WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS ELECTIONS,
NOT DO OR DIE WAHALLA,

[b][/b]Stupendously wealthy Nigerian Pentecostal preachers and clerics have come under serious attack at the two-day national convention of the Nigerian Humanist Movement (NHM), which ended Saturday afternoon in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The forum brought together students, children, scholars, government officials, atheists, sceptics, rationalists, agnostics, freethinkers and professionals from different fields to discuss Humanism as the next step in Nigeria.

Declaring open the forum which marked the 15th anniversary of the birth of the NHM, Leo Igwe, the administrative secretary of the Oyo State –NHM, told participants that many people across Nigeria and the world were looking up to them. “Meetings like this should spread message of reason, science and free inquiry, and usher in an era of positive and progressive change, hope and light,” he charged.

Speakers and participants after one another slammed the various rulers of the Nigerian state, past and present, as well as citizens for allowing a great nation like Nigeria to tumble into a chaotic religious jungle with poverty, disease, ignorance, corruption and crime to rule.

In the first paper, “Invitation To Humanism? What’s On Offer ? Dr. Tunde Arogundade, a UK-based politician scientist and humanist, revealed that he had obtained information about the forum on June 8, 2011 from SaharaReporters, which he declared to be his church. He advised all to always visit the online site, which he described as, an “authoritative, reliable news source.”
According to Dr. Arogundade, “Youths instead of going to church should befriend it. We need change that will bring good, peace for us all.”

Expressing shock that there were humanists in Nigeria, he said, “Evangelists in Nigeria have developed serious business acumen that is the envy of many non-spiritual entrepreneurs. The trick of business diversification has not been lost to the likes of David Oyedepo, Chris Oyakhilome, Chris Okotie and Mattew Ashimolowo etc.”

He noted that in combination, their churches have cornered a significant percentage of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “Super pastors own a variety of businesses,” he stressed. “The sheer opulence of some of the most successful churches has given rise to the calls that the churches be taxed like a company, a money making enterprise.”

Steve O. Okecha, a distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the office of the Minister of Education, Federal secretariat, Abuja, also presented a paper entitled, “ Science and Superstition in Nigeria; A Lop-Sided Partnership “

Okecha attributed the slow pace of development in the country largely to superstition and ignorance, arguing that Nigerians over the years have not lived up to scientific ideas.
The Delta State born scientist described superstition as a national cancer in Nigeria. In his view, “Most Nigerians of all age-grades and different levels of education and exposure are superstitious. You can have a degree in any of the science subjects. That doesn’t make one a scientist. But one without any science degree can be scientific. A scientist must ask critical questions”.

Also at the forum, 86-year-old Sheila Solarin, widow of Dr. Tai Solarin, the popular Nigerian civil rights campaigner, writer and atheist, sent a strong and well-written solidarity message to participants.

The unapologetic British atheist, who could not appear on account of health problems, challenged Nigerians to reject religion, stating that it has done more harm than good to Nigerians and the nation. He called upon young people, in particular, to pursue good knowledge, science and reason, to doubt, and to criticize.

Like Mrs Solarin, many people around the world also extended their solidarity to the NH on its 15th birthday. They included Norman Allen, secretary of the Institute of Science and Human Values; Tanya Smith, President of Atheist Alliance International, a global network of atheists and free-thought groups and individuals committed to promoting atheism, secularism and related issues; Dr. Bill Cooke, Director of international programs of the Centre for Inquiry; and John Dowdle Mafrsa, President of Watford Area Humanists

(CNN) -- A group of atheists has filed a lawsuit to stop the display of the World Trade Center cross at a memorial of the 9/11 terror attacks.
The "government enshrinement of the cross was an impermissible mingling of church and state," the American Atheists say in a press statement.
The group says it filed the lawsuit this week in state court in New York and posted a copy of the lawsuit on its website.
The lawsuit names many defendants, including the state of New Jersey, the city of New York , New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
The World Trade Center cross, two intersecting steel beams that held up when the twin towers collapsed on September 11, 2001, is seen as iconic to some.
The cross was moved Saturday from near a church to its new home at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. There was also ceremonial blessing of the cross in a service led by Father Brian Jordan, a Franciscan monk who ministered to workers clearing the area after the 9/11 attacks.
Joe Daniels, 9/11 Memorial president, said Saturday that the cross is "an important part of our commitment to bring back the authentic physical reminders that tell the history of 9/11 in a way nothing else could.
"Its return is a symbol of the progress on the Memorial & Museum that we feel rather than see, reminding us that commemoration is at the heart of our mission."
But the atheist group says the cross sends a symbol of something different.
"The WTC cross has become a Christian icon," said Dave Silverman, president of the atheist group. "It has been blessed by so-called holy men and presented as a reminder that their god, who couldn't be bothered to stop the Muslim terrorists or prevent 3,000 people from being killed in his name, cared only enough to bestow upon us some rubble that resembles a cross. It's a truly ridiculous assertion."

HI,
AM EDMOND,
B.Sc Political science,

!@denitro,
are u really sure of what are saying, tennis been played in pharaoh court,
i don't think that is the real interpretation of it.

WHAT DO U EXPECT FROM FROM SUCH PEOPLE?

i would love to,