I found the article, Sorry, Prof Kanyeihamba, I am not for demolition, in The Sunday Monitor, June 11 2017 comical. Science was discovered by man and therefore cannot explain his existence.
“If you want instant recognition, give contrarian views. Avoid the majority position. Try to challenge known thought leaders”, goes my mentor. Few people pay attention to popular truth. This is the foundation of all great comedy: create an expectation and suddenly break it. Luckily for Tacca, the expectation is already there in the form of religion. However, the belief in Allah or the Trinity (God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (Abraham’s deity)) are not joking or comedy subjects.
The world population as of today is 7.5 billion people. About 70% are religious – mainly Christians or Muslims. All believe in the existence of the Almighty God or Allah who created Heaven, Earth and all the unseen. The national motto of the world’s leading country in R&D spending, the United States of America, is ‘In God We Trust.’ It is likely that all the literature Tacca has read about science and its explanation of the origins of the universe originate from there. These, dead or alive, despite their immense knowledge and scientific discoveries, could not and still cannot extend life past 300 years, if at all possible! Why?
In Moroto Museum, Karamoja, there is a special rock that is said to be 19 million years old. Why is it easier for the likes of Tacca to accept such a discovery and hard to believe the existence of one who created it?
Science is a result of man’s civilization to adopt to the changing environment. Man, therefore, discovered science. He did not create it. There are so many resources and ideas that were created by God but man is not yet fully advanced and ‘mature’ to discover all of them. This year, a new planet, TRAPPIST-1f, was discovered by NASA, however, it would take another 40 years (235 trillion miles from earth) to travel there. Science discovered by man cannot explain man’s origin and existence. And that is where God starts.
The omissions and commissions by the opportunistic preachers on the streets should not be a benchmark to undermine the existence of God. Satan has got messengers and anyone is a candidate for recruitment depending on their spiritual maturity. It is unfortunate to turn to God at the last minute once the limitations of science in addressing one’s health issues become apparent. The big bang, evolution, etc are discoveries by man.
Simply put, Alan Tacca cannot confirm his true great, great grandparents because he has no means to do so. These are man’s (and science’s) limitations. Other than accepting what your elders told you, how would you confirm? Where would get the samples to subject to DNA analysis (a very recent discovery!) to match with yours? All you have to do, is to accept what your surviving elders told or documented for you about your ancestry. You have no basis to contest. And that is the point Prof Kanyeihamba tried to explain, only that Tacca is stubborn and lucky to still have access to his father’s samples in case he needed them.
We have no advantage of going back in time to change the accounts of visionaries, who also had the advantage of first access to recording and or writing down history as they were told or saw it.
And that is the foundation of religion. We rely on our elders’ accounts, documented or otherwise, of our origins. This forms the basis of our beliefs. There is no need for scientific means to verify, whatsoever. Science is a recent discovery and cannot be of help in explaining the origins of the heavens and earth.
Contrary to Tacca’s anecdotes, there are no documented miracles by current pastors that have been witnessed, documented and attracted global scrutiny like the miracles in the Holy Books.
Tacca has a right to be an atheist, but not blasphemy. He owes respect to all Christians and Muslims and all people of faith. Bigotry or comedy, some subjects are beyond intellectualism. And God or Allah is one of them.
The writer is Mustapha Bernabas Mugisa, The Strategist, mugisa@mustaphamugisa.com
