Pastors & Imams: Places Not To Preach

Before you read please know that this article wasn't published to criticize any religion.  
By Hafeez Onitilo

I so much enjoy writing about issue that would be controversial so that people can talk about it, at the same time I try not to write anything controversial about religion because I know how sentimental people tend to get concerning this matter. Today I think I am going to break my rule.
I was in a bus going to Oshodi when something happened to me and that is what inspired this write up. Just for the record let me state that this would be the second time I would find myself in this situation but I only reacted on this particular day. Like I said I was in the bus and this man stood up and said “please can I get your attention as I say good morning to you all. I would like you all to join me and thank the lord for everything great he has done in your life......”. At first I thought it was going to be a ten minutes kind of prayer but to my utmost surprise the man finished the prayer and started preaching.

My first experience with this situation was far annoying because on the first situation the man that stood up to pray, did a full praise and worship from Ikotun to Oshodi engaging most of the people in the bus. When the noise became unbearable to me I inserted my ear piece into my ears and that was when the thought came to me. The thought was simple, what if I get an important call, would I be able to answer the call in this bus full of noise? In my second experience the man that stood up, did a little praise and worship before he began his preaching and just like I did the first time, I relied on my ear piece to help me deal with the situation. While listening to music via my ear piece the same thought I had during my first experience came back to me and this time I decided to act on that thought and see what was going to happen, well trust me it didn't turn out well for me.

As the man was preaching I cut in and said “Oga pastor please I want to make a very important call can you please pause or stop the preaching” and that was how I became the devil in the bus. The insult I received was more than that of someone who stole Maggi in the market, people started saying all sort of things like “which can boy you be”, “you know get home training”, “is that call important than God?”. When all those things were being said I sat quiet like a thief that is been paraded on national TV saying to myself “oh boy you for just keep quiet” but when I heard “you don't talk to the man of God like that” I just lost it and I was like “being the man of God,  does that mean he shouldn't respect my peace, did God tell him not to care about others when he his preaching the gospel. My reactions became so provoking that I insulted the so called man of God and those that were in support of him and at the end it actually took the intervention of God for me not to have a physical fight with people in the bus.

Now my point is this, you don't say because you are a man of God you should use that to disturb the peace of other people. You are in a public bus that is conveying different people that have different thought running through to their minds and you begin to disturb their thought by preaching. Are you saying because he is a man of God he shouldn’t care if that man sitting in front of him is seriously going through a financial crisis and while in the bus he is to trying to figure the best way to improve his situation? or are you saying because he is a man of God he shouldn’t care about the lady beside him who might just be waiting for that call that would change her life forever?. Let me paint you a better picture so you can get where my annoyance is coming from, imagine you were in that bus and all of a sudden your phone rang, the caller is the M.D of the company you have been pursuing to give you a contract worth millions. Definitely you would want to pick at least to know why he his calling you, you pick and he says “I am giving you five minute to convince me to award you the contract” and before you could talk he added this “that place you are is noisy can you leave to a more quiet place”. Now tell me what you would do?

I am not against people preaching the word of God but I am totally against preaching in public place as it is not only constituting nuisance, it is also causes noise pollution and it is disturbing the peace of a fellow citizens unless probably it is a gathering that allows such if not preaching in the bus from Oshodi to Ikotun or anywhere for that matter, carrying a megaphone around 5:30am shouting “Give your life to Christ”  or "accept Allah" in front of another man’s house is a total no no for me. If you want to be a pastor or imam, if you are certain that you got the divine call not that you just woke up one day and say God has chosen you, then there are better ways of doing it. Instead of standing in the middle of Ikeja on a Monday morning preaching to people who are trying to get to their various place of work, why not go to your church or mosque and ask you pastor or imam to allow you share the alter with him. This would only be a problem if you are a want to be pastor or imam but if you are that person who got the divine call then I am sure that wouldn’t be a problem. Thank you