Apparently, atheism by its nature is enticing having regard to its impacts in today’s world. Nonetheless, when particularly zoomed in, there are reasonable doubts which call for answers in terms of developmental issues. Surprisingly, many people are not aware of these two opposing philosophical battles between theism on one part and atheism on the other part because of the surge influence of atheism, which has pushed the doctrine of theism to the corner of religion.

Unbeknownst to many, the doctrine of atheism supporting the development of a nation, which lays emphasis on human prowess, is a camouflage one. A deceptive doctrine which on the surface appears to be nice and attractive but inwardly is nothing but a destructive force to the success of a nation and a gangrene in the life vessel of society as well. Atheism, as must be put on record, is not a new doctrine although its influence has surged with the rise of technological innovation. It has existed during time memorial, however, changing names over the years like a chameleon, including names like secularism, humanism, nihilism, sophism, positivism, etc.

This doctrine always rises where pride, as a result of economic success, sets into society. As agreed among many notable authors like Jim Nelson Black in his book When Nations Die, Edward Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Samuel Noah Eisenstadt in The Decline of Empires, it has been clearly pointed out that “the decline or fall of a nation has always been ushered in by the dominance of atheism doctrine, which leaves an indelible impact on culture, religion, or morality as a whole,” citing the cases of the fall of the Roman Empire, Greek, British Empire, French Empire, etc. But the question is, how does it operate, how does it contribute to the decline of a nation, and how does it justify the reasons why Africa is still poor? These questions form part of the numerous subtopics discussed in this article.

On the summary, the operation of the doctrine of atheism could be well understood if one reads about the Greek ideology of sophism, and it is on this same line of reasoning that all branches of the atheist doctrine trend, regardless of their names, as already underlined. Sophists, according to European History on Greece, were philosophers who were interested so much in societal problems and how to solve them.

Popular among them were Socrates and Plato. According to this school of thought, it is neither the community nor the gods, but the individual who is the center of philosophical explanation.

They believe that man is the measure of all things. In other words, the world is as we see it, and there is nothing like universal truth to which everyone is subjected. All points of view could be defended if one masters the ‘rhetoric.’ And it is ‘rhetoric’ that would create so many academic disciplines in European schools and further be exported to African countries through colonization. The crux of this “rhetoric,” which ought to be mastered, is logical thinking, persuasive writing, and speaking.

The conclusion sought to be driven here is ‘conversational wisdom,’ and it is exactly how modern politics and other philosophical ideologies have gained world attention through its adepts: Marxism, Feminism, Homosexuality, Humanism, Nihilism, Secularism, Positivism, Postmodernism, Political Liberalism, John Rawls’ theory of justice, etc. More particularly, the rhetoric struggle in the philosophical battle for human minds begins with an analysis seeking to explain and tackle societal problems by the known facts (the physical things), not by the unknown facts (the spiritual things which include God and His biblical principles), which are deemed mere opinions.

So, according to this line of reasoning, whenever a speculative question on societal problems rears its head, the point of reasoning should be centered on finding solutions that are near to us, not solutions that cannot be detected by human senses (like religious matters). In short, the subject of God is irrelevant in any humanitarian issues or dispensation. According to the Sophists, it is this rhetorical reasoning that is the way to both political and societal success.

But as I have been pointing out along the line, these atheism doctrines, like Sophism, only gain popularity whenever a nation is on the rising scale of economic success wherein pride sets in. The assumption of pride makes the successful nations recount to other nations, who look up to them, stories of immediate actions (seen acts) that contributed to their success, not the unseen acts which their forefathers employed as the foundation for the development of the seen acts.

In simple terms, morality, which is the foundation of society’s development, is ignored whenever a successful nation tells its story. Its success story is premised on those man-made products or institutions that are outwardly seen as contributing factors to its economic success. That is exactly the story presented to us by the Europeans and the Western countries, which are considered the primary models for nation development in the modern era.

The story of those successful nations could be compared to a beautiful crop with bountiful fruits on it, planted on good soil. In the field of agricultural study, it is not the stem, its leaves, or its branches that recount the fertility of the beautiful crop, but the fact that it was planted on good soil with a good conditional environment and also good farming practices like watering, soil cultivation, and tilling. But these facts, which contribute to the fertility of the crop, do not receive the necessary praise as much as the crop itself, just like the edifice design of a building has more attention than its foundational work. So, how the Europeans or the Western countries developed their countries, or the foundational tool to their development, is not being told to us, Africans.

What we are told is the human measures put in place to boost their economic growth, which is not as important to us, whose foundation is weak or non-existent. Unfortunately for us as Africans, we have not been inquisitive enough to find out the true story but rather gluttonously buying into their half-truth stories or lies based on this atheism doctrine, making them seem like some special humans with special gifts.

Pathetically, from the onset of the independence of African nations, our forefathers and current leaders believed that the poverty problem of Africa could only be eradicated through the proliferation of these human-made adventures. And what are they? Institutional and human resources development, provision of quality human services, and infrastructural development like roads, hospitals, and schools. Unsurprisingly, the level of financial and human investment expended in achieving these feats, compared to the rate of our developmental achievement, is appalling.

Although some results could be boasted of in terms of improvement in the standard of living compared to the pre-colonial era, on the whole, a chunk of the investment has gone wasted through corruptive practices and unwise employment of the revenue. A study by James Person in his article entitled “The Sorry Record of Foreign Aid in Africa” revealed instances of wasted foreign aid, of which I cite a few herein: (1) In Senegal, $4 million was spent to increase cattle production in the Bakel region, but in the end, only 882 additional cattle were being reared there. (2) In Northern Kenya, Norwegian aid agencies built a fish-freezing plant to help employ the Turkana people, but after completion, it was discovered that the plant required more power than was available in the entire region.

(3) In another aid fiasco, $10 million was spent in Tanzania to build a cashew-processing plant. The plant had a capacity three times greater than the country’s entire cashew production, and the costs were so high that it was cheaper to process the cashews in India instead. (4) “In South Africa, over $2 million donated by the European Union was used to stage an ‘AIDS awareness’ play, Sarafina II. While the funds provided a luxury bus for cast and crew, they did little to educate the public about AIDS.

AIDS experts condemned the play as a waste of money—it consumed 20 percent of South Africa’s entire AIDS budget—and said it contained inaccurate information as well. A heavily promoted showing of the play in Soweto was attended by fewer than 100 people.

The play was pulled, but the funds were never recouped. The EU insisted that none of its funds were used on the project, but then-Minister of Health Nkosazana Zuma disputed that.”

The cases cited are just a glimpse of squandered foreign aid meant to develop the economies of the African countries mentioned. Many more cases abound in all African countries with no exception, and it is not only for foreign aid but also for wasted government revenues (monies) and investments by government agencies and their cronies, which I would explore further in detail in the main body of this article.