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‘How religious intolerance hinders societal growth’

By Shakirah Adunola
19 May 2017   |   3:40 am
The failure to tolerate one another religious beliefs and ethics has caused the nation its social peace and security with many innocent souls gruesomely murdered in the name of religious crisis.

Dr. Idiat Adebule

The failure to tolerate one another religious beliefs and ethics has caused the nation its social peace and security with many innocent souls gruesomely murdered in the name of religious crisis.

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, who disclosed this at the 101st yearly conference of the Anwar-ul Islam Movement of Nigeria, urged Muslims and non-Muslims to be tolerant, while warning them to desist from religious extremism.

Adebule, who was represented by Alhaja Fatimah Yewande Oyefeso, said religious intolerance ensued as a result of provocative statement. She, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to desist from such utterances.

“We should all have it in mind that any country engaging in religious intolerance cannot move forward. It creates set back and war in the country. So, everybody should be careful with their utterances”.

She further urged Nigerians to tolerate one another because Nigeria is multi-religious country. “If we can tolerate each other the country will be peaceful. In the olden days there was nothing like religious intolerance, both Muslim and Christian relate together with one another in the family and there were no issues such as we are encountering now.

“We should all be careful of provocative language because it is a major trigger for religious intolerance. The country is on the edge, there is depression everywhere, it might just be a minor utterance that will instigate the fight. Islam is against extremism we have to be diplomatic in our dealing with each other. If we have proper understanding of the scripture, we will know that Islam condemns religious intolerance which I also believe is not in the bible because there is no religion that preach extremism,” she said. Adebule reiterated the need to start religious education from home, stating that, “our children must have adequate knowledge of Islam.”

The President, Anwar-ul-Islam Movement of Nigeria, Barr. Mubashir Ojelade said, so much of the anarchy and turmoil in several parts of the world arise from religious conflict triggered by religious intolerance.

“Since the 70’s, Nigeria has had more than a fair share of religious conflicts. It occurred at the 1977/78 Constituents Assembly where there was a sharp division between the Muslims and the Christian on the Sharia. A similar debate re-occurred again recently when some Christian senators raised a bill in the senate for the establishment of ecclesiastical courts, which was strongly opposed by Muslims.  The Muslims countered that the common law and the constitution in force in the country are largely Christian in spirit and content and threatened to demand that Friday be declared a work free day, if the demand for ecclesiastical courts is pushed further.

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