Nigerian church leader says unless Catholics and Muslims start talking “there will be no one left to worship God”.
One of the African church’s most prominent figures has called for Catholics to embark on a dialogue with Muslims as a way of preventing religious violence.
Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan has witnessed militant Islamic group, Boko Haram, wreak havoc in his homeland by carrying out bombings, assassinations and abductions, while the number of Muslims in the country is now greater than across the Middle East.
But the 73-year-old archbishop of the country’s capital city, Abuja, says that when faced with extremism the Church’s approach should be to start talking rather than falling back into prejudices.
“I’ve spent 40 years having dialogue with Muslims and I believe it is possible and it is fruitful,” he said during a speech at an African theology conference at the University of Notre Dame’s global gateway centre in Rome. “Don’t expect them to respond the way you are responding, but you can make an impact: attitudes are changed and bridges are build.”
Cardinal Onaiyekan was speaking the day after an Islamic terrorist attacked civilians in Westminster and the House of Commons killing three and injuring at least 30 others.
In Nigeria violence by Boko Haram has led to thousands of deaths with violence taking place on a monthly basis since 2013 seeing attacks on civilians, state buildings and churches. And in 2014 the group captured the world’s attention when they abducted 276 school girls from a college in Chibok, Borno State.
During his speech on Thursday the cardinal said it was essential for Nigerian Catholics and Muslims sit down and talk, otherwise the killings will escalate to such a level where “there will be no-one left to worship God.”
“We need to avoid attitude that says Islam is just terrorism and Boko Haram. That talk is not helpful and not even true,” he said. “The number of Muslims in Nigeria is now more than in all of the Middle East, so we cannot avoid dealing with Islam.”
There are around 79 million Muslims in Nigeria, a figure that accounts for half of Nigeria’s population: the other half belong to Christian denominations with 19 million Catholics.
One of the areas that Cardinal Onaiyekan believes needs to be examined is the relationship between faith and law: a key aim of Boko Haram is to bring about an Islamic state in Nigeria and to implement Sharia Law.
“Human laws must respect divine injunctions,” the cardinal explained. “And we must discuss how divine injunctions affect human law.”
The main thrust of Cardinal Onaiyekan’s speech was focussed on the pastoral challenges in Africa: he is particularly concerned about the lack of welcome for the Catholic African diaspora living abroad.
“Many are dropping out of practice,” he stressed, explaining that they were often “ignored” or greeted with a “condescending attitude.”
“If an African is ignored, it is worse than being attacked,” he said at the conference titled “African Christian Theology: Memories and Mission for the 21st Century” and was organised by the American university’s ethics and culture department. “As a result they drop out of practice although they still want to be Christians.”
He explained that many Catholics found a home in Pentecostal churches where they were often warmly welcomed and given prominent positions within those communities.
Back home in Africa the cardinal said the growth of Christianity witnessed in the continent had been a “miracle of grace” and an extraordinary achievement given the history of evangelisation. Figures show that while in 1900 there were 9 million Christians in Africa by 2000 this was estimated at 380 million.
The problem, the cardinal stressed, was that conversions could be “skin deep” and pastors needed to ensure Christian faith is properly embedded into a person.
“The churches are overflowing and I’m opening new parishes every month,” he explained. “But sometimes the consistency of the faith is not what it is supposed to be. The challenge is making them really and truly Christians.”
He went on: “People can easily revert back to primordial practices and put aside doctrinal positions of the Church…we have to make sure our crowds become real Christians.”
