Of bad men and the impotence of ghosts, hell

To the extent that pastors and witchdoctors con our people, Uganda is still a primitive society. However, the number of unquestioning believers among their followers may be going down.

It is rather like gamblers who stake their money knowing that the chances of winning are lower than those of losing, and a win does not mean that gambling is profitable or recommended. It simply means that you have been lucky.

The pastor and the witchdoctor in effect claim to fix that (kind of) random luck. Their incantations, their oils, herbs and other charms supposedly work to summon supernatural powers into service to deliver the client’s desire, or to change the course of action those powers were taking at the behest of hostile agencies.

In primitive cultures – and primitive mindsets – manipulating these powers is a very serious matter. It can also be a lucrative business, by which the pastor or medium earns a living.

This is one enterprise where total honesty is impossible. The pastor/medium can only be a dignified innocent (primitive) liar, or a contemptible calculating con man.

By the same token, some followers/clients are innocent believers, and others are hypocritical self-exhibitors. Perhaps they think appearing to be very religious will help them secure a job or advance at their work-place. Maybe their public image needs rebranding. And sometimes they want to use their links in the world of the spirits and the occult to intimidate and threaten their enemies and potential enemies.

Sniffing around as God’s dog, I have found all levels of believers – from the primitive fanatic to the most brazen pretender – in the same place of worship. But generally, more of these people understand that ghosts do not really exist, or at least cannot harm anyone.

Also, more and more people doubt whether the region of hell will exist in any literal form. This decline in faith can have far-reaching effects.

Most traditional African belief systems have taboos. They indicate the kinds and severity of punishment that ghosts and other dwellers in the spirit world will mete out to violators of those taboos.

But if the existence or power of ghosts is in question, the fear of punishment from that quarter is probably also in question. Then the ghost of a dead General is as impotent as that of a dead street vendor.

In the related Abrahamic belief systems, the reward for good men is the fantastically beautiful Heaven, and the retribution awaiting evil men is the fantastically horrifying hell. God is supposed to be the judge.

As God’s dog, I can state categorically that God does not deal in fantasies. Whether it is a sad or welcome development, even as they flock to places of worship, more people are beginning to agree. Fewer people are expecting evil doers to be punished in hell, because hell will not exist.

With ghosts impotent, and hell improbable, our suffering people feel that the death of those who torment, humiliate, torture and kill them gives them vents to spit their anger. Just as their tormentors will not go to hell, the victims will not be punished by the ghosts of their tormentors.

Paradoxically, before they cry foul, it is the President’s worshippers, using Pentecostal broadcast stations, who have been teaching our citizens that it is somehow glorifying to be able to hate fiercely and hate permanently, and to be insensitive to the families of political opponents who suffer; that it is all right to deliver raw pain to whoever we disagree with.

Mr Tacca is a novelist, socio-political commentator.

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