From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Religious leaders from Christianity and Islam, have jointly developed a document that will, expectedly, promote religious peace and harmony among people of different faith in Nigeria.
The document, tilted “Interfaith Code of Conduct” also received support and input from other religious leaders outside Christianity and Islam, as well as the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, as well as the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAIICID).
Interfaith Dialogue for Peace Forum (IDPF) which facilitated the project, said the objective was to guide religious practice in Nigeria, and will, expectedly, promote peace, justice and harmony among followers of different religious faith in Nigeria.
IDPF added that the document was mainly designed to guide all interfaith community members, notably, Muslim and Christian leaders, and their followers on mitigating religious conflict, and improving social cohesion, understanding and peaceful co-existence in local communities between people of different religious beliefs.
At the public presentation of the document in Abuja, on Wednesday, the co-chairmen of IDPF, Dr. Yusuf Yakubu Arrigasiyyu and Rev. Dr Amos Kiri, respectively, expressed optimism that adoption of the document in various religious communities will guarantee peaceful co-existence among Nigerians.
They confirmed that the document was jointly developed by key members of the two religious’ bodies, namely, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), and was driven by the core values of mutual love and respect, human rights and dignity, hate speech and blasphemy, conflict resolution, justice, ethical standards, truthfulness and sincerity etc.
They said the process of developing the document began in November 2020 during a high-level dialogue on insecurity, bringing key religious leaders from CAN and NSCIA and was followed by further technical review meetings and a validation workshop in 2021 where the document was endorsed and adopted by all participating religious leaders.”
They said the document will serve as a guiding light, inspiring religious leaders to uphold shared values and promote a climate of understanding and harmony. “This initiative underscored IDFP’s unwavering commitment to fostering understanding, harmony, and cooperation through open dialogue among Nigeria’s diverse religious communities.
“Nigeria is a country where the population is almost evenly divided between the Christian and Muslim religions. Faith is therefore of crucial spiritual and cultural significance to millions of people across Nigeria.
“Evidently, Nigeria is faced with large-scale religious, ethnic, political, and economic challenges. Intense religious debates around these challenges can lead to negative rhetoric and hate speech, and manifest in escalating tensions and conflict.
“History has demonstrated how easy it could be for religious leaders and members of the interfaith community to become inextricably caught up in religious, political, and territorial disputes. Harm to religious leaders and groups, as well as sacred places, has an impact on people’s identities, could reinforce community trauma, and deep symbolic dimension to conflict.
“As a result, religion becomes a synonym of violence, losing its potential to be a force for peace, justice and reconciliation. It’s for the purpose of mitigating the interreligious conflict and, conversely, promote dialogue, inter-religious peace building and social cohesion in Nigeria that the Nigerian interfaith community developed the Interfaith Code of Conduct.”
They maintained that the document is both necessary and timely, and was designed to apply to all faiths, and guide all religious leader and members of the interfaith community of Nigeria, to make sound ethical and values-based decisions.