Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has said he prefers the traditional Orisa worship to Christianity and Islam because he is fascinated by the mystery.
Speaking with CNN’s Larry Madowo in a recent interview, the professor said Orisa worship 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,” he said.
Soyinka added, “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.”
The nonagenarian said he struggles to watch anything adapted from his life or works, noting that it makes him “extremely uncomfortable” and takes “me a while to bring myself to watch me.”
