Religious conflicts Religious conflicts in simple term its intolerance against other religions, another religious belief or practices. When missionaries entered Uganda, they used the system of divide and rule method to control Ugandans (most Christians). This was through spreading of different ideologies ,And I think it worked for them b’se Uganda was relatively peaceful before independence. However this is still haunting us and its effects have turned to cause religious conflicts. At independence most prominent political parties like Democratic Party (DP) , Uganda people’s congress (UPC) were formed based on religious lines . It was evident in 1960s where people could miss education simply because the service provider was from a different line of belief, while discussing with the veteran politician of 1960s, Catholics and Anglicans conflicts in politics was at the highest level, most students were denied education opportunities, people lost jobs and their lives on religious basis. But now our current Uganda religious conflicts are taking another twist where it is between Christians and Muslims. In my simple research I have been able to visit catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal churches and discussing with Muslim friends about their feeling about other religious ideologies. Though few people showed some sign of tolerance others don’t tolerate starting from leaders to followers. What I found out is that most religious leaders have mastered the art of preaching to their followers about bad things in other religions instead of preaching love and unity some have gone a head to even quote the holy bible and the holy Koran to elucidate their claims. There is a popular Ugandan Pastor who claim to have been attached by Muslims on many occasions, he normally write on social media Face book not preaching the word of God but attacking and provoking Muslims, this is always followed by abusive comments from both Christians and Muslims attaching one another. Such preachers are every where hence antagonizing some Muslims who ends up attacking them. On another hand my Muslim friend told me that he would rather commit suicide than his daughter getting married to a non believer (not Muslim) because according to his religion this is un acceptable. A related example can be seen in Sudan where a former Muslims was charged and sentenced to death for marrying a Christians only to be saved by an international out cries of people from all religions. What Ugandans have been hearing in other countries like Nigeria, Somalia and Central African Republic recently started showing signs in Kyegegwa Uganda where people who claim to be Muslims attacked a church killing people and injuring others due to religious intolerance . In my view our religious leaders always sugar coat strong and dangerous issues while meeting at interreligious councils. They claim to be working together to promote, love, and unity but when they go back to their churches and mosques they preach differently. In other words some of them waste a lot of time sending provocative messages to the believers of other religions instead of showing good things of their beliefs. Most religious fanatics use religion to promote their criminal acts, they have turned like our politicians who know to explain their opponents mistakes than explaining their own good plans, it is high time my learned friends we start shunning them and we learn to live together in diversity by understanding that you love for you belief should not make you harm your colleagues who don’t think like you, instead convince them but not force them. If we don’t learn to live together as brothers and sisters we will die together as fool. In Nigeria (northern Nigeria) introduced sharia law, this culminated into fear of Christians that they would be persecuted but their freedom were guaranteed in the national constitution, however clashes started among Christian communities who were affected, protests started between Christians and Muslims , thousand of people were killed and property destroyed. Religious differences have been used as away of accessing political and economic resources; this resulted into Nigeria’s civil war (1967-70) in Biafra crisis. These episodes of conflicts have remained leading to the development of terrorist groups like Boko Haram all in the name of religion, in countries where there is freedom of worship why kill another person because he or she is not thinking like you, I think people should instead convince but not force, tell us why you want me to join you not showing me how others are bad. In Central Africa’s Republic in the past was not based on religion but ethnicity, Ethnic favoritism, regional neglect and foreign intervention. Because of faulty lines over years Muslims and Christians seem to be on opposite sides, this led to the formation anti balaka forces who are predominantly Christians to attack Muslim civilians and seleka rebels for the revenge committed during Djotodo’s rule (first Muslim ruler). Therefore to end this conflict mediators should not only focus on religious mediations and ignore the faulty lines caused by economic violence that can result to another conflict. Religious identity is important in CAR conflict but the conflict is not derived from religion. Kahaya Dan Sebasore
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 06:44:50 +0000
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