Fr. Louis Birabaluge sx
Since 1965, the Catholic Church has recognized the dialogue with people from other religions as part of Christian mission. Furthermore, interreligious dialogue has to be considered as the “principal task of our time”. Thus, the Catholic Church has rediscovered itself as conversation (Pope Paul VI, Ecclesiam suam, n°67). It has invited all catholic Christians to be ever aware of their duty to foster unity and charity among individuals and even among nations, whenever they are living through dialogue.
This main task has been carried on successfully by the Catholic Church with other religions, mainly with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, in different ways. With them, initiatives, based on faith in One God, Creator of all people of the entire world and their common sharing of human destiny, have taken place: religious leaders’ meetings, common understanding, theological studies, charity witness, common search for peace and justice...
While all religions are grateful to what has been done and commit themselves to continue the dialogue for the good of our divided world, some new questions have raised up especially because of the increase of violence and human murders for “religious reasons”. The increasing number of the crimes committed by the so-called Islamic State, Boko Haram in Nigeria and El Shebab in Somalia are now certainly shaking the conscience of many people, even those who do not belong to any religion.
Undoubtedly politics, economics and other factors play an important role in this violence and murders. Thus, it’s unfair to refer only to religious reasons in order to justify this inhuman scandal. In his book: The myth of interreligious violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, Oxford University press, 2009, William T. Cavanaugh, an American Christian writer, has shown, with strong arguments, that in the spread of the present violence, without excluding completely religious reasons, it’s not wrong to consider religious causes as pretexts. According to him, the true reasons are to be found on political and economical sides.
However, as my extremists and killers claim their religious identity- Boko Haram and El Shebab members for example call themselves: Islamic groups- there is a need today to question the ability of religions and their diverse followers to be factors of peace, unity and reconciliation among people. Therefore, the purpose of interreligious dialogue should be redefined. New ways of witnessing to One God in whom all believers worship have to be searched.
Can Muslims and Christians join together to defend Christian minority when they are persecuted by extremist religious groups? Can Christians and Jews work together to defend and protect the rights of Muslim minority groups, in countries where their religious freedom are denied? We cannot avoid these questions nowadays. In a world where people are being killed or discriminated because of their religious identity, interreligious dialogue can no longer remain politically neutral or a mere consensus to avoid conflicts. If this was the case, all the efforts of so many years of dialogue and mutual understanding among believers should be considered as useless.
Beyond words and academic discussions, it’s necessary today to identify and imagine concrete signs of promotion and protection of minority religious groups. That’s why the case of Mr Foday Kamara, is a precious pearl. It has to be kept and to be made known. In my view, F. Kamara is a true example of interreligious dialogue, in true deeds, in the sense of encouraging religious diversity and supporting religious minority group.
Who is Mr. F. Kamara? He is a headmaster of the Roman Catholic (RC) primary school of Walia, Mongo Parish, Makeni diocese/ Sierra Leone. By faith, he is a Muslim. While, I was visiting his school, I was caught by surprise because he introduced himself as a headmaster, Muslim and catechist. Catechist here refers to someone who teaches Christian doctrine or helps non-Christians to understand and discover Christian faith.
Of course, I was curious to know how a Muslim can be involved in catechism in the sense of promoting Christian faith. His answer was: “I believe we need Christians in our Muslim dominated village. A Christian presence may help us to understand that there are other religions in the world, other ways of worshiping God. That’s why I decided to help children who want to be Christians”.
So by teaching catechism, Mr. Kamara is promoting Christianity in his muslim village. One may ask oneself how is it possible to teach Christian doctrine without being Christian. It’s true that for the Catholic Church, catechists are not people transmitting an external doctrine which they do not believe themselves. They are supposed to believe what they teach. For our Muslim catechist, this is not the case. He is just helping children to know and understand a little bit what Christian doctrine is. Among the new catechumens of Walia, the village of Mr. Kamara, there are two of his children. To teach catechism, he uses the materials provided by the parish priest, who is first the one in charge of catechism in the school. But when he is absent, Mr. Kamara always takes over. Some Sundays, when the parish priest comes for the Service of the word of God and prayer, Mr. Kamara always helps him to gather the catechumens. In his village, he is someone called here: prayer leader.
