RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IS PEACE!
STOP DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA WITH YOUR FAITH: PROMOTE PEACE
If
it were not because of COVID-19 Pandemic, 24th May 2020, would have
been one of the busiest days of the world. For Eid ul Fitr falling on Sunday,
whilst our Muslim brothers and sisters would be busily praising Allah for a
successful fast: Christians too would have been busy glorifying God in our
various churches. Unfortunately, a tiny but powerful invisible enemy,
SARS-CoV-2 is outside there waiting for the children of God to infect them.
This
should tell us that instead of discriminating against and fighting ourselves,
we should rather put our differences away, and fight the invisible enemy
sitting on our PEACE. Infectious diseases like tuberculosis (Tellier et al., 2019) and natural
disasters like hurricanes (Tipson, 2013; Chan et
al., 2017) are increasing threats to human health and peace. Instead
of focusing on our problems, human beings are rather fighting themselves, and our
world is rather increasingly violent than before; especially domestic (Huecker & Smock, 2020), religious (Wibisono et al., 2019; Glock & Stark,
1965), and political violence (Majumdar, 2020) ! Amongst all these,
“religious violence” is said to have been increasing (Muggah & Velshi, 2019) more; that is a very bad news for us as
believers. This is because, increased violence mostly goes with increased
discrimination and stigma (Mehta et al., 2019;
Torrey, 2011).
The
WHO, (2002) defines violence as: “The
intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against
oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either resulted
in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm,
maldevelopment or deprivation” (Dhahlberg &
Krug, 2006). Violence is multidimensional like “Religious extremism” (Wibisono et al., 2019). From, this
definition, it means that, when you discriminate against and stigmatize
COVID-19 positive persons, you are not only inflicting emotional pains in them;
you are giving them psychological problem/violence.
Peace
is evolutionally defined by the WHO as a situation in which there is no war and
“Structural violence” in our societies (WHO,
2020). But peace and health are interrelated, as can be seen in the WHO
definition of health in 1948, as: “A state of complete physical, mental and
social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 2020; PHAST, 2020). The relationship
between health and peace is even made clearer in Steinhauer, (2016) definition of peace as an environment full of
positive wellbeing without conflict. Violence leads to diseases and infirmities
that can let one lose their health and have no peaceful minds!
The
WHO world report on violence and health for 2002, declared violence as a global
public health problem (WHO, 2002; Dhahlberg &
Krug, 2006; Krug et al., 2002). It is revealed by the WHO, ( 2002) and many writers that, violence is
not only when people are attacking each other with weapons like guns or
cutlasses, but anything that does not allow you to have peace (COE, 2017; Cohen, 2019) . The WHO, (2002) gave some examples of violence,
such as: emotional or psychological harassment, depriving/neglecting others
(very common amongst stigmatized people), hindering others’ developing
(sabotage), sexual harassment or starvation and so on.
Religion
and culture is identified as one of the fundamental triggers of major global unrests
on earth, especially in nations that are yet to develop (Stewart, 2002; Cohen, 2019; WHO, 2002) . Religion and
culture are like blood and water in our bodies, this is why religion/culture is
always amongst the major causes of violence on earth (Stewart,
2002) .
Some religious violence around the globe (Wibisono
et al., 2019; Basedau et al., 2014), testified that
religion is really amongst major causes of our 21st Century World’s
unrest. Some political and tribal conflicts even appear in the form of
religious identity (Majumdar, 2020; Wibisono et
al., 2019; Sule, 2015; Canetti et al., 2010); where there are
mostly some forms of political influences in every religious violence (Wibisono et al., 2019). Sule, (2015) has named twenty-seven
ethno-religious violence in Northern Nigeria alone which he even said are some
of them. As the “light of the world”, we Christians and Muslims who are the
majority on earth, must be very ashamed of this shameless revelation! We cannot
be preaching peace and justice, and we are the same people causing problems on
earth!
Glock & Stark, (1965), trying to explain the multiple
associations of religious extrimism, revealed that all religions on earth have
five (5) major attributes that distinguish them from one another. These are;
differences in religious ideologies (beliefs), intelligence (knowledge), ritualisms
(sacrifices), “experiential (feelings or emotions)”, and implications (effects
arising from religious differences). My interest amongst these today is the:
“Experiential”. COVID-19 has re-affirmed a serious global problem called
stigma, where COVID-19 infected persons are stigmatized (Logie & Turan,
2020; BBC., 2020; Starr, 2020).
