Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
(Timothy Leary)
Religion from the abinitio, has been a succor to human lives, people
find solace in the dictates of religion and this has been a basis for
several dogmas which had guided human lives from time immemorial. The
grip of religion on human fibers is so strong that Marx believed it to
be “the opium of the masses”. It suffices to say that the importance
of religion cannot be overemphasized as Inter Press Service (2002)
defined religion as a system of faith and worship, which provides
adherents with meaning and purpose in their lives. It is one of the
major institutions in the society, with almost every human civilization
producing a system of religious belief. Religions in all ramifications
are concerned with the transcendent, the spiritual, and with aspects of
life beyond the physical world, religion connects us to the mysterious
and the transcendent and provides us with “answers” to that which
cannot be answered.
Owing to the subjective meanings it accrues to life and individuals,
religion had over the years been a most controversial phenomenon in
relation to scholarly and pedestal discusses. Adherents of religious
beliefs have subjective interpretations to the dictates of their
practices which provides them with a subjective view and analysis of
facts and figures. For instance, Bishop David Oyedepo was declared
Forbes richest pastor in the world with a net worth of $150 million
(Young, 2018) but his response was unsurprising and expected. Oyedepo
was quoted saying “it’s an insult for Forbes to say I’m worth ‘only’
$150m”, insisting to worth many more with a religious-but-un-factual
backup to his claim (Banjo, 2018).
There are plethoras of religions all over the world but within each
organized religion, one generally finds a large number of different
denominations, sects, and cults, each with their own interpretations,
beliefs and practices. Apparently, the society is structured by a
complex set of religious differences and both men and women occupy and
negotiate a range of different positions within this complex matrix in
the religious world. To this end, existing literature in the world of
scholarship such as Woodhead (2013) has favored men and has most often
than not dwelt on the marginalization of women through the practicality
of religion but little attention has been given to the gains of religion
through which women have been empowered and projected to the world
especially in most recent cases.