’t know if I ever took any of these as religion or not. For me, it was just about having fun and being there for people I care about except for Christianity which I was born into. Here’s a kicker, I was a member of the choir in my grandfather’s church, which was just for a couple of months anyways.

Live and let live

— yinka (@theYinkaSanya) May 25, 2020

Back to that household, there was never a single fight or argument about whose belief system was right, wrong or better. It was all peaceful co-existence and my grandparents remained married — for over 50 years — till my grandpa passed and my grandma was a devoted believer of the Goddess until her last breath.

For me right now, it’s just ‘live and let live.’ I try as much as possible to avoid making comments about someone’s belief. If you know me well, you must have noticed a silver crucifix on my neck. Well, an ex made me start wearing it when I was forced to a Celestial church for “prayer” and I was asked to get a crucifix. I still use it once a while. I just like it, no string attached. And yes, my favourite statement to one of my cousins is ‘Olorun a wo e’ which means ‘God would look after you’ which I usually say jokingly.

In the last couple of years, the idea of God or the end time has been fascinating and documentaries like The Jesus code and The story of God made it more fascinating: how every religion has its own version of the creation story as well as Gods or gods.

Pew Research Center in a 2015 demographic analysis put Christianity as the largest religious group in the world, with 32% of the earth population as at then. Other religions on the top include Islam with 24.1%, Irreligious affiliation with 16% and Hinduism followed closely with 15.1%. Fun fact, three religions consider Jerusalem as a holy city: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 

A psychology professor in ‘The Story of God’ documentary believes we mistake random chance for a miracle which we attribute to the existence of God. Is he right or wrong? I don’t know, I just want answers.

Let’s forget about the third spot, Hinduism on the fourth spot has many ‘Gods’ and various creation stories. Moses saw God through a burning tree, Budha found enlightenment under a tree while Mohammed experienced Allah on a mountain.

One of the key takeaways for me from The story of God documentary is that Eden is where life began according to the Christians, Muslims and Jewish traditions but the whereabouts of this place remains a mystery. And there are some other unanswered questions in the documentary. The Jesus Code documentary also raised some questions about Jesus as well.

I have a curious mind which drew me to the documentaries I mentioned above. There are just questions: the first verse of the Bible said God created heaven and earth in the beginning and no reference to the solar system. Other planets are not referenced in this part of the Bible and I’m not sure they were ever referenced in any part.

For me right now, I don’t know what I believe in: it boils down to ‘live and let live.’ I try as much as possible to keep my tolerance in line. The last couple of times I was inside a church were for ceremonies: weddings and my big brother’s ordination as a deacon. My other brother was once a churchwarden, by the way. This is bringing us back to the black sheep reference or maybe, it’s just the other reason 🤔

I think everything is in the way we relate and treat other people. This is me not judging, but judging, my grandma who worshiped the Goddess of Storms and Winds till her last breath had more empathy and compassion for others, which is one of the things I liked and cherished about her.

Waoh, this is one long epistle. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk and for not minding any Grammatical error in there. Other information is available to premium subscribers only😉. Please, note that there’s a comment section below.