For fear of being exposed and stigmatized, some COVID-19
positive persons, especially the asymptomatic ones, are seeing those helping
them (contact tracers) as their enemies and are threatening them (Asamoah,
2020; Ghanaweb, 2020) .
A Ghanaian pregnant mother who survived COVI-19 has bitterly complained of how
her daughter was discriminated against, stigmatized and stoned by her community (BBC., 2020) . A man likewise
revealed how his brother discriminated against and stigmatized him because of
COVID-19 (Starr, 2020) .
Both Holy Books preach and stand for LOVE and PEACE (Brink,
2016; Zaimov, 2015; Akhter & Qadoos, 2017; ALgul, 2017)! When the Pharisees’ lawyer tempted Jesus by
asking him that which of the commandments is the greatest?, he replied: “… love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul 37, …
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself 39” (Matthew, 22: 34-40KJV).
To help us know who our neighbour is, Jesus gave a parable about a Good
Samaritan using a man who was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and how he
was help by a “supposed enemy” (Luke, 10:25-37KJV).
He added in (Matthew 5:44-47, KJV) that our ability to love
our enemies is what differentiates us from the unbelievers. One who loves does
not discriminate or stigmatize others! We are even asked to feed our enemies
when we see them go hungry or beg for food from us (Proverbs, 25:21, KJV) . Jesus use himself
as an example by praying for those who crucified him, though he was going
through unbearable pains on the Holy Cross of Calvary (Luke 23: 33-34, KJV). Anyone
who does not love his/her neighbor does not love God, because He is love (1John, 4:8KJV).
The
Holy Quran also started the peace process and by avoiding religious
discrimination in this statement, that: “There is no compulsion where the
religion is concerned” (Quran, 2:256;
GNN, 2015; Ashley, 2015) . I like this particular quote very much,
because it exposes religious extremism in which some religious fundamentalists (Azarian, 2018; Weston, 2019) still see their
religious opponents as their enemies-the root cause of religious violence! If
we really understand this quote, there should be no religious violence (Wibisono et al., 2019; Sule, 2015) or discrimination
and stigma on this earth, like seen in the case HIV/AIDs (Reyes-Estrada et al., 2018)?
To
pray for someone to be peaceful or find peace in life is a prayer that is found
in both Holy Books - Bible and Quran (Steinhauer, 2016) , and we can only do
this out of love. Jesus himself was always greeting his followers by saying:
“Peace be unto you” (John, 20:19-21, KJV; Luke 24:36,
KJV) and he said in (Matthew 5:9, KJV)
that: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of
God”. There are hundred Bible Verses on peace alone (Smith, 2020) . Up to now, Roman
Catholics greet each other by saying: “The Peace of Christ be with you”.
It
is said that Quran 56: 25-26 promises anyone who believes that: “Therein they will
hear no abusive speech, nor any talk of sin, only the saying, “Peace, peace” (Steinhauer,
2016) .
The global head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission was lamenting why there is enmity
amongst humans globally, saying that Islam is a religion of peace can help
solve this (Rashed, 2013) . It is natural that,
once you see someone as an enemy or a threat to you, you would discriminate
against and stigmatize that person. Meanwhile, just as the Holy Bible teaches
that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44-47,
KJV), so does the Holy Quran (Google.com, 2015) .
The
Holy Quran calls its ways “… The ways of peace” (Quran
5:16) by promoting reconciliation as the best (Quran 4:128), because God hates disturbance of peace (Quran 2:205). Despite these beautiful
teachings, most of our members still coin their own ways of creating hatred
both interfaith and within the same faiths; resulting in words such as
“Unbelievers” and “Infidels” (Ashley, 2015) . These words are
discriminatory in nature, leading to automatic discrimination and stigma! Forced
conversion is something that all religions must avoid! As Pastor Mensah Otabil
revealed: “Salvation is not religious, it is a spiritual issue” (Otabil, 2020) . Forcing people into
the church or mosque is not a guarantee that they will go to Heaven. So, people
are worshipping with us only for acceptance (Otabil, 2020) , but they are even
wicked than “unbelievers”. Today, most criminals have found their way into our
places of worship as revealed in most robbery arrests (Wealth, 2020) .