In a village where there are no Christian adults, the help of someone like Mr. Kamara is very important. And his religious identity doesn’t matter. To know if a Muslim can be catechist comes after. We can just praise his openness and good will. He helps to understand one main purpose of interreligious dialogue: not to convince other religious partners to change their own faith, but in common understanding, to help each other to stand firm in one’s faith, to worship truly the of God his faith and to be witness of God’s love among people.
This is also the conviction of Mr. Kamara. In our conversation, I asked him if in teaching catechism he was not changing his faith and becoming Christian. He answered me saying: “I do not need to become Christian. If I do not love properly my neighbours, it’s not because I am Muslim. It’s because I do not practise what my Muslim faith teaches me. Had I been a true witness of One God in whom I believe and worship, a true Muslim, I would surely have been better than what I am today”.
Living in diverse cultural contexts, missionaries have helped the Catholic Church to be more aware of the challenge of interreligious dialogue and to take it seriously. By their encounter with people of other faith, they have helped Christians to understand well other believers and urge other Christians not to reject anything of what is true and holy in other religions. (Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, n°2). Missionaries have to carry on this task, with zeal and conviction.
In the midst of many shameful bad news coming from countries like Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Kenya...because of violence based somehow on religion, the case of Mr. Foday Kamara, Muslim and catechist, is small good news from Sierra Leone, where religion is no longer cause of conflict. He reminds us that religious diversity is not always factor of division and violence. The faith of other believers is a gift given to all to deepen their own faith and to live it truly.
NB: This piece of text was written just after the terrorist attack of Kenya, University of Garisa. Even in the midst of the recent horrific sad events of Paris during the night of Friday 13/11.
Since 1965, the Catholic Church has recognized the dialogue with people from other religions as part of Christian mission. Furthermore, interreligious dialogue has to be considered as the “principal task of our time”. Thus, the Catholic Church has rediscovered itself as conversation (Pope Paul VI, Ecclesiam suam, n°67). It has invited all catholic Christians to be ever aware of their duty to foster unity and charity among individuals and even among nations, whenever they are living through dialogue.
This main task has been carried on successfully by the Catholic Church with other religions, mainly with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, in different ways. With them, initiatives, based on faith in One God, Creator of all people of the entire world and their common sharing of human destiny, have taken place: religious leaders’ meetings, common understanding, theological studies, charity witness, common search for peace and justice...
While all religions are grateful to what has been done and commit themselves to continue the dialogue for the good of our divided world, some new questions have raised up especially because of the increase of violence and human murders for “religious reasons”. The increasing number of the crimes committed by the so-called Islamic State, Boko Haram in Nigeria and El Shebab in Somalia are now certainly shaking the conscience of many people, even those who do not belong to any religion.
Undoubtedly politics, economics and other factors play an important role in this violence and murders. Thus, it’s unfair to refer only to religious reasons in order to justify this inhuman scandal. In his book: The myth of interreligious violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, Oxford University press, 2009, William T. Cavanaugh, an American Christian writer, has shown, with strong arguments, that in the spread of the present violence, without excluding completely religious reasons, it’s not wrong to consider religious causes as pretexts. According to him, the true reasons are to be found on political and economical sides.
However, as my extremists and killers claim their religious identity- Boko Haram and El Shebab members for example call themselves: Islamic groups- there is a need today to question the ability of religions and their diverse followers to be factors of peace, unity and reconciliation among people. Therefore, the purpose of interreligious dialogue should be redefined. New ways of witnessing to One God in whom all believers worship have to be searched.
