The Refutation of the Disguised Denial of the Existence of God among the African People: A Philosophical Appraisal

Abstract

Religion plays a prominent role in the conceptualization of God. Various attempts by different religious groups to establish and propagate their local conceptions of God and to uphold the sovereignty of the Absolute God have resulted in serious crisis which sometime leads to complexities. There are many problems in the field of Philosophy of Religion as to finding a perfect definition or conception of God. There are various responses to the question “What is God”? Some religions notably Christianity and Islam, tires to define the concept of God based on their various beliefs. God is described anthropomorphically in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. God in classical philosophy is portrayed as eternal, immutable, impassible, self-subsisting, self-sufficient and perfect being. Also God is conceived as the sovereign, evolving, developing being by the process philosophers. These various conceptions and interpretations can be etymologically traced to the cultural variants or divergences of the people. To these effects, each culture defines God according to its view of reality. In other words, a people’s culturally conditioned view of reality determines its conception of God. To this end, the paper argues that the conception of God among the Africans is incontrovertible as the people have a well ordered and organized system of belief which centred on their perception of God.

Keywords: Refutation, Existence of God, African People, Philosophical Appraisal