Faith and equality
Monsignor Matthew Kukhah is Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Kaduna in Northern Nigeria and former Secretary General of the Nigerian Bishops Conference talks of the equality of citizens and working towards 'the Common Good'.
Africa is and has been riddled with conflicts. However, it is not correct to label these conflicts as religious. To many Africans, in the face of growing inequality and with limited political outlets to express their dissatisfaction, conflict has seemed the only alternative.
Military and civilian dictatorships, coming barely five to ten years after independence, closed the political and social spaces and people started identifying themselves in national politics as Christians or Muslims. Thus, conflicts of a socio-economic or political nature, tended to assume a religious hue. This was partly due to media hype and a lack of understanding of the very elusive role of religion in national affairs.
Agitation for and the introduction of Shari’a Law among Muslims has come to be seen as a threat to dialogue – primarily by Christians but also some Muslims. The failure of the state to establish a constitutional basis for governance or to manage pluralism left the way open for demands for Sharia law. But, despite the heat generated (and associated loss of lives) by Sharia when it was introduced, today its implementation in Northern States is a shadow of what was expected.
The equality of citizens
The equality of citizens is guaranteed in the UN Human Rights Declaration and adopted in the African Declaration on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Freedom of religion is essential – conversion is not the objective of dialogue but, without the freedom to voluntarily choose another faith, dialogue is meaningless.
African governments need to comply with international legal norms, especially those to which they are signatories. These relate to the protection of minorities and vulnerable groups such as women, children and disabled people. In many of our societies, women, already weighed down by negative cultural practices, become the first casualties as states seek to use the force of religion to further add to their subjugation. Given the quality of educated women that the continent now possesses, it is in our own interest to open up the space to accommodate the rich gifts that women have to bring.
The ‘Common Good’
The principles of the ‘Common Good’ already enunciated by the Catholic Church, can become the basis for politics and political mobilisation because the ideals challenge us to higher goals of our common humanity.
There is hope. As more countries adopt democracy, the politicians will be compelled to realise the limits of religious zealotry as they seek support across faiths. They will hopefully realise that there are no Muslim or Christian ballot papers. Likewise the perpetrators of violence, whether Muslim or Christian, are simply criminals and religious affiliation does not and should not lead to moral impunity. As the political space opens up and our people become more relaxed and educated, bigotry of any sort (religion, ethnicity, gender or even class) will recede gradually especially as perpetrators are brought under the law and punished accordingly.
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