Christianity and Society: Human Rights and Justice

Introduction
It is my pleasure to be a guest of Christ Baptist Church, Gbagada, Lagos. My Curriculum Vitae does not reveal a few things about me that may be of interest to you. For instance it does not say that I was baptised in a Baptist Church, specifically Shepherdhill Baptist Church, Obanikoro not too far from this location. It also does not reveal that my wife and her entire family including her grand parents were life long Baptists, nor does it indicate that my father-in-law and late grand father-in-law were both Baptist ministers. You can therefore understand when I say that I feel very comfortable in your midst. An additional reason for my relative ease is the fact that my good friend Mr Lowo Adesola, whose ordination as a Deacon I attended some years ago, is also one of your members.
The topic I have been asked to discuss, “Christianity and Society: Human Rights and Justice” is one I am very interested in. As a Christian, Lawyer, Consultant, Newspaper Columnist and Frequent Public Commentator, those are matters which should concern me. As someone who sometimes or indeed oftentimes worries about whether the Church in Nigeria is optimising its role and potential in terms of helping to build a just and progressive society, I am pleased that Christ Baptist Church considers this topic one that is worthy of examination. I commend your commitment to the building of a Church and Society shaped by the best Christian values, a commitment which I am sure must have informed the selection of this topic. I greet the Pastor, Ayo Gbode and the leadership and congregation and pray that the grace and favour of God will continue to abide in your Church, Homes and Businesses.
The Foundation and Source of Law
Anyone who has read the Bible with readily agree with the assertion that the first law was that given to Adam (and Eve) in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2: 16-17, the Bible records that “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” What is law other than a proclamation by a sovereign prescribing acceptable behaviour (e.g. payment of taxes) or proscribing unacceptable conduct (do not drive against traffic) and including a sanction for breach or non-compliance (fine, imprisonment or both). In that verse, God essentially laid out the original law-you may eat of every other tree except that of the knowledge of good and evil. If you disobey, you will suffer spiritual death! Of course we know the rest of the story. It is in the nature of men to break the law, and that is why we are here today. And it is in the nature of law breakers till this day to seek to hide or escape from the long (or in our society, often short) arms of the law. Men learnt it from their forbears, Adam and Eve who after sinning against God sought to hide themselves from him (Genesis 3: 8).
The first tentative steps towards the creation of a legal system was taken also in Genesis, in chapter 9:6 where God specifically prohibited murder and stipulated the death penalty therefore-“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed…”. It was necessary for God to make this explicit prohibition after Cain killed Abel, because until then God was yet to prescribe a specific punishment for murder. Perhaps that is why God only cursed rather than killed Cain, thus laying down a legal principle that endures to this day-laws must be specifically enacted and published and the law must stipulate the punishment for breach.
The basic foundations of a comprehensive legal system were however outlined in Exodus 20 when God pronounced the “ten commandments” which we remember as follows:-
• Against Polytheism (No other Gods)
• Against Idolatry (No Graven Images)
• Against False Oaths (Swearing in Vain)
• Honouring the Sabbath (Resting on the Seventh Day)
• Honouring Father and Mother (That your days may be Long)
• Against Murder (Thou shalt not kill)
• Against Adultery (Thou shalt not commit adultery)
• Against Theft (Thou shalt not steal)
• Against Perjury (Bearing False Witness)
• Against Covetousness (Of Neighbour’s House, Wife, Manservant, Maidservant, Ox, Ass, etc)
Most of these principles and laws endure in one form or the other in our criminal, civil, matrimonial, labour and evidence laws even till this day. False oaths and perjury are both crimes and affect the weight or admissibility of evidence; Murder and theft are crimes all over the world; while adultery is not a crime in common law countries, it is a ground for divorce under our Matrimonial Causes Act and may weigh against the “guilty” party in the consequential orders made by a family judge; the law punishes obtaining by false pretences, conversion etc which are a result of covetousness; labour laws still requires a day of rest etc.
Of course the Bible goes beyond these “civil” laws into other spiritual laws such as in Genesis 31: 12-17 relating to the Sabbath; Genesis 34: 12-16 on laws of conquest; Genesis 34: 21-26 on the Sabbath, feasts, first fruits etc. The book of Leviticus was a continuation of Moses “lawgiving” in Genesis and Exodus. Detailed laws concerning sacrifice, offerings, consecration and priesthood, building of the tabernacle, and worship were included in the book. Even though the Book of Numbers centred primarily on the two great numberings (censuses) of the children of Israel, it also prescribes various laws for Israel (in Chapters 6, 15, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35 and 36). In Deuteronomy, Moses repeats the Ten Commandments (Chapter 5) and includes many new laws. And of course Christ himself reminds us in the New Testament (Mathew 5: 17-18) that he came not to abolish, but to fulfil the law.
The thesis I have been trying to demonstrate above must now be apparent-that God is the source and foundation of all law!
