Interview with Darren Idongesit Aquaisua

Were you a Christian before you became an atheist? 

Yes, I was born into a Christian home.

All right. How and why did you leave Christianity? 

Leaving Christianity was a gradual process. I had doubts, you know. I am very knowledgeable on scripture and the more you read and understand the more one realizes something is awfully wrong with the messages in there.

I couldn't agree with an all loving god ordering for the killing of children and at a particularly gruesome encounter, his servant ordered for a wild beast to tear 42 children to pieces. This level of gory and absolutely senseless slaughter was hard to reconcile with the image of an all loving being.

I want to pose this question to you; would you kill 42 children if you had the means to?

No. I wouldn't. 

So you know in a way understand this to be wrong?

Yes of course, I know that already, but it's improper to mock the servant of God if only the stories were true. By the way, do you believe in nemesis or the so-called karma? 

A few coincidence in life is no justification for a belief in the supernatural.

As an Atheist, do you normally have issues dealing with Christians? 

I do have issues online; the constant banter is fodder for animosity for some, but to me, it's just spirited debate on the need for a more secular society.

In real life, I am rather reserved. I wouldn't have time to discuss religion or debate anyone so the friction doesn't arise.

All right then. I need to know if it's possible for an Atheist and a Christian to be joined in marriage? 

Of course it's possible; atheists are not fighting with religious people; we are only trying to encourage civil discourse. Beliefs are a personal issue and I love it to stay that way, this means I personally can marry a Christian or Muslim as long as they don't try to force their beliefs on me.

Christians speak on the evils of  homosexuality. It is quite unnatural for people of the same sex to indulge in sexual intimacy. Do you think homosexuality is evil in terms of it's deviation from the norm? 

Is quite unnatural?

As an educated person, who is currently on a postgraduate studies, I love to stick to the facts not uninformed twaddle. Homosexuality is natural and not a deviation or sickness. Homosexuality is observed in thousands of animal species not only human beings.

Now on mentioning "deviation," I would like to explain away the negative connotation of such word. Anything that falls off the normal is a deviation right?

So deviations just mean it's not practiced by the majority; this is in no way an indication of negativity. It just means this particular human behavior deviates from the majority idea of sexuality.

You said that homosexuality can be observed in thousands of animal species. Can you give an example of such animals for further study? 

I wouldn't only give an example; I'd give a science journal entry.

(Laughs) You are a really funny person 

Here is an entry at Yale University 

That's better. Best for clarification. 

When approaching issues, one has to have a certain intellectual capacity that would ensure a disinterested analysis of key issues. Intellectual honesty is what I value as well

Of course. 

What is your personal ideology about the world. Some people say it's a mystery, while others believe it was created by a supreme being. Well, Atheists don't believe in the supremacy or the existence of supreme beings. Do you have a different view? 

There are no ideologies known to me or acceptable. Ideology connotes the need to gather people under a particular banner which isn't really a nice thing to do in an ideal world but if you ask me how the world was created then I'd tell you the observable phenomena that leads to the creation of stellar systems with accompanying planetary orientations

That means you mostly get your answers from science? Infact, go on... 

The creation of our world is observable and proven by observation of other stellar systems in their formative stages but if you are suggesting the creation of the universe then you have to go to the fundamental question of space and time.

The most acceptable theory for the universe is in the now popular phrase "Big Bang" which is just a fancy term for a much more complex name. All scientific observations point to the fact that the universe is expanding so theory basically goes back in time and space to a singular point of immense density. That's the origin of the universe.
The scientific explanation of phenomena provide empirical evidence and that's important to me; empirical evidence supersedes what's suggested as ambiguity is avoided.

Noted. Back to Atheism. Just as you believe in the absence of God, do you also believe in the absence of Satan and the hell fire?

Hahahaha. Any other question?

I understand how funny it is, but that also needs an answer. 

The idea that there is one old man with horns and a trident turning a cauldron under the earth is ridiculous and only believed by children who do possess quite an admirable imagination.

Okay. I need to know something. As a philosopher and erudite scholar in theology and matters of nature, what do you think will happen to you after death? 

You simply cease to exist; the world would move on without you unless you've left really nice works of art or a sizable estate to which the world would keep hearing your name come up as your "loved" ones struggle for some share.

