Societal evils: who's fault?
SOCIETAL EVILS: WHOSE FAULT?
The common view people held about evil is that Esu/Devil is being responsible for it. Esu in the Yoruba cosmology is more or less an inspector saddled with the responsibility of accepting rituals, sacrifices and as well rejects sacrifices not properly offered. He also has the prerogative to sanction the sacrifices offered. Most societal problem today has been labeled at Esu/Devil when this man is even innocent. The devil will beat the hell out of most people on the last day because of the lies they attributed to him. Esu is both ambidextrous and ubiquitous. By ambidexterity we mean that the devil is both good and bad while ubiquitous we mean that that he is everywhere. From the Yoruba perspective, he is a good person likewise primordial divinity. On the other side i.e. Christianity and Islamic religion, he is bad. He is often referred to as Iblis/Shaitan in Islam and that is why the first articles of faith in Islam stresses belief in God alone and Al –Quran says:"God is He, besides whom, there is no god, the living, the self-subsisting and eternal"(Q 3;2).
The palpable nature of the devil in the biblical and quranic context should not be a much debate because other factors are militating against the society. On this note, the concept of physical and moral evils shall be elucidated. As earlier said, it is obvious that Esu is not responsible for most of the evils we encountered today. To grasp a holistic approach to the evils of the society, we have to leave the idea of devil aside first. Thus in religious philosophy there is the concept of "Theodicy". A talk of God's righteousness. According to St.Augustine the proponent of this theory said among others that in God's righteousness evil is a privation of good. Therefore evil is not a product of God but existed side by side with good. As a matter of fact, the position of St.Augustine was not totally accepted because for evil to have existed it means it is a product of something. Therefore many scholars such as Thomas Aquinas, Anselm and others are of the view that evil is a product of God. In actuality, evil according to Dopamu is a negation of good which came into being for certain assignment. In order not to advance further argument on the genesis of evil, it is however important to recognize who is responsible for evil in this present age. Physical evils are that found expression in the physical phenomenon like tornado, hurricane, earthquake and other natural disasters .
In actual fact, human beings are directly responsible for most of these evils. From the scientific discovery of geographers and radiologist, we come to the realization that the ozone layer is wearing off gradually due to the emission of carbon IV oxide into the atmosphere. The layer protecting us from the direct ray of sun is now destroyed exposing the human race to dangers. Due to the release of this carbon from factory engines, vehicles exhaust, flames e.t.c which is polluting the air, we are all victims of this bad happening. New York for example in the next 250 years will seize to exist. Water is now taking more part of the earth crust. Plainly, many earthquakes also have man directly or indirectly responsible for it. We fell trees and deforest everywhere without planning for aforestation. Unknown to most, such land move to fill the empty space where a tree is uprooted. Gradually house too will have to move from where it is stationed thereby losing balance. Moral evils are evils that we are mostly responsible for like incest, man's inhumanity, rape e.t.c. A person that looks at his fellow brother straight in the eyes and put a bullet in his head, will you say the devil came to tell him to do it. His action cannot be said to be precipitated by the devil because in problem solving and decision making, there is variety from which we can choose. Two conflicting ideas are fighting for prominence in which we are battle with choice. We can always differentiate good from bad because of the problems inherent and consequence associated with it. This solves the discrepancy between advising and counseling. There is still ongoing argument on this topic as explanations doesn't relieve anxiety of many.
Consequently we can avoid some if not all of the physical evil by some of the measures enumerated above. Moral evils I believe can be avoided because it has to do with decision making. Applying the model of Borman, Colson, Cox and Herring (1981) to the problem of moral evil, it will go a long way moral evil to stoop low. They identified seven (7) methods in battling with problems in order to avoid this moral evil we've been talking of since. Identify the problem, gather information, identify alternatives, weigh evidence, choose, take action, evaluate action to avoid sinning. Identifying a problem for instance lets take to adultery. When we gather information we see unfaithfulness to one's partner may lead to being infected with sexual transmitted diseases like aids, syphilis e.t.c. It's sinful and also causes break of home among other consequences. Identifying alternative: not to commit adultery we see that the home is maintained, God is pleased we avoid getting infected when we weigh the evidences. Action can be to commit adultery or not to. If choice is negative, actions to take now is to caution oneself, spend much time with ones family, and seek divine intervention, being prayerful and being disciplined. After the whole thing the outcome can be evaluated. In a nutshell, it is quite undeniable that many are responsible for most of the societal evils. If the theory above is applied the evils in the society will be minimal if not eradicated totally.
