Authentic religious dialogue and cooperation requires that members of the different religious groups remain true to their own faiths first. So members of a Christian community cannot in good faith participate in an Islamic function in honour of a grandson of a Prophet they do not believe in, for an event whose historical authenticity they should question and an Imam whose moral and religious authority they should not accept.
Inter-religious dialogue has nothing to do with ecumenism and syncretism. It has everything to do with building up communities where members of different faiths can coexist peacefully because their interactions are based on the foundations which respect freedom of conscience, expression and human rights in general.
These Christians are greatly mistaken in their actions. If dialogue and cooperation is their main goal, then what they should have questioned first is the imposition of a religious law in Kaduna which literally divides people into two groups and give preferential treatment to one over the other. Again, authentic dialogue must start with the essentials, in this case a commitment to do what is right and just. Otherwise, there won't be peace.
Subjecting oneself to a procession that one has no business attending is the wrong way of addressing the problem of mistrust between religious groups. The right way is to call for all religious groups to subscribe to, regardless of their individual beliefs, universal and human principles which guarantee zero discrimination against others on the basis of their faith. In a global scale, this calls for people to challenge the Cairo Human Rights declaration. But that is a subject for a different day.
Charles.
On Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 2:43 AM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
--Thanks Chidi!
It's good to know that there is some degree of Muslim-Christian co-operation in Nigeria!
Sheikh Mukhtar Sahabi Expounds Ghadir Khum Historical Chronicle/pics
On Sunday, 25 October 2015 00:32:39 UTC+2, chidi opara reports wrote:Muslims and some section of the Christian community have on Saturday commemorated the Day of Ashura by way of a procession in the city centre.........Click here to continue readingFrom chidi opara reportschidi opara reports is published as a social service by PublicInformationProjects
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