God has always been the idea that most represented Africa for me, especially the moral teachings of love and compassion embedded in most religions. Whether one’s brother is Christian, Muslim or a believer in traditional African religion, the rule is to be their keeper. Extended families in many African countries are often a melting pot of different religions. My family for instance, is full of Christians, Muslims and those who really don’t bother with what one of my uncles refers to as ‘the whole God business’. As an older member of my family, my uncle has a philosophical dilemma concerning the collusion of Christianity in the enslavement and colonisation of Africa. I too, have such moral reservations as a Catholic, but God never kills anyone; humans do.

For many years I have been disheartened by reports of religious rivalries and brutal killings across Africa, especially Nigeria. Every year, hundreds of people are murdered in defence of God and religion. I can’t help but be bewildered by the irony of humans fighting for, or in the name of, God – the omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent. If God is all-powerful and all-knowing as the Bible and Koran teach us, why should humans – mere mortals – be so preoccupied with waging his wars and massacring each other as we just witnessed in Jos, Nigeria. Just in case these religious warriors have forgotten the Laws, let me remind them that the sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13) admonishes us not to murder. But if that’s not enough, we are confronted by another restraint on our human instincts in Matthew 18:22, where the Lord directs us to forgive our brothers not just seven times, but seventy times seven. If we endow ourselves with the authority to judge each other, what would God do on Judgment Day as we know it?

I grew up in Sierra Leone where I attended Mosque on Fridays with my grandmother and went to church on Sundays with my parents. My grandmother taught me that we are all ‘adamalui’ – children of Adam – in spite of our various religions. If God does not seem to have problems with the many human religions, why should we be so enraged with each other to the extent of violating his most basic commandment across many religions: Love. Africa has always received recognition for the compassion and love of its people, in spite of all other negative issues. To fight for tangible things within human control is a different matter altogether, but to murder in the name of God is a vein assumption of demi-godly role that no one should be allowed to proclaim.

Africans have too many problems to solve than to devote themselves to the slaughtering of each other in the name of God. If there is one thing that Africa should avoid, it is religious wars, because if God sits in heaven, his footstool is probably in Africa. Islam and Christianity were mere additions to our long held beliefs in God. I advise every African religious leader to return to the basic principles of their religious texts, which are love, compassion and good neighbourliness. We have no human obligation to be God’s warriors, as oxymoronic as that sounds. If God is God, I’m sure he can fight his own battles, otherwise why have ‘hijenneh’ and ‘jahanama’ – heaven and hell?

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Joseph Kaifala is from Sierra Leone. He is director of The Jeneba Project, a not-for-profit organisation providing educational assistance to Sierra Leone.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.