Why I prefer Orisa worship to Christianity, Islam — Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka says he prefers traditional Orisa worshipping to Christianity and Islam because it fascinated him more.

Soyinka said this in an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo, where he further explained that the deepness of faith in Islam and Christianity doesn’t match that of Orisa worshipping for him.

According to him, Orisa worshipping eschews violence and is more creative.

“I was fortunate to be born in two worlds – the Christian world and traditional Orisa worshippers. My grandfather, until he – poor man – also got converted – he was an Orisa person and a chief, and his (grandfather’s) side (of Orisa) fascinated me a lot more.

“For me, it (Orisa worshipping) was more artistic, creative, and also more mysterious. I don’t find much of the mysterious in Christianity and even less in Islam and that is for a simple reason that I didn’t grow up in a Muslim environment.

“Orisa is open, and very ecumenical and that is why these foreign religions were able to penetrate it and even distort the truth. Because of the generosity of this spirit (Orisa), it is not violent. It is one of those African religions which eschew violence.

“I don’t believe in the Islamic or Christian God and for the adherents of these religions if that makes me an atheist, so I say, I am an atheist. I insisted that all human beings have a certain spiritual core in their being, I believe myself to be a more spirit-sensitive person.”