Does the church perpetuate ignorance?

This article was first published in the Villager newspaper.

The Villager is a Namibian newspaper under Omalaeti media.

By Andrew SevenSeven

Does the church perpetuate ignorance?

For most, understandably, it is clear that the answer to this question is a resounding yes. But for those less eclectic in terms of their observance of the world, then perhaps this may have struck like a blow to the gut when they watched an NBC news segment a few months ago. The report was about a small object in the north that appeared to have fallen from the sky. When local folk were interviewed, a layman gave an eloquent analysis of the object, citing the crater it created and so forth; other laymen who were not familiar with the subject said so and left it at that. However when the man of the cloth came on to be interviewed, all he could say was something about a sign from God? What exactly was his message, one would wonder? That sometimes random pieces of meteorite fall to the earth?

As embarrassing it this was, perhaps for most, it was merely a moment to relegate with a soft chuckle and maybe shake your head at your friend and say “blunders…” One laughs and moves on. But when you take a step back and absorb the complete panorama of this ignorance, you understand that something much sinister is at hand here. And dangerous to parties on both sides of the church wall. It’s fine when that ignorance is about a little black rock in the north but it’s not fine when that ignorance has a detrimental effect on somebody else’s life.

For example, some aspects of the catholic system are against both abortion and contraceptives. But logically, even for married folk, that just doesn’t make any sense. Other church sects discourage people from taking medication because they claim they can heal them, something that is both irresponsible and extremely dangerous and reckless. There are countless other cases of the church being judged and hurt by the church.

It is common knowledge that the church’s history is marred by dark periods like the Inquisitions and the Salem witch trials, most of which many still hold over the church’s head. But it is also known that, if done right, the church can be a good thing. People have been rehabilitated from all kinds of cesspools, and many people involved with the church have helped battle things like child trafficking and hunger. There is also notable work from men like Francis Collins, an Evangelical Christian, who is physician-geneticist and is well renowned for his leadership in the Human Genome Project which has helped in the understanding and treating of diseases and overall the understanding of our own DNA. However, with a skeptical, ever advancing world always ready to pounce on any opportunity to shed the weight of all things ‘churchy’, perhaps the church should be thinking very carefully how it allows itself to be perceived.