Recently, the former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan provided Iftar, the evening meal for some Muslim faithful in Abuja and broke Ramadan fast with them.
The tradition is not only limited to the Catholics as other denominations have embraced such acts.
In fact, some Christians, especially in the Southwest where hardly would there be a family without the trace of both religions have turned it to a habit to fast wholly or partly in the month of Ramadan as a form of solidarity to their Muslim friends and relatives.
It is also on record that some Muslims have joined their Christian counterparts during their festivals.
Specifically, last year December, members of Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Nasarawa State Branch visited Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ, Lafia to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with them.
Report also has it that till date at the University Of Lagos Central Mosque, the Muslim community offers their parking space for Christians to park their vehicles on Sundays for service while the same gesture is reciprocated on Fridays by the church management for their Muslim brothers.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has recently stated that for almost 25 years he has been living in the GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, during the annual Eid-ul-fitri and Eid-ul-kabir open prayers, the Muslims make use of the compound of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church belonging to the Anglican Communion.
He said there was a particular year that the prayer fell on a Sunday when the venue would be used for the usual church service, the Muslim agreed that they should come very early to pray, surprisingly, the management of the church rescheduled their own service to noon when the Muslims would have been through and would have left the place.
All those instances no doubt are examples of religious tolerance which are highly commendable and deserved to be emulated.
However, there is still a long way to go as elements of religious intolerance are still in the blood of many Nigerians which have been responsible for many violence that have led to loss of innocent lives and destruction of countless property.
Factors responsible for such violence include illiteracy, hate messages, extremism, hatred for other religion and politicians who weaponise religion for political as well as economic gains.
Religious intolerance usually originates from the perceived superiority of one religion over the others.
Each religion in its mission may wish every Nigerian citizen, in fact all humanity to be its member, but the reality is that even during the days of prophets, there were dissidents.
No religion should see itself as being superior as there is only one goal, but there are various paths to such a goal.
The Catholics confirmed this as they do not believe that there is only one path to paradise.
Apart from ensuring fair treatment to the two main religions by government at all levels, it is also important that Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, NIREC is strengthened while such council should be domesticated at both the states and local governments to be agents of preaching religious tolerance and to as well regularly address religious issues that may lead to agitation.
An inter-religious tolerance media programme tagged “Abrahamic Mission” which is been aired on Nigeria Television Authority, NTA’s network on Fridays with a repeat edition on Sundays where Islamic and Christian leaders dialogue on issues of common interests from the two scriptures is a very laudable programme which has re-orientated a lot of people that both religions are almost the same in terms of belief and morals.
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, also deserves commendation as it has adopted the programme as it joins NTA on Sundays to relay “Abrahamic Mission” on its network at 5pm.
Similar programmes should be introduced by both public and private broadcasting stations at the states’ levels as this would give better understanding to religious adherents that both Christianity and Islam have their roots from prophet Abraham also known as Ibrahim, which the two religions described as the father of faith.
The media needs to exhibit professionalism and ensure fairness and prioritize national interest in religious reportage as it has contributed a lot to religious intolerance in the country.
Students from their tender age should be exposed to the basic tenets of the two major religions to deepen their knowledge and understanding as this would be a guiding principle at the later stages of their lives.
It is a fact that both religions preach love and peace.
It should therefore be noted that tolerance among religious faiths is a major factor in achieving peaceful coexistence which is a catalyst for national security.
It’s also essential that Nigerians understand the fact that they stand to gain more when they live in peace and respect one another’s religion.
Nigerians are far from religious tolerance exhibited in the developed world.
The ultimate, therefore, hopefully is when the level of religious tolerance of Nigerians gets to that of Western and Asian world where a Baptist College in a Christian-dominated Australia could change its dress code to accommodate just one hijab student and the government of Muslim populated Indonesia because of a student too could review its law to allow Christians not to wear anything on their heads to schools.
Ridwan Fasasi