Biblical Influences on Contemporary Law
Beyond these fundamental foundations, we see the influence of the Bible all over the development of legal principles even till contemporary times. The laws relating to incest (Leviticus 18: 6-18); Homosexuality (Leviticus 18: 22); Bestiality (Leviticus 18: 23); Stealing, False Testimony and Obtaining by False Pretences-“419”(Leviticus 19: 11); False Oaths (Leviticus 19: 12); Labour Laws and Fraud (Leviticus 19: 13); Fair Hearing (Leviticus 19: 29); Prostitution (Leviticus 19: 29); Imposing Various Punishments (Leviticus 20); Equality before the Law (Leviticus 24: 22) and Judicial Retribution (Leviticus 24: 20).
We see the beginnings of the institution of the Judiciary in Exodus 18; 13 when Moses “sat to judge the people…” and 18: 14-26 when upon the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law, he “…chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, …And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses…”, (in effect Moses was the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court), “…but every small matter they judged themselves…” (while the others were Magistrate and High Courts). See also Deuteronomy 16: 18 (“Judges and officers shalt thou make in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment”) and 17: 8-11. We also see the articulation of judicial principles which remain till today in Deuteronomy 16: 19-20, “Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Every thing a modern day judge needs to know about fair hearing, perverting justice, judicial corruption, independence and fairness of the judiciary and judicial impartiality is contained in those verses.
In the book of Exodus we see other influences on the development of the laws of Tort/Negligence (21: 33-36 and 22: 6); Rape (22: 16-17); Sedition/Treason/Anarchy (22: 28) and Bribery (23: 18). In Deuteronomy, we see the origins of laws on the criminal burden of proof and corroboration in evidence (17: 6-7-“On the evidence of two or three witnesses he who is worthy of death shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness…”)
Again the thesis developed here must now be compelling-modern laws, legal and judicial principles and court systems have their roots in the laws of God, and their development has been overwhelmingly shaped by Christian doctrine.
Fundamental Human Rights in Nigeria
Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria contains the fundamental human rights provisions that operate in Nigerian law. The fact that human rights are embedded in our supreme law, the Constitution means as proclaimed in Section 1 (1) that those provisions “…shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria” and as stated in Section 1 (3), “if any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void”
The rights enshrined in our laws are outlined from Section 33:-
• Section 33-Right to Life
• Section 34-Dignity of the Human Person; Prohibition of Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment; Prohibition of Slavery or Servitude; Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labour
• Section 35-Right to Personal Liberty
• Section 36-Right to Fair Hearing
• Section 37-Right to Private and Family Life
• Section 38-Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion
• Section 39-Freedom of Expression
• Section 40-Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association
• Section 41-Freedom of Movement
• Section 42-Freedom from Discrimination on Grounds of Community, Ethnic Group, Place of Origin, Religion or Political Opinion
• Section 43-Right to Property
• Section 44-Protection against Compulsory Acquisition of Property without Compensation
What is the source or basis of these provisions? Given all that I have said to this point, it will not surprise you that in my view the notion that a man is created with some fundamental rights, freedoms and protections emanate from the fact of his creation by God, and in the image of God.
See Genesis 1: 26-30, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created created he him; male and female created he them….”
And Genesis 9: 6, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
In John 10: 10 Christ himself proclaimed, “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
In my view, whether the modern jurist recognises it or not, and irrespective of his acceptance or otherwise, or in spite of his (now secular) high learning and sophistication, these are the most fundamental origins of the notion that man, as man is entitled to some inalienable human rights. That is why Thomas Jefferson declared in the American Declaration of Independence that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” famously quoted by Martin Luther King Jnr. John Locke also said in “Two Treatises of Civil Government” that “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom”. The American State and its Constitution was without doubt founded upon assumptions about the divine source of laws and the American Currency not surprisingly declares, “In God We Trust”.
