HAR

RDL
LY
RELIGIOU
US
Who
W got God
G into a fight?

b
I s it religious or is it politicall? The media all
over,
o

between the Nigerian

N
includingg the Internett, refers to it as
a religious co onflict: the unending
u
Chrristians and Muslims.
ccost many livees and has crip ppled develop
M It has
h
pment especiallly
a

figght
confliccts.

new m
It was someetime in the m
my othherwise pleasuurable childho
month of May 1999, and
ood was abouut to get a
meaning. The ttraditional ruler of the town n had died,
and thhe town now wanted to crrown a new leeader. The
inn northern Nigeria.
N Nonettheless, those that live with hin
probleem, however, was that thiis new ruler w was not a
tthe inflamed areas
a can easiily recognize that it is bareely
native of the small town; nor w was the late kiing, but at
some ppoint in the hhistory of this town, probabbly after an
Islamicc invasion, thhe town got under the ruule of the
MA
ATTERS DE
ECLINED
D TO foreignn invaders, annd it remaineed that way uuntil now.
CON
NFRONTA
ATIONS AND
A The nnatives of the town, largelyy Baptists, deecided that
VERBAL
V ASSAULTS…
A … the new w king must nnow be one of their own - a king that
wouldd truly upholdd their native culture. Of co ourse, this
held nno justificatioon for the immmigrants wh ho insisted
that itt would remai ain business aas usual. Therre was the
tug-of-
f-war. On the inauguration day, the nativves started
rreligious; in faact, it is politiical. It is anotther instance of a peacceful protest and mountedd roadblocks to thwart
tthe eternal struuggle for conttrol as distinctt sects continuue the occcasion. Mattters declined to confrontaations and
tto seek their dominance in a place. However, H in a verbal assaults as the New-setttlers responded to the
cculturally diverse country where
w religion loosely defin
nes roadbllocks and trieed to move th hem. Then, a group of
tthe common values amon ng ethnic gro oups, the sam me New-ssettlers am
mbushed an
nd disbandded the
bbecomes an easy e excuse for
f many oth herwise politiccal demonnstrators killinng one in the pprocess.