Can Muslims and Christians join together to defend Christian minority when they are persecuted by extremist religious groups? Can Christians and Jews work together to defend and protect the rights of Muslim minority groups, in countries where their religious freedom are denied? We cannot avoid these questions nowadays. In a world where people are being killed or discriminated because of their religious identity, interreligious dialogue can no longer remain politically neutral or a mere consensus to avoid conflicts. If this was the case, all the efforts of so many years of dialogue and mutual understanding among believers should be considered as useless.
Beyond words and academic discussions, it’s necessary today to identify and imagine concrete signs of promotion and protection of minority religious groups. That’s why the case of Mr Foday Kamara, is a precious pearl. It has to be kept and to be made known. In my view, F. Kamara is a true example of interreligious dialogue, in true deeds, in the sense of encouraging religious diversity and supporting religious minority group.
Who is Mr. F. Kamara? He is a headmaster of the Roman Catholic (RC) primary school of Walia, Mongo Parish, Makeni diocese/ Sierra Leone. By faith, he is a Muslim. While, I was visiting his school, I was caught by surprise because he introduced himself as a headmaster, Muslim and catechist. Catechist here refers to someone who teaches Christian doctrine or helps non-Christians to understand and discover Christian faith.
Of course, I was curious to know how a Muslim can be involved in catechism in the sense of promoting Christian faith. His answer was: “I believe we need Christians in our Muslim dominated village. A Christian presence may help us to understand that there are other religions in the world, other ways of worshiping God. That’s why I decided to help children who want to be Christians”.
So by teaching catechism, Mr. Kamara is promoting Christianity in his muslim village. One may ask oneself how is it possible to teach Christian doctrine without being Christian. It’s true that for the Catholic Church, catechists are not people transmitting an external doctrine which they do not believe themselves. They are supposed to believe what they teach. For our Muslim catechist, this is not the case. He is just helping children to know and understand a little bit what Christian doctrine is. Among the new catechumens of Walia, the village of Mr. Kamara, there are two of his children. To teach catechism, he uses the materials provided by the parish priest, who is first the one in charge of catechism in the school. But when he is absent, Mr. Kamara always takes over. Some Sundays, when the parish priest comes for the Service of the word of God and prayer, Mr. Kamara always helps him to gather the catechumens. In his village, he is someone called here: prayer leader.
In a village where there are no Christian adults, the help of someone like Mr. Kamara is very important. And his religious identity doesn’t matter. To know if a Muslim can be catechist comes after. We can just praise his openness and good will. He helps to understand one main purpose of interreligious dialogue: not to convince other religious partners to change their own faith, but in common understanding, to help each other to stand firm in one’s faith, to worship truly the of God his faith and to be witness of God’s love among people.
This is also the conviction of Mr. Kamara. In our conversation, I asked him if in teaching catechism he was not changing his faith and becoming Christian. He answered me saying: “I do not need to become Christian. If I do not love properly my neighbours, it’s not because I am Muslim. It’s because I do not practise what my Muslim faith teaches me. Had I been a true witness of One God in whom I believe and worship, a true Muslim, I would surely have been better than what I am today”.
Living in diverse cultural contexts, missionaries have helped the Catholic Church to be more aware of the challenge of interreligious dialogue and to take it seriously. By their encounter with people of other faith, they have helped Christians to understand well other believers and urge other Christians not to reject anything of what is true and holy in other religions. (Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, n°2). Missionaries have to carry on this task, with zeal and conviction.
In the midst of many shameful bad news coming from countries like Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Kenya...because of violence based somehow on religion, the case of Mr. Foday Kamara, Muslim and catechist, is small good news from Sierra Leone, where religion is no longer cause of conflict. He reminds us that religious diversity is not always factor of division and violence. The faith of other believers is a gift given to all to deepen their own faith and to live it truly.
NB: This piece of text was written just after the terrorist attack of Kenya, University of Garisa. Even in the midst of the recent horrific sad events of Paris during the night of Friday 13/11.