OPINION
Have you ever wondered how easily human beings can overlook years of hard work and attribute their achievements to a single prayer?
A parent may spend millions of shillings educating a child for more than two decades. Teachers invest years imparting knowledge and skills, while the student sacrifices time and energy studying for examinations. Yet, when that graduate secures a job after a pastor prays for them, the achievement is celebrated as a miracle spends 1/10 of their monthly salary on church, with little acknowledgment of the people and processes that made it possible.
This raises an uncomfortable question: have we become too quick to attribute our successes to supernatural intervention while overlooking the practical efforts that create opportunities for success?
The debate surrounding alleged miracles by religious leaders in Uganda has brought this question into sharp focus. Recently, commentator Frank Gashumba challenged pastors who claim to perform miracles, reportedly offering more than Shs200 million to any pastor who could visit a hospital of their choice and heal a sick person.
The challenge generated considerable debate among believers, pastors and sceptics. While some religious leaders dismissed it, others questioned the motives behind it. Yet beneath the controversy lies a legitimate question: how should extraordinary claims of supernatural intervention be examined, particularly when they influence people's health, finances and personal decisions?
My favourite motivational quote comes from An American clinical psychologist and author Dr Michael D. Yapko: “There are no guarantees in life, but we can make possibilities.”
The principle is simple: we cannot guarantee outcomes, but our actions can increase or reduce the chances of achieving them.
Starting a business does not guarantee wealth. However, it creates an opportunity to succeed that would not exist if one never attempted anything. Similarly, studying does not guarantee employment, but it equips a person with knowledge and skills that can improve their prospects in the job market.
This distinction is important because many events described as miracles may have ordinary explanations involving preparation, opportunity, human effort and circumstances.
Consider a graduate who secures employment shortly after attending a prayer service. The graduate may sincerely believe that prayer contributed to the outcome. However, the person also spent years acquiring qualifications, developing skills and preparing for the job market.
The prayer may have provided comfort, confidence or renewed hope. Nevertheless, the graduate's education and abilities remain important parts of the explanation.
Why, then, should the pastor receive all the credit while the parents, guardians, teachers and the graduate's own efforts are forgotten?
A child begins creating possibilities long before entering the job market. Learning to read, write and count provides the foundation for further education and professional development.
Every subsequent stage of learning builds on that foundation. Whether someone becomes a teacher, journalist, engineer, accountant or entrepreneur, their opportunities are influenced by the knowledge and skills they acquire along the way. When a graduate gets a job after prayer, it is misleading to suggest that the pastor's intervention alone explains the achievement. The graduate competed with other applicants, and the employer selected someone considered suitable for the position.
Of course, employment is not determined by qualifications alone. Connections, discrimination, economic conditions, limited vacancies and other structural barriers can affect access to jobs. A qualified person may remain unemployed despite considerable effort.
However, these realities do not make education worthless. They demonstrate that success depends on multiple factors and that no single action guarantees a particular outcome.
Even people who never attended formal school create possibilities by learning practical skills. A person who learns to cook, clean, repair machinery or operate a business develops abilities that can create opportunities for employment and income. The lesson is that possibilities are created through action. Prayer may accompany that process for those who believe in it, but it should not erase the contribution of preparation, learning and hard work.
The greatest concern arises when religious beliefs are used to persuade vulnerable people to surrender their money and property in exchange for promised breakthroughs.
In some religious settings, followers are encouraged to give money as seeds of faith, with expectations of financial prosperity, healing, employment or relationship breakthroughs. Some believers may give willingly as an expression of devotion. Others may do so because they fear that withholding money will prevent them from receiving a blessing. The danger emerges when extraordinary promises are presented as reliable outcomes and people are encouraged to make financial sacrifices they cannot afford.
Families struggling with poverty may sell land, borrow money or dispose of essential property in the hope of receiving a miracle. When the promised outcome fails to materialise, they may be left worse off financially and emotionally.
Worse still, some religious leaders attribute failed outcomes to insufficient faith. This shifts responsibility from the person making the promise to the person who believed it.
