Re: In Africa, Islam and Christianity are growing - and blending
- From: lanman <xlanmanx@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:47:52 -0800
On 30 Jan 2006 07:59:02 -0800, "Steve Dufour" <hobbitfan111@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0126/p01s04-woaf.html
>
>In Africa, Islam and Christianity are growing - and blending
>
>By Abraham McLaughlin | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
>
>LAGOS, NIGERIA - At first, it seems a surprising sight: inside a
>two-story mosque in sub-Saharan Africa's largest metropolis hangs a
>life-size portrait of Jesus Christ.
>Yet worshipers at "The True Message of God Mission" say it's entirely
>natural for Christianity and Islam to cexist, even overlap. They begin
>their worship by praying at the Jesus alcove and then "running their
>deliverance" - sprinting laps around the mosque's mosaic-tiled
>courtyard, praying to the one God for forgiveness and help. They say
>it's akin to Israelites circling the walls of Jericho - and Muslims
>swirling around the Ka'ba shrine in Mecca.
>
>This group - originally called "Chris-lam-herb" for its mix-and-match
>approach to Christianity, Islam, and traditional medicine - is a window
>on an ongoing religious ferment in Africa. It's still up for debate
>whether this group, and others like it, could become models for
>Muslim-Christian unity worldwide or whether they're uniquely African.
>But either way, they are "part of a trend," says Dana Robert, a Boston
>University religion professor.
>
>Amid intense sectarian violence in this half- Muslim, half-Christian
>country, these groups serve as tolerant peacemakers. Also, with
>widespread poverty and health concerns here, people are seeking
>practical, profitable religion more than rigid doctrine.
>
>Before Islam and Christianity arrived in Africa, people here "believed
>in deities being close" - in gods who resided in trees or rivers and
>helped or hurt locals daily, explains Kamaldeen Balogun, an Islamic
>studies professor at Olabisi Onabanjo University in southeastern
>Nigeria.
>
>"You in the West are satisfied with one hour of church on Sunday," says
>Mr. Balogun. But for people in Africa, who he says need so many
>solutions, "This is about a practical way of life," about a willingness
>to combine Christianity or Islam with their own traditions to "see if
>they can make something new" - something that will help.
>
>Worshipers at the "True Message" mission say unifying the two
>theologies has made a major difference in their lives.
>
>A slight woman with a quick smile, Kuburat Hamzat says she came here in
>1998 with a severe menstruation problem. She was embraced by the
>mission's "man of God," a soft-spoken, bald man named Samusideen Saka.
>He told her, "Dancing will not kill you" and prescribed 91 laps of
>"running deliverance" each day. He also explained the commonalities of
>the great faiths to Ms. Hamzat who had grown up in Islam. That
>understanding, she says, changed her. "Because I understood that in my
>mind, I got healed," she says. Her problem hasn't recurred, she says.
>Others say they've been cured of barrenness, mental illness, and other
>troubles.
>
>Pastor Saka explains that his father was an herbalist and that both
>Muslims and Christians would come to him for healing. Although he grew
>up Muslim, and has been to Mecca on pilgrimage several times, he
>couldn't comprehend Nigeria's sectarian strife. He now considers
>himself a Christian, "but that doesn't mean Islam is bad."
>
>Quite the opposite. Next to his mosque is a televangelist's dream - an
>auditorium with 1,500 seats, banks of speakers, a live band, and klieg
>lights. On Sundays the choir switches easily between Muslim and
>Christian songs, and Pastor Saka preaches from both the Bible and the
>Koran. His sermons are often broadcast on local TV.
>
>The broader context here is Africa's dramatic shift in recent decades
>to Christianity and Islam. During the 20th century, fully 40 percent of
>Africa's population moved from traditional religions to "different
>shades of Christianity," says Philip Jenkins, a history and religion
>professor at the University of Pennsylvania. It is, he adds, "the
>largest religious change that has ever occurred in history." There are
>debates about whether Christianity or Islam is spreading faster in
>Africa, but clearly they're both on the rise - and sometimes are the
>source of tension.
>
>SYNCRETIST: Tela Tella is the founder of Chrislam, a religion that
>preaches unity and tolerance between Islam and Christianity.
>ABRAHAM MCLAUGHLIN
>In Nigeria's religious city of Jos (short for "Jesus Our Savior") the
>government says 50,000 people died between 1999 and 2004 in sectarian
>clashes. Until a peace deal last year, Sudan's northern Muslims and
>southern Christians were at war for two decades.
>
>Clearly, the religious revolution is still shaking out. "People are
>converting rapidly, but they don't necessarily have instruction" in the
>details of their faiths, says Boston University's Professor Robert. Nor
>have they had "time for their belief system to solidify." It is, she
>says, "still shifting." She argues that eventually the faithful will
>choose one religion or another, and the hybrids will fade away.
>
>But the ferment is quite evident on the chaotic streets of Lagos, which
>is home to some 10 million people. Hundreds of church-sponsored banners
>scream out, "It's your day of RECOVERY @ LAST where life's pains are
>healed" or "Jesus Christ: A friend indeed! Even in times of need!!"
>
>Healing is a regularly promised feature of churches across Africa. It's
>symbolic of a key element of the continent's religious explorations -
>fusing faith and rationality, Professor Balogun says. According to
>Western thought, with its emphasis on rationality, "Everything that
>goes up must come down," he says. But a more African approach is that,
>"By divine intervention it may not come down." In fact, his university
>is initiating a degree focusing on the religion-science nexus.
>
>Meanwhile, it's not just Saka who's exploring the common ground between
>Christianity and Islam. Sitting in a wrought-iron throne, swathed in
>silky white fabric, the founder of "Chrislam" has these words for
>followers of the two great faiths: "The same sun that dries the clothes
>of Muslims also dries the clothes of Christians." Stroking his beard,
>the man named Tela Tella says, "I don't believe God loves Christians
>any more than Muslims."
>
>His followers calls him His Royal Holiness, The Messenger, Ifeoluwa or
>"The Will of God." Since the religion's founding two decades ago, this
>small band has been gathering almost daily to hear his message of
>inclusiveness - that Christians and Muslims, "who are sons of Abraham,
>can be one."
I'm for any solution that allows people to live in peace, but I don't
see a future in this movement. For starters, they are all infidels who
will be slain by Arab Muslims of the Wahabbi/Salafi persuasion.
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