Thou shalt not kill, religion teaches us; look what’s happening

On Easter Sunday, April 21, the National Chief Imam of Ghana, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharabutu, was in Christ the King Church in Accra to attend mass.

The Chief Imam, walking unaided and straight-backed, was also celebrating his 100th birthday on the same day.

Easter masses were held worldwide and in Sri Lanka, 321 people were killed and 500 wounded in attacks targeting three churches full of worshippers and three major hotels.

Friends in Sri Lanka began sending out the photos of the carnage. One particularly moving photo tweeted out just a few minutes before one of the blasts was a family—husband, wife and daughter – all dressed up.

The daughter was to receive Holy Communion on that day. The three were among the fatalities.

As a Muslim head and cleric, the symbolism of the Chief Imam attending church on Easter Sunday was as powerful as his confidence that neither would he be turned away nor be judged negatively by either Muslims or Christians.

Some of the most atrocious crimes against humanity in the world are committed in the name of religion.

It is becoming increasingly rare to hear of contributions religion can make to the prevention or ending of violence.

The often-quoted irony of religious violence is that all religions emphasise the need for peace.

Conflict can manifest in both constructive and ascertain people, factors and conditions contribute to the de-escalation or prevention of the outbreak, spread and recurrence of violent conflict.

In peace and conflict studies, people, conditions, and factors, such as strong mechanisms that help to de-escalate conflict, are called moderators. Sheikh Sharabutu is clearly a moderator.

Judging by the enthusiasm of Christians routinely joining Muslims in celebrating festivals such as Eid-ul-Fitr and Muslims joining Christians in celebrating Christmas, Ghana has many moderators.

A special report authored by the New Humanitarian quotes Niger’s Minister for Defence Kalla Moutari as saying, “The violent extremism storm building up across the Sahel from Burkina Faso to Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Libya cannot be underrated anymore.”

Poverty, political, social and economic inequalities are often listed as reasons predisposing people to conflict. In this regard, Ghana qualifies as an area with people predisposed to violence.

With no history of religious conflict in a region that has seen protracted struggles between especially the two major Abrahamic religious traditions of Christians and Muslims, what else are Ghana’s moderators doing right?

Despite a series of coups in its earlier years, Ghana has a strong foundation of values such as respect, with younger people prefixing the terms auntie, uncle, sister, brother, daddy or mummy when addressing their elders.

Leading religious leaders such as the Chief Imam and Archbishop Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle are seen as credible and easily mobilised to facilitate peace; capable of mobilising community, national, regional and even international support; effective in bringing together followers from different faith communities and interfaith dialogue, with an emphasis on social justice as a mechanism for preventing violent conflicts.

The wider context in which a conflict occurs influences how it is handled. Importantly for Ghana, norms and mechanisms exist in the inter-faith relationships, which emphasise that conflict is addressed before it escalates into violence.

Religious conflicts take root when people feel their core beliefs have been challenged or when their commitment to their own beliefs is questioned. Religious fundamentalists encourage extreme outward displays of devotion.

Every society with communal identities, particularly religious identities, has the potential for conflict.

Sri Lanka has a varied mix of religions and was weakened a great deal by a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009.

What Ghana has managed to do is not to suppress emerging religious conflicts; rather, it has managed the challenge of allowing pluralistic beliefs and opinions, encouraging respect for difference while taking action to prevent conflict from escalating into violence.

Wairimu Nderitu is the author of Beyond Ethnicism, and Kenya: Bridging Ethnic Divides [email protected]