Why i’m neither a Christian, Muslim nor Orisa worshipper – Wole Soyinka speaks

Foremost Nigerian author and world-famous Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has opened up about his religious life.

He said he is neither a Christian, Muslim nor an Orisa Worshipper.

He stated this on Sunday, 20 November at the public presentation of his two-volume collection of essays, Of Power and Freedom and the forthcoming release of a collection of poems.

Soyinka was responding to a question which Mr Kunle Ajibade, journalist, writer and Executive Editor of TheNEWS/PMNEWS asked him from the audience during the Q&A session.

Ajibade asked: “You say in one of the essays in Of Power and Freedom that you are not a Christian, you are not a Muslim and you are not an Orisa worshipper. And that you use the gods of these religions merely as mythological constructs. But what exactly is your religion?”

To which Soyinka replied that he was neither a Christian, Muslim or an Orisa Worshipper and had never felt he needed any religion.

According to him, he does not worship any deity but that he considers deities creatively real and are his companions in his journey in both the real and immaginative worlds.

Soyinka said; “Do I really need one (religion)? I have never felt I needed one. I am a mythologist. I believe that people have a right and cannot help creating mythologies around themselves. , around their experience about what they project from the inner recesses of their minds as answers to questions.

“And so I find nothing wrong with utilizing mythologies as part and parcel of my creative warehouse.

“But religion? No I don’t worship any deity. But I consider deities as creatively real and therefore my companions in my journey in both the real world and the imaginative world.