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No, Justice Mogoeng, prayer will not solve the problems created by greed, avarice and maladministration

Ismail Lagardien
By Ismail Lagardien
15 Feb 2022
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If God does not intervene in the daily deaths of millions of starving children, what gives Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng the idea that State Capture, corruption, lies and the approaching collapse of state institutions will miraculously be reversed after a few pleas to his creator?

I caught a glimpse of an interview of the former Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, in which he said he “was praying … that God should guide us out of junk status… [and] for peace.”

I’m just going to come out and say it. Prayer is futile when faced with social injustices, cruelty, barbarism, a slow train of economic collapse, and violence that is spreading in the dark, dank soil of society like a rhizome. It is a bit like WH Auden’s claim that “poetry makes nothing happen”.  




It is also, as I learned in a previous incarnation, like reading the poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, or having people open up about institutional racism, patriarchy and injustice (then leaving them hanging, and not knowing how to heal them), and expecting structural and institutional change. 

Apart from it all being a massive waste of time, prayer gets in the way of, or tends to conceal empirical, actual and real problems in a society that is structurally stratified because of deeply historical injustices. It’s not like people commit crimes when God is not looking. Or, as Hansie Cronje said all those years ago: “The moment I took my eyes off Jesus my whole world turned dark.” 

Pray to a god, but don’t expect anything in return 

We should not traduce the secular and material grace and kindness of prelates. For instance, a little more than a year ago, when my life had hit rock bottom (for the umpteenth time) a prelate whom I had never met, visited me, brought me food and drink, listened and we shared thoughts and ideas on grace and kindness in that great deontological way that shapes much of my relations with the world, in the sense that I offer good deeds, kindness and respect because of their inherent value.

This runs against the grain of utilitarian or transactional deeds that come with the promise of heaven. The prelate who visited me did not demand or expect anything from me; a thank you and massive respect and appreciation were all I could give, and continue to offer… 

Parenthetically, as a society, the second of the only two lighthouses democratic South Africa has had during the relentlessly wild political-economic storm of the past 12 years or so (during which we have survived without any discernible navigational instruments) died on 26 December last year when the former Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, passed away — eight years, almost to the day, after Nelson Mandela died on 5 December 2013.

Both played important and highly effective roles in consolidating our post-apartheid gains. They achieved all of that with their actions and words of encouragement and pacifism, and not through the politics of revenge. I have no insights into their specific religious practices. Although, one of the standout memories I do have of Tutu is when he rescued a man from a mob that was about to burn him to death by “necklacing”. He was also consistent in his appeal to the ruling ANC to turn towards greater ethical and moral conduct. Those were direct political and social interventions… 

Prayer and pseudoscience contribute little to nothing to the real world  

All of the above notwithstanding, it is difficult to believe that prayer, as Mogoeng explained, is capable of achieving anything, other than a delirium, a trance or some shamanistic ritual. The pseudoscience of Deepak Chopra’s “cosmic consciousness,” “quantum healing” and his redoubtable views on “non-locality” is similarly unhelpful, and probably adds degrees of stupidity to humanity’s descent into the Mariana Trench of ignorance and the foolishness of scientism. But seriously… 

Let us try an exercise. One reliable source explains that around the world a child dies from hunger every 10 seconds. “Poor nutrition and hunger are responsible for the death of 3.1 million children a year. That’s nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of 5. The children die because their bodies lack basic nutrients. Globally, 822 million people suffer from undernourishment.” 

It is inconceivable that the parents of each child did not pray for each of the children to be spared from a terrifying death. Is this the will of the god prayed to by the children of Abraham? It’s probably worth stating, at this point, that there are archaeologists and historians who have found almost no evidence that Abraham existed. William Dever, Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, investigated the archaeology of the ancient Near East for more than 30 years and wrote several books on the subject. Dever explained that (according to the Hebrew Bible) the first person to form a covenant with God was Abraham. 

“One of the first efforts of biblical archaeology in the last century was to prove the historicity of the patriarchs, to locate them in a particular period in the archaeological history… most archaeologists would argue that there is no direct archaeological proof that Abraham, for instance, ever lived.” 

Let’s set that aside for another discussion. The problem with Mogoeng’s prayer for economic recovery is misplaced and misguided — at best. Much of South Africa’s financial, economic and political woes have been caused by human agency; from bad policies and lack of implementation, to maladministration, lapses in ethics and outright theft. If God does not intervene in the daily deaths of millions of starving children, what gives Mogoeng the idea that State Capture, corruption, lies and the approaching collapse of state institutions will miraculously be reversed after a few pleas to his creator? 

I am in no position to give the good judge any advice, but I will say this; Justice Mogoeng should keep his creator out of our myriad failings. We have none but ourselves to blame. There’s a passage in the memoir of Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, who faced serious resistance from people who feared that industrial modernisation, professionalising the public service, building credible institutions and integrate them into the global political economy would erode the religious identity of Malays. It did not. 

“When you cultivate the right work culture, its values and attitudes spread outwards beyond the workplace and are eventually integrated into daily life,” Mahathir wrote. 

This is somewhat consistent with my observation, seven years ago, that corruption and unethical behaviour have powerful emulative powers. Political leaders, public servants and leaders, and public intellectuals have a duty (and emulative powers) to steer the country towards greater shared wealth and prosperity, and engender high levels of trust among everyone who lives in South Africa — and to act accordingly. This would not make them any less African, or less Christian; it would simply make the country a better place to raise children.  

It would take a lot of convincing to prove that Mogoeng’s creator has the ear of global rating agencies and, for that matter, given all that is going wrong in the world today, that his creator actually cares, or has any sympathy for the miscreants who have dragged us into the current mess.

Mogoeng and any other true believer can pray as much and for as long as they wish. Their relationship with their creator is none of my business. I will say this, though: Pray because you have been given another day. DM

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