CARDINAL ONAIYEKAN ADVOCATES COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS TO RESCUE RELIGION FROM SELFISH HIJACKERS

Cardinal Onaiyekan advocates collaborative efforts to rescue religion from selfish hijackers

By Rachel Kogi, CSN

Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja and Prince of the Church, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, (CON), has articulated the need to join hands and rescue religion from the many forces that have hijacked it and held it hostage for their own selfish purposes.

The Cardinal made the call in his introductory remarks at the National Inter-Religious Conference organised by the Kano State Government at the Kano Government House on Thursday, December 1, 2022.

Commenting on the theme of the Conference, “Harnessing Nigeria’s Religious Diversity for Sustainable Peace and National Development,” Cardinal Onaiyekan noted that “it is refreshing to be at a National Conference with the positive aim of seeking to harness our religious diversity for sustainable peace and national development,” “against the backdrop of the unfortunate general impression in the country that religion has been a cause of crisis, conflicts, violence and even insurgency.”

He noted that “it is more than time to begin to present religion for what it truly is: a powerful force for good in the society.” He therefore called on the “the vast majority of our people, who are sincerely religious, to rise up and join hands across boundaries of religious affiliation, to rescue religion from the many forces that have hijacked it and held it hostage for their own selfish purposes, contrary to what true religion stands for.”

The Cardinal further applauded the efforts of individuals and institutions that have contributed positively to changing the negative narrative about religion, identifying global efforts like the International Religions for Peace, the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations as well as the UN Movement for Human Fraternity and significantly, the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” which was jointly signed in Abu Dhabi in February 2019 by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad Al Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.

Back in Nigeria, the Prince of the Church identified the efforts of the Nigerian Interreligious Council, (NIREC) which he described as the most significant, bringing together leaders of the Muslim and Christian communities to work for peace and harmony.

He went on to commend the Interfaith Initiative for Peace (IIP) founded by him and the Sultan many years ago, the Sultan Foundation, the Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace, (COFP) as well as the present National Conference.

Cardinal Onaiyekan however observed that “despite all these efforts, religion is still featuring in many situations of conflict and communal violence, thus the more reason to continue working hard for peace. He therefore stressed the need to go beyond emphasis on various factors driving religious conflict such as history, economy, culture and politics. “There is need to get to the religious root of our predicament,” he said.  

The Archbishop concluded that for interreligious efforts to be successful, firstly, they “must start and end with God,” in line with “the first article of faith in both Islam and Christianity which is belief in one God.” “We need to rediscover our one God, if we are to be able to forge a human fraternity, in our contemporary emerging global family,” he said. “Secondly, our interreligious conversation must be based on truth and honesty.