God and National Prosperity: A Working Combo?

Faith plays a bigger role in my life. So don’t get surprised that I am flexing my mental muscles on this subject today. I believe my faith has shaped me a lot – from my spiritual state to my physical state. Living ughaibuni could be stressful, but I am able to I keep me head down and live somewhat stress-free, mainly due to my faith in God…

The American structure, when set by the founding fathers, was purely based on the acknowledgement of God’s supremacy. That’s why God was even placed on the mighty dollar. For ages, America was able to send Christian missionaries across the world and I believe they were rewarded in return. Also, the society was to the most extent conservative in its views and ways of life. My guess is that with advancements in science and technology, the importance of God started to dwindle. I believe that as this society started to explain every aspect of life in scientific terms, God was relegated to lower levels of importance. Also, I believe the rise of celebrities contributed to the replacement of God with tangible “idols” people could easily identify with. We can see that today...

For all y’all in the Northern American hemisphere, you know that the latest talks, particularly in the US of A, has been on removing anything to do with God from governmental spheres. Furthermore, there have been a push, if not pressure to define what marriage is. The underlying objective is for the so-called liberals to legalize homosexual marriages into the mainstream and advance notions that God is not that important.

All of these are happening at a time when the budget deficit is swelling and the war in Iraq is not yielding the “shock and awe” results that everybody in the Bush administration expected. Furthermore, oil prices continue to increase while the ever-increasing Chinese and Indian economies getting fatter and bigger on a daily basis. Oh…what about the Iranian pressure in the Middle East? All of these are putting a mounting pressure on the USA.

From just a logical perspective, these things could be brushed off as political and economic cycles that the world has experienced before. Nonetheless, my mind is telling that these things are somewhat related to Faith, particularly on how the United States is continually and slowly losing its power as its spiritual status. I am convinced the United State's economic power is continually deteriorating.

The main issue to me really in not what is happening in American taken in isolation, but rather to ask a broader question: Does this apply to our beloved Tanzania or any other country for that matter? I would agree with an emphatic YES. My conviction comes from the fact that the country has not faced serious social clashes that the neighboring countries have been through. I know part of the argument, some would say, is that Mr. Nyerere played a role. While I’m convinced that he didn’t “bring” any peace but “maintained” what was there already, I would give him a partial credit on that one.

Besides all that, I am convinced that our country is blessed because we say a prayer every day and night. Please review with me the second verse of the national anthem:

Mungu ibariki Tanzania
Dumisha uhuru na umoja
Wake kwa waume na watoto
Mungu ibariki Tanzania na watu wake


Essentially, the Tanzanian national anthem is a prayer! We might argue that I am just full of blah blah…but I am convinced that this simple prayer has kept the country, despite its problem, far ahead of other neighboring countries. I believe that it is due to this simple prayer; Tanzania will (given we get the right leaders) be the most prosperous country in Africa, if not the entire world.

As for America, which led to this musing, I am convinced that we will start seeing a downward spiral once God is removed from every facet of their life. The spiral has started, but soon it will make this country lose its first place in the world ranking. I have not done a thorough research to conclude that this theory works all the time, but by looking at the US and Tanzania, I can at least theorize that faith in God and prosperity work hand in hand…. may be some day history will prove me right, may be not. But I couldn’t help to wonder…