How does one objectively establish that a sick person was not healed because they lacked faith? What evidence can distinguish a genuine supernatural intervention from natural recovery, medical treatment, coincidence or an inaccurate diagnosis? These questions deserve serious consideration, especially when people's livelihoods and health are at stake.
Religious giving should be voluntary and informed. It should not depend on coercion, fear or promises of guaranteed returns that cannot be substantiated.
To understand why miracle claims attract large followings, we must consider the circumstances in which people seek them.
First, there is the influence of upbringing and conditioning. People who grow up in religious environments may adopt particular beliefs from childhood. These beliefs can become deeply embedded, shaping how they interpret experiences and understand the world.
This does not mean that every inherited belief is false. Rather, it demonstrates why people should be encouraged to examine claims critically instead of accepting them solely because they have heard them repeatedly.
The second is ignorance, by which I mean a lack of education and exposure, and with it a difficulty in interpreting the events of one’s own life. A person who cannot read the world around them, and who is not open to learning, can be led wherever the next confident voice points.
Critical thinking, scientific literacy and exposure to different perspectives help individuals distinguish between evidence, interpretation and speculation.
However, education alone does not eliminate belief in miracles. Educated people can also hold strong religious convictions, just as people without formal education can reason critically. The issue is not simply whether someone has attended school, but whether they are willing to question claims and consider evidence.
The third, and the strongest, is pain and suffering. A person who has struggled with illness for years, who has moved from hospital to hospital without a diagnosis while the pain continues, will accept almost any suggestion. People have sold nearly everything they own in search of healing. The same is true of those crushed by poverty or heartbreak. Desperation drives some to scams, to betraying relatives and friends, and in the darkest cases to ritual harm. Those who cannot bring themselves to such crimes take the softer road and go to church.
When a church building collapses or a serious accident occurs, the immediate response is usually to seek medical assistance for the injured. This is appropriate because hospitals have trained personnel, equipment and established procedures for treating injuries.
The question is not whether people should pray for the injured. Recently, Pastor RInnie Makabai's Church collapesed and injuree over 30 people. And people wondered why he would rush them to Hopsital yet it was the right time to show the power of the prayer.
The same principle applies to other challenges. Someone seeking employment should develop relevant skills, prepare a strong application and pursue opportunities. A person facing financial difficulties should consider practical solutions, including budgeting, employment and responsible business ventures.
Faith can coexist with these efforts. There is no necessary contradiction between prayer and taking practical action. Likewise, a person who believes in divine healing can continue to seek appropriate medical treatment. The two need not be treated as mutually exclusive.
Extraordinary claims require credible evidence, clearly defined conditions and independent verification.
Equally, dismissing every question as an attack on God does not answer the questions being raised.
Ultimately, the issue is not whether people should pray. Freedom of religion includes the right to believe, worship and seek spiritual comfort.
The concern is what happens when people are encouraged to surrender their judgment, resources or responsibility to individuals who claim exclusive access to supernatural solutions.
If a graduate obtains a job, we should recognise the years of preparation that made the opportunity possible. If a patient recovers, we should consider the medical care received and the natural course of the illness before attributing the outcome to a particular intervention. If a business succeeds, we should examine the work, decisions, resources and circumstances behind its success.
We may not always have complete explanations for everything that happens. Uncertainty, however, is not proof of supernatural intervention.
Dr Yapko's observation remains relevant: there are no guarantees in life, but we can create possibilities. We cannot control every outcome, yet we can take steps that improve our chances of success.
Parents create possibilities by educating their children. Teachers create possibilities by imparting knowledge. Students create possibilities by learning. Entrepreneurs create possibilities by starting businesses. Medical professionals create possibilities by treating patients.
For those who believe, prayer may be part of this journey. But it should not be used to erase human effort or justify exploiting those who are desperate for solutions.
The real question is not whether people should have faith, but whether that faith encourages them to act responsibly, think critically and protect themselves from exploitation.