Life just resttarted – withoutt warning

 Word of the mortality
m spread and oth her a peacceful demonsttration and a day off scho
ool turned
ddemonstratorss took to fligh ht as an armeed group of th he htmare and I could not
sour aand suddenly bbecame a nigh
NNew-dwellers paraded the streets
s clearingg all the blockks. wake up. I closed my eleven-yeear-old eyes o often, and
TThey armed themselves with w all kind
ds of primitivve had neever wished more the pow wer of flight – the air
wweapons: dagggers, machetess, arrows, etc. It was a dead dly
ssight and one could tell thatt they were reaady for violence,
bbut not the kiind that hit th hem. Unknow wn to them th he …PEOP
PLE SO VIO
OLENT AN
ND
nnatives had prrepared for baattle but decid ded to head-o off RESO
OLVED TO KILL ONE
E
wwith a peacefful demonstraation first. Their
T flight annd ANOTH ER
ssubsequent eeerie silence was
w in their regrouping
r an
nd
ppreparation fo or a brutal comeback.
c In
n their suddeen
aappearance, thhey fell on the New-settlerrs like a torrent
kind, bbut every timee I opened th
hem, the day w was still as
aand slaughterred many in n revenge. This was th he
black as prior. Screeens of immin nent death sicckened me
beginning
b of
as I heeard people thhat I might haave known in this small
th
hree awful daays
town ttorture one annother to deatth. The perioddic silence
of
o bloodsheed
that fo
followed was suspicious aand sinister b because all
on
o both sidees.
kinds oof shouts wouuld suddenly shatter the sillence. As I
Since
S the New w-
watcheed houses bburn and cruumble back into their
dwellers
d weere
foundaations, I imaggined my hom me in a similarr situation
majorrly
and immmediately fellt the loss of others. The p police had
MMuslims, the natives burntt down manyy Mosques an nd
not shhown up
tthe overwhelm med Muslimss, in effect, took t on a feew
becausse the
cchurch small churches. Again,
A what was otherwiise
carnagge was no
ppolitical morp
phed into a reeligious conflict, nonethelesss,
doubt beyond
tthe participants of the fighht remained constant,
c that is
their training
oonly the nativees and 'Muslim
ms' contended d in the conflicct;
and c ontrol. I
MMuslims becaause of Islam m's political assertion in th he
died many
ssituation, plus, the fightiing New-dweellers were all a
times over
MMuslims and connected th heir insistence to the Islam mic
withinn the He was buurnt alive
ccause. Both fighting
f partiees considered d the Christiaan
three days of
nnon-indigenes as neutral, which
w shows again that th he
this baattle, and
ffight was not primarily
p religiious
every time I liveed again, deeath became a casual
acquaiintance whosee visit could noot trouble me further.
The fight nnonetheless had some rivetting twists
WHAT
W WAS
S OTHERW
WISE – still weird to connceive. Througghout the threee days of
POL
LITICAL MO
ORPHED INTO
I A this coonflict, all fighhting and killin
ng would usuaally stop at
RELIGIOU
R US CONFLI CT some time in thee evening. T Then as thouugh from
nowheere, the neeutral peoplee would surge out
perammbulating freelly as though iinspecting thee damages
and efffects of the dday's battle or checking up o on a friend.
I had never seen suuch chaos in my m life - peopple
I was at home alonne with two relations and a Nanny;
sso violent annd resolved to kill one another. Mo ost
Dad hhad travelled oout of town tw wo days earlierr. We were
aamazing of all was that it alll built up in frront of my eyees:
amongg the neutrall folks, and I still remem mber those
eevening strollss. We walked around with others lookin ng more sophisticated guns in the air and tear ggas as the
aat burnt corpsses and fallen
n houses. Thiss was not whhat militarry dispersed thhe combatantts. The soundd of a gun
oone would calll a pleasant walk;
w it was a necessary waalk wouldd never sound better in my ears for the rrest of my
bbecause peop ple were everrywhere, a raare moment in life ass the madness ended. Thee dust graduaally settled
tthose three days,
d and peerhaps a deluusive sense of over tthe week. It w was indeed ddelightful to ssee friends
and neeighbors agaiin especially tthe Muslims who were
the moost victimizedd during the fiight. In additioon, school
reopenned, and studdents, which rrepresented aall sides of
the stoory, eagerly ressumed to hearr the accountss of others
and shhare theirs. A lot of myths and legends cconcerning
the figght led to myssteries and ficttions. As one could tell,
these ttales quickly bbecame populaar in school.
The war hhad ended leeaving in itss trail the
destruuctions and soorrows it wrrought. The eembers of
Women
W looking for
f their childrenn those days still pllague the now w dysfunctio onal town.
More importantly, my nightmaare was over, and the
conseqquent relocatiion of manyy, including m my family,
ssecurity. Someething about the atmospheere outside to old was a breeze. Noneetheless, someething had happened to
tthe gory storiees that had occcurred in a thiick and tangibble my yooung mind. I started to wo onder what it is like for
wway. Everyone looked as nothing
n was happening, but those in Israel aand Pakistan.. I thought of Iraq,
eeven a stranger could spot the
t choreograp phy. People likke Afghannistan and, inn fact, some other parts of A Africa like
sspectators waalked around, greeting eaach other an nd Somalilia - a counntry that I ccannot remem mber ever
ddiscussing whaatever they haad seen. Some even referreed knowinng for peacce. It still p puzzles me how the
oothers to 'an exhibition' they found app pealing, perhap ps inddividuals in
