I caught a glimpse of an interview of the former Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, in which he said he “was praying … that God should guide us out of junk status… [and] for peace.”
I’m just going to come out and say it. Prayer is futile when faced with social injustices, cruelty, barbarism, a slow train of economic collapse, and violence that is spreading in the dark, dank soil of society like a rhizome. It is a bit like WH Auden’s claim that “poetry makes nothing happen”.
#PowerToTruth host @JJTabane was in conversation with former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/d7Cd2IpVKz
— eNCA (@eNCA) February 14, 2022
It is also, as I learned in a previous incarnation, like reading the poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, or having people open up about institutional racism, patriarchy and injustice (then leaving them hanging, and not knowing how to heal them), and expecting structural and institutional change.
Apart from it all being a massive waste of time, prayer gets in the way of, or tends to conceal empirical, actual and real problems in a society that is structurally stratified because of deeply historical injustices. It’s not like people commit crimes when God is not looking. Or, as Hansie Cronje said all those years ago: “The moment I took my eyes off Jesus my whole world turned dark.”
Pray to a god, but don’t expect anything in return
We should not traduce the secular and material grace and kindness of prelates. For instance, a little more than a year ago, when my life had hit rock bottom (for the umpteenth time) a prelate whom I had never met, visited me, brought me food and drink, listened and we shared thoughts and ideas on grace and kindness in that great deontological way that shapes much of my relations with the world, in the sense that I offer good deeds, kindness and respect because of their inherent value.
This runs against the grain of utilitarian or transactional deeds that come with the promise of heaven. The prelate who visited me did not demand or expect anything from me; a thank you and massive respect and appreciation were all I could give, and continue to offer…
Parenthetically, as a society, the second of the only two lighthouses democratic South Africa has had during the relentlessly wild political-economic storm of the past 12 years or so (during which we have survived without any discernible navigational instruments) died on 26 December last year when the former Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, passed away — eight years, almost to the day, after Nelson Mandela died on 5 December 2013.
Both played important and highly effective roles in consolidating our post-apartheid gains. They achieved all of that with their actions and words of encouragement and pacifism, and not through the politics of revenge. I have no insights into their specific religious practices. Although, one of the standout memories I do have of Tutu is when he rescued a man from a mob that was about to burn him to death by “necklacing”. He was also consistent in his appeal to the ruling ANC to turn towards greater ethical and moral conduct. Those were direct political and social interventions…
Prayer and pseudoscience contribute little to nothing to the real world
All of the above notwithstanding, it is difficult to believe that prayer, as Mogoeng explained, is capable of achieving anything, other than a delirium, a trance or some shamanistic ritual. The pseudoscience of Deepak Chopra’s “cosmic consciousness,” “quantum healing” and his redoubtable views on “non-locality” is similarly unhelpful, and probably adds degrees of stupidity to humanity’s descent into the Mariana Trench of ignorance and the foolishness of scientism. But seriously…
Let us try an exercise. One reliable source explains that around the world a child dies from hunger every 10 seconds. “Poor nutrition and hunger are responsible for the death of 3.1 million children a year. That’s nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of 5. The children die because their bodies lack basic nutrients. Globally, 822 million people suffer from undernourishment.”
It is inconceivable that the parents of each child did not pray for each of the children to be spared from a terrifying death. Is this the will of the god prayed to by the children of Abraham? It’s probably worth stating, at this point, that there are archaeologists and historians who have found almost no evidence that Abraham existed. William Dever, Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, investigated the archaeology of the ancient Near East for more than 30 years and wrote several books on the subject. Dever explained that (according to the Hebrew Bible) the first person to form a covenant with God was Abraham.
“One of the first efforts of biblical archaeology in the last century was to prove the historicity of the patriarchs, to locate them in a particular period in the archaeological history… most archaeologists would argue that there is no direct archaeological proof that Abraham, for instance, ever lived.”
Let’s set that aside for another discussion. The problem with Mogoeng’s prayer for economic recovery is misplaced and misguided — at best. Much of South Africa’s financial, economic and political woes have been caused by human agency; from bad policies and lack of implementation, to maladministration, lapses in ethics and outright theft. If God does not intervene in the daily deaths of millions of starving children, what gives Mogoeng the idea that State Capture, corruption, lies and the approaching collapse of state institutions will miraculously be reversed after a few pleas to his creator?
I am in no position to give the good judge any advice, but I will say this; Justice Mogoeng should keep his creator out of our myriad failings. We have none but ourselves to blame. There’s a passage in the memoir of Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, who faced serious resistance from people who feared that industrial modernisation, professionalising the public service, building credible institutions and integrate them into the global political economy would erode the religious identity of Malays. It did not.
“When you cultivate the right work culture, its values and attitudes spread outwards beyond the workplace and are eventually integrated into daily life,” Mahathir wrote.
This is somewhat consistent with my observation, seven years ago, that corruption and unethical behaviour have powerful emulative powers. Political leaders, public servants and leaders, and public intellectuals have a duty (and emulative powers) to steer the country towards greater shared wealth and prosperity, and engender high levels of trust among everyone who lives in South Africa — and to act accordingly. This would not make them any less African, or less Christian; it would simply make the country a better place to raise children.
It would take a lot of convincing to prove that Mogoeng’s creator has the ear of global rating agencies and, for that matter, given all that is going wrong in the world today, that his creator actually cares, or has any sympathy for the miscreants who have dragged us into the current mess.
Mogoeng and any other true believer can pray as much and for as long as they wish. Their relationship with their creator is none of my business. I will say this, though: Pray because you have been given another day. DM
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God works in mysterious ways. We prayed for the DA in Johannesburg so he sent the EFF. You never know ….. so Mogoeng must keep praying next thing the EU builds a coal power station for Mantashe
yeah but other people prayed for the EFF. So who had god’s ear? And why?
