Secularism among the Young
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Date
1998-02
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
There is a basic conflict in Africa which no one seems to face with courage. Politicians have
not the courage to cope with it. The Religious are at a loss. They merely ask questions
among themselves, such as 'Where have we gone wrong in our methods of evangelization
and humanization?'. The African intellectuals lock themselves in their own ghettos having
no answers to give. Or they themselves act as the propagators of such ideology among
the young.
What is this conflict? It is a tension between modernity, with all its ideas of secularism, beliefs
and value systems that are indifferent to the thought of God, and pessimism about the
traditional wisdom, morality and the way of life that are handed down from generation to
generation. People of the present time, especially the young, do not find any meaning in
this present changes in the society and they seem to be lost in these conflicts of values.
This culture of modernity is something new to Africa. It is linked with industrialization and
urbanization. This modern way of life represents a corruption of African culture that is
penetrating people of all social groups, but especially the young minds that are more
vulnerable to this current of thought. In Africa modern life-styles and values are spreading
fast through the cities and the media, bringing through new conceptions of family life,
production and consumption of material goods, work, leisure, information and education.
Though modernity has brought many advantages and benefits to cope with the ever
growing population, it also brings negative and even disastrous effects on the traditional
institutions and values which have been built up for centuries, such as modes of education,
styles of work, relationships with nature, religious customs, rites and celebrations - all aspects
of life closely linked with traditional religion.'
These same thoughts have been well summarized by the Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in
Africa
....the rapid evolution of society has given rise to new challenges linked to the
phenomena notably of family uprooting, urbanization, unemployment, materialistic seduction of all kinds, a certain secularization, and an intellectual upheaval caused
by the avalanche of insufficiently critical ideas spread by the media.2
In 1972 the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Believers held a colloquium on Secularism in
Uganda at Gaba Seminary. It brought out a set of conclusions from its study among ten
African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia)? It identified certain common problems that are almost
identical to those of today, more than twenty years later. In fact, the following problems
identified by the colloquium have rapidly increased and have taken deeper roots in
society.
1. The trend towards indifferentism, secularism and unbelief is common among intellectuals
and elites in universities and other places of higher learning. They show dissatisfaction with,
and indifference towards, organized religion. They in turn become carriers of this message
to the other sectors of society.
2. Indifferentism and secular values arise among the educated as a result of the absence
or insufficiency of religious education.
3. The educational gap between many parents and their children tends to undermine the
moral authority of the parents and inclines the children towards unbelief for lack of
continuous parental guidance, especially in spiritual matters.
4. Rapid urbanization and migration from the rural areas in large numbers create unsettling
influences and situations which affect young people's religious, social and psychological
balance. Search for work, shelter and material wealth does not allow them to find time for
religious practices.
5. The presentation of religion and its practices are found to be irrelevant and useless in the
face of present-day economic, social and human needs of the young. 6. Christianity has not adequately identified itself with African cultures. Hence the African
has not been sufficiently touched, which has led to frustration and alienation.
In trying to find the root cause of secularism, without much doubt we can attribute it to the
neo-colonialism of the West and its various forms of influence in different areas of life in
today's society. Though secularism and modernity are present in almost all parts of the
world, it is more conflictive in the third world because it reaches there from the west. Unlike
the slow process of secularism in Europe down through the centuries, there the process is
headlong. In this type of modernization cultural transformation takes place in a historical
process factually characterized by conflict, imperialism, oppression and dependence.°
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Keywords
Secularism, Desecration, Economic Globalization,, Youth and Media, Religious Pluralism