INTRODUCTION
Religion is a complex phenomenon. It may be
defined as the way man seeks salvation from the unseen supernatural
being. This supernatural being has been given various names in accordance
with linguistic phenomena. For the sake of brevity we shall refer
to the supernatural being as 'God'. The knowledge of God is basic
to all human beings as the Akans have an adage translated literally
as 'Nobody teaches the child the concept of God'. The varying idea
is probably how God is realized.
Several theories have been propounded as regards
the origin of religion. Among them are: "The Ghost theory; 'the
Animistic theory; and the 'theory of Fear.' The theory of Fear appears
to be the most plausible of all the theories. Man is naturally religious
because every human being has a fear in one way or another. There
is the fear of losing one's life; the fear of losing one's social
status, of course there is the fear of insecurity. There is a continual
innate fighting against the forces of nature. Basically we are all
fighting for survival or longitivity, so to speak. Again, man is confronted
with numerous problems such as sickness, poverty, disaster and so
on. Even one can be rounded up for having infringed the legalities
of the society. Total freedom.. >>