n those
aappalling. Thiss recess or social countries feel about a
hhour lasted fo or about an ho our aily turbulent life. How
dai
oor two. Then, as thouugh THE
T EMBE ERS OF THHOSE DAYSS
wo ould they defifine life or
aalerted by an n innate whisstle, STILL PL LAGUE TH HE NOW describe earth h to a
tthe town turn ned ghostly aggain DYSFUN NCTIONAL L TOWN Maartian? One of the
aas night felll. There were w traaumatic effectts of such
mmomentary sccreams at nigght, insstability in a society is
bbut most of o the com mbat thee uncertainty that loved
hhappened durring the day. Throughout the period of ones sseen in the m morning migh ht be no mo ore in the
bbattle, this odd
d routine conttinued. eveninng. I thought aand still thinkk of countries and cities
After three dayss of carnagge, the Staate in an unending coonflict and battle – wheree children
ggovernment fiinally declared d the town to be in a state of youngeger than I was at the timee are even op ppressed –
eemergency. Co onsequently, the
t State deplloyed a militaary where killings are arbitrary, cruuel and senseeless. This
uunit and set a daily curfew for 9pm: afteer nine, no on ne brings to mind a neighboring co ountry where the rebels
wwas to be in th he streets or open.
o As the military arriveed simplyy amputated their victimss; another exxample of
oon the fourtth day, manyy people herralded as they areas wwhere the diispute has no o neutral grouund - the
pparaded. Appaarently, the paatrol had strictt instructions to neutraal people aree the victimss of both siides. It is
kkill on sight any troubleemaker irresp pective of th he pathettic and stomaach-turning evven to imagine, yet it is
ppurpose or sid de. That aftern
noon lasted wiith the sound of the exxact world anoother knows – that could h have been
me. Sw weet people: men, women n, and childreen at birth
ffind themselvves in a crruel culltural similarrities and
wworld where they live more IT PLAGUES
P THE
T HUM MAN RACE AS miindset. Besidees, religion
vvulnerable thhan the wild dlife tennds to prroduce a
TH HOUGH AN N INEVITA ABLE SELF F-
pproducers in the food chaain. traanscultural bond among
DE ESTRUCT BUTTON T TO END IT T
TThe taste of those
t bitter days
d othherwise diverse people.
innexplicably lingers in my ALLL IN A SWO OOP On n the otheer hand,
ttongue; a tastte that even an people engage iin warfare
eenemy does not deserrve. based on differrences and
WWelcome to th he world, thaat is thee craving ffor more
aall the callouus hearts of those exposeed to this liife powerr; however deffined. It is cleear that one h hardly fires
uunemotionallyy utter, but wh hat world is thaat? a riflee at another because of h his or her m methods of
worshiip. The fundaamental purpo ose of war oveer the ages
As the world devellops in many ways includin ng
remainns constant: T Territory, the effort of onee kingdom
ttechnology, huumankind hass refused to excusee weapon ns
to perppetuate its cullture and soveereignty in anoother land.
oof mass destruction from the developm ment. It plaguues
The poopulous Nigerrian conflicts are no differeent.
tthe human raace as though h an inevitab ble self-destruuct
bbutton to end d it all in a sw
woop. These contentions
c are
a According to the BBC survey calledd “WHAT
uusually for pro
ominence and dominion ovver other peop ple. THE W WORLD TH HINKS OF GOD”, Nigeriaa is one of
NNonetheless, the world has h become a place wheere the m ost religious countries in the world. In n addition,
religgion easiily these conflicts, as many others around the w world, are
idenntifies diverrse territorial especiallyy considering the over two o hundred
peop ples under a differeent cultures thhat make up th he country thaat is hardly
commmon lifestyyle as largge as Texas.. Nonetheless, since therre are no
baseed on thhe atheistts in foxholes (Morrow), faiith in a divinee being for
rudiiments of theeir help innevitably bring
ngs in religion into the prop paganda as
sharred belieffs. God ssuddenly becaame indispensable to Amerrica during
Religgion has
h the coold war with the commun nist Soviet Un nion. This
beco ome thhe certainnly makes the struggles appear religious eeven when
commmon culture of the coontentions arre incongruouus with the individual
tthe world. Wh hen two peop ple of differen nt background ds faith oof the opponeents. It seems like war will aalways stay
mmeet whetherr in the sam me town or overseas, th he with hhumanity, and as long as th he belief in deiity lingers,
mmoment they identify
i a com
mmon faith th hey almost ceaase every w war will someewhat be religiious.
tto be strangerss. Suddenly, thhere is an awaareness of som me
C
Citation

Morrow, James. "Quotation

" ns about War"
Quote
e Garden. 09 Septe
ember 2010
0. Web. 0
08 October
r 2010.
< http
p://www.q
quotegarde
en.com/war
r.html>

BBC
B Survey
y. "What the World
d Thinks o
of God"
BBC Pr
ress Offic
ce. 26 February 20004. Web. 08 Octob
ber 2010.
<
<http://www.bbc.co
o.uk/press
soffice/pressreleaases/stori
ies/2004/02_februaary/26/
world_
_god.shtmll >

Barker
r, Eileen.
. "What is
s religio
on?"
The Bi
ig Questio 004. Web. 08 Octob
on. 25 November 20 ber 2010.
<
<http://www.open2.net/histo
oryandthearts/phil
losophy_et
thics/religion1109904.htm
l>

"BBC/OU Open2.net
O - Philos
sophy & Et
thics - Whhat is re
eligion?" www.open22.net.
N.p
p., n.d. Web. 15 O
Oct. 2010
<
<http://www.open2.net/histooryandthearts/phil
losophy_etthics/religion1109
904.htm
l>.

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