In Kuru Karama, a former mining village and Muslim enclave in a Christian district south of Jos, [Nigeria,] attackers who killed more than 150 villagers disposed of the bodies systematically. Corpses were stuffed in water wells, pits, and sewer and irrigation canals, while others were burnt. Community leaders and health workers have put the death toll at more than 550. Source: SMS role in Nigeria slaughter, Herald Sun, Australia.
Violence erupted again in Jos and nearby areas on January 17. From reports, it was the worst episode to date. We are still on home assignment in the USA, but were watching the news closely and keeping in touch via friends on location. Part of the reason for our concern was that Luke is still in Jos, living with our friends and neighbors Rick and Brenda Naatz. We were grateful to learn that none of our missionary friends were injured; expatriates are not targets in this ethnic violence but sometimes are in danger by being in the wrong place a the wrong time.
Ever since we went through the similar riots in 2001, Barb and I have been concerned about many issues, but let me mention two important ones here.
First, it is unfortunate that the international community and media give little attention to these crises. It is a given that since they occur in Africa they will not be at the center of the news, but an ongoing ethnoreligious conflict in a country of 130 million people, divided nearly equally between Christians and Muslims, should be enough to raise some eyebrows. We hope it will not be only in retrospect, after some Rwanda-like disaster down the road, that people will say, “if we had known, we would have tried to help….”
Second, and more important, we are deeply concerned about the absence of a clear and strong condemnation from Christian leaders of hatred and murder—not necessarily a condemnation of all violence but at least of the killing of innocent people. There are those who oppose it, of course, and many have risked their lives to try to stop violence. The archbishop of the Anglican Church in Jos said, “it is not in accordance with the gospel to use violence to settle issues.” Still, we have heard little condemnation of outright murder.
One of our friends, Carmen McCain, wrote
While we can say that people who kill others are not truly Christians, I have, with my own ears, heard Jos-based pastors advocating violence against Muslims (as well as some very admirable pastors who stress non-violence and forgiveness.)
Carmen’s article, which I recommend, talks about this reticence for both Muslims and Christians to take responsibility for their own group’s actions. As Christians, we can’t control what Muslims do but we can try to influence our brothers and sisters. In the debate about terrorism, people often ask why, if the great majority of Muslims do not approve of such violence, we do not hear stronger condemnation of it from Muslim leaders. It is time for Christians in Nigeria to consider that same question about ourselves, and to say clearly and forcefully that there is no place in the Church for those who practice or advocate murder.
Read more
Massacre at Kuru Jenta/Kuru Karama by Carmen McCain. See especially the update at the end of the article.
Nigeria: Protect Survivors, Fully Investigate Massacre Reports Human Rights Watch
Nigeria: Religious Hate Explodes, Shaming Both Christians and Muslims
Statement by Anglican Archbishop
Jonah Jang and the Jasawa: Ethno-Religious Conflict in Jos, Nigeria. This is a long and comprehensive look at the political roots of the crisis.
Comment from Dorthea Hustoft-Hamman on Facebook: How do we speak out against the already developing "us/them" mentality?
ReplyDeleteVia Facebook from John Edward Philips: Thanks for this. I'm afraid the missionaries injected themselves and Christianity into a conflict going back centuries. It's not a developing "us/them" mentality. It's an ongoing one that has only been complicated with colonialism, the creation of new states after independence, and all the subsequent history.
ReplyDeleteWell, John, I think you're right, which is one reason that I am limiting my focus to the fact that Christians must take an unequivocal stand against murder, not conditioned by any historical or political issues. And by "Christians," I am not appealing to the mass of people who call themselves such but to those whose primary identity is in Christ and are trying to live as his disciples.
ReplyDeleteComment from Dorthea Hustoft-Hamman on Facebook: The historic aspect is certainly true, but I sense the desire of the present generation of Nigerian Christians to draw the boundires even tighter. My concern is that if people move out to a "safe" place how can dialogue continue and I fear it will be harder for Nigerian churches to live as Christ's disciples if they allow that to happen.
ReplyDeleteComment via Facebook from Bitrus H Gana: Thanks for that down to earth assesment of the issue. I believe as Christian on no ground is anyone allowed to take the life of any human. But the problem with the Jos issue is that the crises are both religious, political and ethnically inclined. I see no peace coming to Jos if these issues are not properly dealt with cos a ten year old kid in Jos knows what it means to kill and is being taught that a Muslim or a Christian is an enemy. We are raising children that might use blood as crayons.
ReplyDeleteComment via Facebook from Paul Todd: The danger in this kind of situation is that church leaders lose perspective. Looking at ECWA's history I couldn't help but notice that what happened in Kafanchan got lost in the aftermath of the associated Zaria riots; what happened in Zangon Kataf was ignored in the fight to preserve Kataf leaders lives from Muslim revenge mediated through federal and state authorities. I suspect that the same could be true here - the suffering of the innocent Christians obscures the guilt of the guilty "Christians" by transferring the blame to the Muslims as a whole and failing to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty among the Muslims on the grounds that the Muslim umma works as one body. And when things quieten down it is back to the "normaility" of church bureaucracy which usually relies on balancing the needs and demands of different ethnic groups. Any Nigerian church leader willing to confront the tribalism underlying the violence must also confront the tribalism inherent in the normal operations of their church. The expatriate missionary might be able to do this, if he or she knows Nigeria well enough, but it would be a truly exceptional Nigerian to rise above the status quo. But there are few expatriate missionaries who have been long enough in Nigeria to understand the situation, and have sufficiently good relations with church leaders, who have earned the right to speak. Missionaries come and go, but who is to speak the truth in love?
ReplyDeleteAll the comments above are valid, but they also exemplify the reason that I am focusing on only one, specific argument: killing the innocent is always wrong. Yes, that still leaves the boundary of innocence to be defined, but certain classes such as small children must always be included. "Murder of innocents is always wrong and we condemn it" is not a statement that needs any deep debate nor does it need conditions attached. How about simply asking all churches to affirm "You shall not murder?" Sure, there are always hard cases (is it right or wrong to kill a fleeing attacker?), but getting into all that should not obscure the urgency of a clear statement.
ReplyDelete