CHURCH attendance, fervent religious attitudes, and a strong faith in a supreme being are reportedly declining in many parts of the world, especially in the US where the recent research by Pew Research Center showed “the steadily rising share of people who are religiously unaffiliated – from 16 per cent in 2007 to 23 per cent in 2014.”

The results also showed that “the increase in religious unaffiliated is becoming a worldwide phenomenon with these unbelievers making up the largest religious group in many countries and territories and also the second-largest group in roughly (48 per cent) of the world’s nations.” People of no religion, now referred to as “Nones” rank second in size in most of the Americas and Europe, as well as in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Even Ireland, that cradle of Nigerian Catholicism, is not exempt. Irish writer, Mary O’Regan, has been commenting on the recent vote for same-sex marriage which she categorised as “one for the history books – the first time a country has legitimised gay marriage by popular vote” and she attributed this to the Church’s loss of power and influence in Irish life, which has left a vacuum and elephantine emptiness that is now filled by secularism.

Religious explosion

If religion is losing ground in many parts of the world, the reverse appears to be the case in Nigeria which at present seems to be experiencing a religious explosion – not only among the masses whom Karl Marx said depended on it as opium addicts – but also among the most educated, including our leading scientists such as the world renowned agronomist, Professor Bede Nwoye Okigbo, who retired as Scientific Director, the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, and before that had held scientific positions at Moor Plantation and the University of Ibadan; the University of Nigeria, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, following scientific studies at Washington State University, Pullman, and Cornell University, Ithaca, both in the United States of America.

With a 1958 Ph.D in Agronomy – the science and technology of food plants, fibre and land use, genetics, and soil science, and nearly 60 years of active involvement in scientific experiments, Professor Okigbo has an intimate knowledge of science, the scientific process, and the elements that constitute the essence of science.

As a qualified geneticist, he is well acquainted with the principles of natural selection, the survival of species and the science of procreation and regeneration in plants and animals. In his country home in Ojoto which is quintessentially a man-made “forest of a thousand foreign and indigenous plants”, he practices agronomy and genetics every day. Case in point: One of his mango trees has three branches each yielding different varieties of mango fruits, to the amazement of village children and even some old adults alike. He literally adores every tree and derives unimaginable pleasure in telling stories of the individual circumstances of his trees and shrubs, as if they have their physical persona and spiritual souls.

Professor Okigbo embraced science very early in his life at Government College Umuahia where, according to Chinua Achebe, one of his classmates, the young Bede was more at home in the school garden and farm than in the dormitory or games field. Since those leafy days at Umuahia experimenting with okra and water leaf, and later continuing with further scientific studies in Nigeria and the US, Professor Okigbo has not looked back nor is he in any doubt about the uncontrollable force of nature and the power of science. He grew up in a Christian family which is reputed to have brought the Roman Catholic Mission (church and school) to his hometown of Ojoto in Anambra State.

But being a staunch Catholic with unwavering faith in God, and believing the Bible to be the true word of God, Professor Okigbo has no doubt also that God’s hand and footprints are all over the universe and in all of creation. At St. Odilia’s Church Ojoto where he worships every Sunday, he sits in his familiar spot in the second pew, up close and personal with the parish priest, Monsignor Nwosu, who often uses him to illustrate some of the points of his usually witty, humorous, and instructive homilies.

Professor Okigbo is convinced there is God’s hand in his fulfilling career starting with his going to live with his uncle Chief James Okigbo, following the death of his mother when he was only four years old. It was also the hand of God that led him to Government College Umuahia, with another uncle Warrant Officer Edward Okigbo providing the decisive admission deposit that secured his place in the first year class. Other acts of God in his life include his fortuitous admission to Washington State University, the Ford Foundation extension of his undergraduate scholarship to cover his master’s education at Cornell University from 1954 to 1957, the ease with which he completed doctoral studies, and his successful careers as university teacher, international scholar, and now a Knight of the Catholic Church and most revered head of the Okigbo family.

“Couldn’t all these be simple plain good luck?” He shrugs off the question, affirming in his characteristic loud baritone voice: “Luck does not negate the existence and the hand of God in the affairs of men and women.”   He hastens to add that he is “100% convinced that God is real; when we die, we must stand before the creator and give a minute-by-minute account of our actions and inactions on earth. It’s a pity many of us are ignorant of the various important religions of the world, and we are all the poorer for this.” Even at a ripe old age of 90, he still reads every day, and said that he now re-reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World Religions.  Knowing more about world religions opens our eyes to the infinite presence of a living God and the changing landscape for world beliefs. For instance, Indonesia is currently home to the world’s largest Muslim population but by 2050, it will be India with its more than 310 million Muslims. But by 2070, Muslims and Christians are projected to be roughly equal, with Muslims the slightly larger group after that year, according to Pew Research Center (2015).

Although he is ardently religious, Professor Okigbo has no doubt that “science has an important place in today’s world because of the scientific method of staking a claim, collecting relevant data, testing hypotheses, accepting or rejecting or modifying our positions, as the case may be. Science has brought tremendous improvements in agriculture, medicine, transportation and many others spheres of our social world.” What does he think about the fate of our ancestors who died before Christ’s birth who did not have the opportunity to know about Christianity?

Science and firm faith

Reiterating his belief in the second coming of Christ at the end of time, he says “people who died before Christ and thus never had the chance to accept Christ as their Messiah are at the mercy of God’s judgment and in the end, God will judge us all according to our deeds.”

Professor Okigbo, renowned agronomist, entomologist and geneticist extraordinaire shows us that being a scientist should not necessarily make us agnostics. Science and a firm faith in a supreme God are not necessarily incompatible or mutually exclusive. In his view, being a thorough going scientist makes it easier – not more difficult – to believe in an all-powerful supernatural being who is responsible for the unwavering regularities and other amazing features of nature and our natural environment. To understand plant and animal genetics and ecology is to see the hand of God all around us all the time.