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Killing in the name of God

No decent human being will condone the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that took place in France recently. The loss of lives was tragic, and it is something that should never take place, especially in the name of religion.

Having been a religious leader for close to 40 years now, I am well aware of how religion, any religion, is susceptible to becoming evil. This happens when particular conceptualisations lead to rigid doctrine and cocksure certainty about God and others. It is worsened by blind obedience and a belief that the end justifies any means. Islamist extremists, the kind who carried out the barbaric act of cold-blooded violence on Charlie Hebdo journalist, epitomise religion gone awry.

The turning point in any religion is when followers think all that matters is their religious views and everybody else is wrong. This is a pivotal point at which religion can tip the scale towards disaster. But the Islamist extremists are not alone in distorting religion and making it evil. Almost 20 years ago, the followers of Aum Shinrikyo - a movement that drew from Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism - left Japan and the world in shocked disbelief when in their moment of crazy absolutism, they released a deadly nerve gas in 16 central Tokyo subway stations in the early morning rush. That left 12 people dead and more than 5000 injured.

And how can we forget about Yehuda Etzion, the Israeli right-wing activist who was a member of the Jewish Underground and participated in a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock for which he was arrested and imprisoned in the mid-1980s? Closer to home, my own Christian religion has its fair share of atrocities. History is replete with tragic events that solely occured on the command of church authorities. Christian Emperor Theodosius once had children executed because they had been playing with the remains of pagan statues. The burning of witches is another low moment in the history of the Christian church, including alleged involvement in the Rwanda massacres as recently as 1994.

I cite all the above to illustrate the point that all religions are susceptible to being evil. As one person once observed, religion is like a cow. It can kick severly but it can also provide wholesome milk. As religious leaders and believers from different religious persuasions, our role is to nurture and bring forth the "wholesome milk" side of religion. And this we can do by not feeling threatened by those who differ with us. Indeed, we should be suspicious of any religion that does not engage the intellect. When religion emphasises belief at the expense of rationality and reason, we shall continue to witness the kind of atrocities mentioned above - all committed in the name of religion.

Having said so and as a person committed to freedom of expression, I must agree with Pope Francis in his admonition that we should be careful not to provoke others by insulting their religion. This is by no means an attempt to limit freedom of expression but to promote peaceful co-existence. The Paris tragedy should make all of us, religious followers and the media, reflect on how we can peaceably co-habit in our shared space. When we conduct ourselves in a manner that suggests religion is more important than freedom of expression or the latter takes pre-eminence over the former, peaceful co-existence may elude us. And while on this subject, let us spare a thought and prayer for our fellow world citizens in Nigeria who in the same of week the Paris tragedy perished at the hands of other extremists in the form of Boko Haram. The two events received different attention from world leaders and from media coverage.

It would be a sad day if what happened in Paris is seen and treated as decidedly not normal while what happened in Nigeria is seen and treated as decidedly normal. And those who are in the news business tell us what is normal does not make news. Maybe that is the reason the Nigerian massacre was largely ignored by the media. However, I would give allowance to the Western media ignoring the story, but I am taken aback by media within the continent displaying the same kind of apathy. The perpertrators of the two tragedies are pretty much the same-Islamist extremists.

Only the victims are different. I do hope the different emphasis is no indication of the value placed on African lives. Whereas we saw Western leaders coming out in support of France and mobilising their respective populations in this regard, African leaders and their people have been relatively quiet about the Nigerian massacre. But maybe those are the effects of the abnormal having become normal on our continent.

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