Perversion of Human Rights and Justice
If you accept the view that laws and human rights are founded in God’s law, then you will shudder at the perversion and destruction of these foundations and the deployment of legal principles against the ways of God that increasingly characterises modern societies. Some examples will suffice:-
• In Nigeria, persons accused of corruption have deployed fundamental human rights provisions and the protections of our laws and Constitution to avoid, delay and frustrate their prosecution under the law
• Those individuals accused of unleashing terror on and indeed killing some of their fellow men (Alex Ibru, Abraham Adesanya, Kudirat Abiola etc) have employed the instrumentalities of the legal system to avoid and delay justice
• The poor are oppressed by the police and the state, and by powerful individuals and the rich and powerful are in Nigeria essentially above the law
• In Western societies, the most important “human rights” today are the following:-
o Gay Rights-advancing and protecting homosexuality which the Bible calls Sodomy and God explicitly condemns
o Animal Rights-which may one day evolve into justifying bestiality, which God also condemns
o Environmental Protection-which is okay, but which is in danger of making man subject to the environment rather than the other way round (contrary to Genesis 2: 28)
o Same-Sex Marriages-In most Western societies, the trend is towards recognition of marriages or so-called civil unions between people of the same sex
o Gay Adoption Rights-the right of “gay” couples to adopt children
o Abortion Rights-the “Pro-Choice” argument that women can choose to terminate pregnancies at their own will
o Gun Rights-the right of men to bear arms (leading to mass killings and massacres)
• Indeed there is an increasing trend of reverse discrimination-a contestant in a US beauty contest was not selected as winner because she expressed the view that a marriage is a union of a man and woman; a nominee for the post of EU Commissioner was dropped because of his anti-gay views; many in the liberal wing of US politics opposed President Barack Obama’s choice of Pastor Rick Warren, of Saddleback Church and author of the popular, “The Purpose-Driven Life” to give the opening prayer at his inauguration because of his preaching against homosexuality. Today homosexuality is no longer on the defence, but on an aggressive offensive against “homophobia”
• In the Anglican Church, the Church is split on the issue of ordination of openly-homosexual persons as ministers
• In the US, prayer in public schools is illegal and often in many western societies, persons who express religious views are viewed almost in a manner similar to how we perceive insanity
• In California, arguments are now being made for the legalisation of marijuana, because the income that may be generated there from will help in balancing the state’s budget! Indeed my favourite news magazine “The Economist” recently argued in effect in favour of legalising drugs because it is cheaper so to do!! The Transaction-Cost Theory of economics is now applied to justify legalising drugs, prostitution, abortion and even assisted-suicide and euthanasia!!!
The law has lost or is losing its link with its source and foundation-God-and now becoming solely a technical, utilitarian and amoral code of conduct for regulating the affairs of men. Increasingly the law indeed goes beyond being amoral and often times looks positively immoral! Alas, the recent global financial crisis should remind us of the consequences when men act only on the basis of raw passions, in that case greed, recklessness and materialism of US and other Western bankers almost destroyed the global economy. One may add that the recent removal of the CEOs and Executive Directors of five of our banks also demonstrates the same point.
Christianity and Society
What is, or what should be the role of the Church in society? Mathew 5: 13 says, “Ye are the salt of the earth…” and Mathew 5:14-16 says, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. These scriptures are unambiguous. The Church as a body and individual believers are supposed to provide light in a world overcome by evil and dark behaviours. They are supposed to be the example for others, role models of propriety and righteousness. Where they are sanctioning banks or bankers, the world is supposed to notice that Christians are absent from the list. When corporate governance failures and scandals occur in publicly quoted companies, people should note that Christians CEOs and Directors behave differently. The electorate should be able to observe a difference between the behaviour of elected public office holders who profess the Christian faith and their non-Christian counterparts. University undergraduates should be comfortable that Christian lecturers do not engage in “sorting” or other malpractices that occur in our tertiary institutions. Christian lawyers, engineers, civil servants, teachers, doctors should be different. Pastors should be different! Is this our experience today? That is not my experience!
The Bible says in Mathew 6: 19-20 that we should “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. I dare say many of us find it difficult or perhaps impossible to believe this scripture. I do not think the Lord counsels poverty and want. He simply cares about what our fundamental priorities are, and where we will draw the line if we had to choose between heaven and earth. Again Romans 12: 2 urges us all, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. Finally as we all know, Mathew 7: 20 tells us that it is by our fruits that we shall be known.
Can we say like the early Church that the fruit of the contemporary Church is Love? Unity? Power? (Mathew 5: 43-46; Acts 1: 14; Acts 2: 1; Acts 4: 32-33) Are we good Samaritans? (Luke 10: 25-37) Are we like Christ, driven by compassion for the world and for our neighbours? (Mark 1: 41; Mark 6: 34; Mark 8: 2-3). Are we agents of societal transformation like the Puritans, Quakers and post-Protestant Reformation Christians transformed European values and conduct (e.g. the so-called Protestant Work Ethic), a transformation which arguably made the Industrial Revolution possible? Why is the Nigerian Church scarcely engaged with the major challenges of our nation-corruption, electoral malpractices, crime and violence, unaccountable leaders, poverty, oppression, insecurity, social injustice and abusive use of power? Why have these and other social issues not been at the top of the agenda of the contemporary Nigerian Church? Jesus Christ himself spoke out especially on behalf of the poor or weak, those who mourn, the meek, the sick, all those who labour and are heavy laden, widows, the lame, blind etc and he railed against oppression. Why are our Churches not having any significant impact on societal vices and values?
Conclusion
The Church must rediscover its essence. As our Lord Jesus Christ warns, “…but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Mathew 5: 13) God forbid that this be the fate of the body of Christ or of any of us! Amen. Happily I can say of this assembly, from the little I have known and heard about you, that you are seeking to impact your society as our Lord commands. This programme is tangible evidence of that impact.
I wish you well and pray that the Lord will bless and multiply your efforts and continue to shine his light upon all of us. Amen.

Opeyemi Agbaje
Lagos, Nigeria.
2009