What
makes things worst is that; though religious intolerance is now a global
problem that needs solution, in some countries like Saudi Arabia (which should
have been a shining example for the Islamic Nations), small children are
thought to discriminate against non-Muslims (Ibrahim, 2019) . Though in Ghana
Christians and Muslims live as if we have the same belief; in Iraq it is
considered as “haram (forbidden)” if a Muslim wishes a Christian merry
Christmas (Ibrahim, 2019) . I am not a Muslim,
but with the little that I have learnt about Islam, I know that Islam is as
peaceful as Christianity. From this and the Ghanaian Christian-Muslim
relationship, I have seen that our religions are not the problems. We human
beings who are the only religious on earth (McCauley, 2018; Coghlan, 2008) , are the ones
tarnishing the images of our religions. If not, how can our Holy Books preach
peace, yet some fundamentalists rejoice in killing in the name of God, as seen
in the case of Nigeria (Geller, 2019) ?
In
(Matthew 7:12, KJV), Jesus: “Therefore
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them: for this is the law and the prophets”. If you do not want others to
maltreat your religious members, why subject others’ religious members to harsh
treatments? Relating to this verse to the Greatest Commandment (Matthew, 22:
34-40) ,
such treatments are pure hatred, discrimination or stigma; and cannot be
described as love. All religions believe that theirs is the best, and this has
resulted in most of them referring to themselves as the selected lucky ones
that God chose (Tarico, 2015) . This has resulted
in automatic discrimination/stigma in which members of the same religion or
denomination are treated as special/superior than outsiders.
You
will not discriminate against or stigmatize your neighbor if you really love
him/her and want peace! When there is no love in your heart and you value peace,
you might be hurting others with your actions or inactions like stigma. But,
stigma kills (Ruffell, 2017) ; and religious discrimination (Kawika, 2018) has been an open
secret for years. Comments that COVID-19 is a punishment from God (Martin, 2020; Gordon, 2020) or a “Death angel” (Brown, 2020; Dossey, 2020) that God is using to
wipe off sinners; does not only affect the compliance level of people, it also
increases the level of stigma attached to it. COVID-19 is no respecter of a
righteous or a sinner, just comply! When Cain killed his brother Abel, God demanded
Abel’s blood from his hands (Genesis, 4:1-15, KJV) . If because of
stigma others are not willing to comply, and others loss their lives, God will
request for their blood from your hands. So, the quick reaction by Christian
leaders that COVID-19 is not a disease of sinners, was an excellent move in the
right direction (Dennis, 2020) .
There
is a Beautifully and Peaceful Relationship between Christians and Muslims in
Ghana (Abdul-Hamid, 2011) . This is a clear demonstration of love
that puts a smile on God’s face, and we have to protect it. Through that we can
stop discrimination or stigma and any form of evil. destroy it. Our COVID-19 positive persons need this Love!
Love them, Love All: Stop the Stigma. We are the majority on earth, once we don’t
support a certain evil behavior, it can never survive!
Recommendations
Ø As
we preach peace, we must find a way of protecting or promoting it through
interfaith or religious dialogue.
Ø Use
of words like “Infidels” or “Unbelievers” are discriminatory and should be
stopped. Once we believe it is justifiable to harm others because they are
infidels or unbelievers, religious violence or stigma will never end.
Ø Just
like no single human being is powerful, no single religion on earth is
powerful. All religions should come together to fight against religious
intolerance, discrimination/stigma.
Ø The cry of discrimination and stigma by
COVID-19 positive persons, is a revelation that we are not showing love to
those who need it most. All religions should compete in doing good or showing
love to the less privilege and neglected in society.
Ø We
are the lights and the salts of the world. If there is no peace on earth, we
must bow our heads in shame, because we are the majority. We must all stand up
for peace!
Ø We
cannot worship our God in a violent environment as revealed by COVID-19. The
examples shown by some religious leaders by donating to support the less
privileged during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown or curfew, is worth
emulating.
Ø Comments
that God is using COVID-19 to destroy sinners, create discrimination or stigma
and must be avoid as we resume religious activities.