And if god does not respond to millions of starving children, if god goes not send a lightning bolt to dispense with really evil people, why would he or she listen to any prayers for better ratings, for help in winning a sports match etc etc?
The mind boggles at the naivete of believers.
“Pray because you have been given another day”. Wonderful insight. You may be closer to God than you think…
Prayer changes the hearts of men (and women). Prayer changes lives and communities. So I strongly disagree with the opinions expressed in this article.
There is no evidence that prayer to any god works. All the gods are man made and all gods are invisible.
Well said Ismail!!!
The moment prayer becomes transactional, it loses credibility.
This is such an interesting commentary on much of contemporary Christianity. The prelate who helped you demonstrated what we have lost: action and relationship. Both with humanity and God. I suggest that action and relationship are ultimately what prayer is about, and it centres us in the present; in a messy, unjust, wounded world.
Children don’t just die by omission, mind. Here are some of the ways in which the “Good Book” suggests children should be killed:
Tie stones around their necks and drown them (Matthew 18:6); mothers should eat their daughters (Lamentations 2:20); fathers should eat their sons (Ezekiel 5:10); starve them to death (Lamentations 4:4); set them on fire (Genesis 19:24 and Leviticus 10:3); smite them dead (Exodus 12:29); Stone them to death (Deuteronomy 21:21); use a sword (Joshua 10:36); smash them in the streets (Nahum 3:10); abandon them (Matthew 19:29); or poison them (Deuteronomy 32:24).
Draai sy nek om, gooi hom in die sloot, trap op sy kop dan is hy dood… siem-bam-ba, mamma se kleinding…
Oh Jan, you clearly got an F in Bible school. You are misinterpreting the Bible. First quote Matt 18. Is to say it is better for a person to go kill himself when he or she abuse children. So please go read the WHOLE Good Book and not someone’s opinion of it and then share it in public forums….
I have actually read the Bible from cover to cover. I don’t know anyone else who has, by the way. The Good Book tells me to HATE my children (Luke 14:26).
I trust you are not too offended by my post. It’s just words. It’s not as if I said you deserve to burn for all eternity, for not having the same beliefs as me.
Now THAT would be offensive….
As far as child abuse goes: Google my name and “child abuse”. You will see that I dedicated a substantial part of my life to putting child sex offenders in prison, where they belong. Unlike your Heavenly Father, who was a witness to every child rape and murder ever committed, and stood idly by without raising a finger.
The man is well past his sell by date.
“Inherent Value”
Lets assume two possible worlds, the one in which a God, Demon always directly intervenes and the other with no such interference at least directly. For the “one world” there seem to follow odd consequences: it’s not clear whether there a need should arise for intervention, since all that happens must accord to the will of such a God, that is, nothing can ever go wrong
In the “other world” all that happens must be as a result of some will other than a God together with operation of the natural laws constitutive of its reality. Now if Human agency is a reality, in which world would it be inherently valuable? If you pick the “other world” than how is it unreasonable for there to be suffering if a God exists? Thus more than the mere existence of evil is needed to show that a belief in a God is unreasonable in such a world.
furthermore, guidance as a form of intervention yet not the only one, is consistent with human agency since such agency does not imply omniscience so that the Judge’s entreating of a higher power is no more credible than asserting “for in Him we live, and move, and have our being” Such a world is compatible with all sorts of agencies, the one neither excluding the other.
Lastly, can you prove that, respect and so on is inherently valuable?
Why bring God into this?
A useless government driven by dirty politics, stealing, raping, killing, incompetence, lying and pathetic superficial consumerist greed is nobody’s fault other than the beings guilty of these putrid deeds. They have the bloody hands.
So too the beings who allow them to get away with their barbaric behaviour.
A human being is supposed to be able to reason, to have a conscience, and be civil and decent. We should also have the ability to make choices and and understand the difference between good and evil.
It is unfortunately inevitable that choices and the things we choose to do have consequences.
We made this bed – we chose the evil of apartheid, then the ANC and we chose to turn a blind eye to what we saw happening to our country and still we choose to accept that nobody is held accountable, we accept the same old evil time and time again. And you blame God! What is God supposed to do?
No, my friend, there is no magic wand. We are responsible. We kill the children, rape the women, steal from the poor, cheat, lie and plunder. We choose not to use the tools we were given to reason and act humanely. We are to blame for this monster we have created. Ours are the bloody hands.
This is the perennial debate between believers and non-believers and former CJ Mogoeng-Mogoeng is (or claims to be) a believer. I say claims to be simply because I cannot know what is in heart, that is between him and Jesus. The Bible tells us that the world is given over to the dominion of Satan and adds thhat the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Living in this world for the Christian (and everyone else) is not, and is not intended to be, a cakewalk. It is a place of trial and testing from which we are intended to go into eternity with spirits tested and cleansed as iron through a fire. The Bible teaches that through Jesus dominion over satan is given to the Church, the spiritual body of Christ. The Church has the power, through prayer, believing prayer that expects answers, to defeat the works of satan, even in the hearts of men. Look at the conversion of Saul to Paul, that was answered prayer. It is a mystery, it is supernatural and it is foolishness to unbelievers and I cannot say why God allows children to suffer, or good people, or the myriad of things I agree are wrong in the world, except through prayerlessness. I was once smug in unbelief, but I have experienced a physical touch from God and I have witnessed actual miracles, which are always an answer to prayer. I know that Jesus is real, but it is not my job to convince you, that is the task of the Holy Spirit. So, I will pray for you, I trust that others will too.