Yayi Timothy
The common view people held about evil is that Esu/Devil is being responsible for it. Esu in the Yoruba cosmology is more or less an inspector saddled with the responsibility of accepting rituals, sacrifices and as well rejects sacrifices not properly offered. He also has the prerogative to sanction the sacrifices offered. Most societal problem today has been labeled at Esu/Devil when this man is even innocent. The devil will beat the hell out of most people on the last day because of the lies they attributed to him. Esu is both ambidextrous and ubiquitous. By ambidexterity we mean that the devil is both good and bad while ubiquitous we mean that that he is everywhere. From the Yoruba perspective, he is a good person likewise primordial divinity. On the other side i.e. Christianity and Islamic religion, he is bad. He is often referred to as Iblis/Shaitan in Islam and that is why the first articles of faith in Islam stresses belief in God alone and Al –Quran says:"God is He, besides whom, there is no god, the living, the self-subsisting and eternal"(Q 3;2).
The palpable nature of the devil in the biblical and quranic context should not be a much debate because other factors are militating against the society. On this note, the concept of physical and moral evils shall be elucidated. As earlier said, it is obvious that Esu is not responsible for most of the evils we encountered today. To grasp a holistic approach to the evils of the society, we have to leave the idea of devil aside first. Thus in religious philosophy there is the concept of "Theodicy". A talk of God's righteousness. According to St.Augustine the proponent of this theory said among others that in God's righteousness evil is a privation of good. Therefore evil is not a product of God but existed side by side with good. As a matter of fact, the position of St.Augustine was not totally accepted because for evil to have existed it means it is a product of something. Therefore many scholars such as Thomas Aquinas, Anselm and others are of the view that evil is a product of God. In actuality, evil according to Dopamu is a negation of good which came into being for certain assignment. In order not to advance further argument on the genesis of evil, it is however important to recognize who is responsible for evil in this present age. Physical evils are that found expression in the physical phenomenon like tornado, hurricane, earthquake and other natural disasters .
In actual fact, human beings are directly responsible for most of these evils. From the scientific discovery of geographers and radiologist, we come to the realization that the ozone layer is wearing off gradually due to the emission of carbon IV oxide into the atmosphere. The layer protecting us from the direct ray of sun is now destroyed exposing the human race to dangers. Due to the release of this carbon from factory engines, vehicles exhaust, flames e.t.c which is polluting the air, we are all victims of this bad happening. New York for example in the next 250 years will seize to exist. Water is now taking more part of the earth crust. Plainly, many earthquakes also have man directly or indirectly responsible for it. We fell trees and deforest everywhere without planning for aforestation. Unknown to most, such land move to fill the empty space where a tree is uprooted. Gradually house too will have to move from where it is stationed thereby losing balance. Moral evils are evils that we are mostly responsible for like incest, man's inhumanity, rape e.t.c. A person that looks at his fellow brother straight in the eyes and put a bullet in his head, will you say the devil came to tell him to do it. His action cannot be said to be precipitated by the devil because in problem solving and decision making, there is variety from which we can choose. Two conflicting ideas are fighting for prominence in which we are battle with choice. We can always differentiate good from bad because of the problems inherent and consequence associated with it. This solves the discrepancy between advising and counseling. There is still ongoing argument on this topic as explanations doesn't relieve anxiety of many.
Consequently we can avoid some if not all of the physical evil by some of the measures enumerated above. Moral evils I believe can be avoided because it has to do with decision making. Applying the model of Borman, Colson, Cox and Herring (1981) to the problem of moral evil, it will go a long way moral evil to stoop low. They identified seven (7) methods in battling with problems in order to avoid this moral evil we've been talking of since. Identify the problem, gather information, identify alternatives, weigh evidence, choose, take action, evaluate action to avoid sinning. Identifying a problem for instance lets take to adultery. When we gather information we see unfaithfulness to one's partner may lead to being infected with sexual transmitted diseases like aids, syphilis e.t.c. It's sinful and also causes break of home among other consequences. Identifying alternative: not to commit adultery we see that the home is maintained, God is pleased we avoid getting infected when we weigh the evidences. Action can be to commit adultery or not to. If choice is negative, actions to take now is to caution oneself, spend much time with ones family, and seek divine intervention, being prayerful and being disciplined. After the whole thing the outcome can be evaluated. In a nutshell, it is quite undeniable that many are responsible for most of the societal evils. If the theory above is applied the evils in the society will be minimal if not eradicated totally.
Yayi Timothy