On the brighter side; when you die, there is still some brain activity for some minutes postmortem. So you'd literally have the sensation of walking towards the light hahahaha.

Yes. I have heard of such cases...walking towards the light. 

There is a popular adage in Ibibio that goes like "Etongho ke Idap ekpep mkpa", meaning that we learn to die by sleeping. Is death  and dream similar? 

That phrase is a good one.

You've been noted  as an attacker of Nigerian  preachers. What are your grievances?

First of all, they are not like Jesus Christ, so I don't appreciate their dishonesty, especially as they rob poor people much like the Pharisees did.

Can you specify? In what way do you think they have done that? 

By doing what Jesus never did, collecting tithes and offerings and making friends with corrupt politicians to gain material things.

Ayo Oritsejafor is the quintessential Nigerian pastor, corrupt and deceitful.

I like to call them Pharisees because they are hypocrites with allies like our contemporary Pontius Pilates in Nigerian government.

Oritsejafor was with Jonathan, wasn't he?

I have heard of that somewhere but I'm not certain. 

Okay. You said that Nigerian preachers are corrupt and indisciplined, what character would you like to see them adopt? 

Mary Slessor; she was a brilliant and tough Scottish missionary.
She is the epitome of a perfect preacher.
Caring for the sick and stigmatized instead of being the agent of misery.
Not living in luxury off the donations of poor people.
That's very thoughtful of you.
It is indeed essential to confront obvious evils in the society, especially in  the Nigerian society.

I have to agree with you and you should agree with me that the confrontation has to be on an ideological level.
The pastors lead in destroying the fabric of a moral society as exemplified by their ostentatious lifestyle and all too obvious avarice.

All right then. Let's talk about Pastor John Okoriko. Starting from the scratch, do you believe in witchcraft? 

Who is John Okoriko?  Never heard of him but I quite frankly don't want to hear of any Nigerian pastor.

Why would an educated person believe in witchcraft? Now I want to explain the idea of witchcraft. People who are inept or complete failures would always find an excuse for their personal failure hence the need to blame other things besides themselves.

Belief in witches is just what ignorant people do when they don't want to take responsibility in life.

Sometime ago, you wrote about sleep paralysis and witchcraft attack. You stressed that there is nothing like nocturnal pressing, the feeling of being attack by an agent of darkness. Someone may ask, "Why do i see  scars on my body after such occurrence"? What would be your answer?

In that particular post I highlighted the physiological mechanism  involved in sleep paralysis and in some cases the neurotransmitters don't function as they should hence the movements will sleeping but then this is mostly not in the deep sleep phase right?

Yes. 

There are stages of sleep; the part were the NMJ are inhibited is in the REM phase. At the REM phase is when we are deeply sleeping and dreams occur at this stage.

But then there are other stages of sleep or light sleep where people have muscle movements.
Semiconscious activities do happen and I'll share a research by the neuroscience department of the university of Toronto.

They've done extensive studies on sleep paralysis but I don't want to bore you with too much reading so I'll show a video of sleep walking and sleep eating.

These people would have thought they ate in their dream when in actual sense they have a legitimate medical problem that can be solved through intervention.
Also a couple drug side effects include sleep walking and eating so I'll share the video for evidence.

Video


I want to ask you a question...

All right. Go on. 

Do you realize the importance I pay to evidence?

No. I don't. 

That's because I am a biomedical scientist and I have absolute respect for empirical evidence.
This point is important so as to understand how I come to certain conclusions.

I get it now. 

Do you intend to write a treatise on most of your personal discoveries? 

I write constantly though in a haphazard manner; I am never committed to anything sorry. I write for an hour or two on a particular thought and that's it. Obviously one cannot get a voluminous treatise in that amount of time.

Do you wish to be published posthumously, or while you are still alive? 

I like to make an impact I can live to see, but lots of things I write are stored on my hard-drive and a couple of paper manuscripts.

That's great.

All right. I really like the way you answered the questions. I appreciate your time. I think we must kill it here. Thanks for turning up for the show. 

Thank you for being a wonderful host.

Darren Aquaisua is a student of biomedical science, whose research interest centres on antibiotic resistance. He is well known for disagreeing with the opinions of some Nigerian preachers who wear masks of holier-than-thou attitude, and the swift swindle of some innocent ignorant Nigerians.