NIGERIA: Dr Williams asked to censure Akinola over riot reaction

By Rachel Harden
THE CHURCH TIMES

A COALITION of volunteers in Nigeria has written an open letter to the
Archbishop of Canterbury asking him to denounce last week's "irresponsible" statement by the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola, on the current Christian-Muslim riots.

Archbishop Akinola, writing as president of the Christian Association of
Nigeria (CAN), had warned Muslims that "they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation. . . . CAN may no longer be able to contain our restive youths should this ugly trend continue."

The volunteers say this "aggressive and inflammatory rhetoric" will incite further violence.

About 20 Muslims were killed in revenge attacks by Christians last week
after riots in Borno state left nearly 50 people dead, including a Roman
Catholic priest, and destroyed around 30 churches. The riots broke out after a peaceful demonstration against the Danish Muhammad cartoons turned violent in Maiduguri, the state capital (news, 24 February).

The volunteers, who have all now returned home, each worked for a number of years in Nigeria through various organisations, "sharing the lives of Nigerians as neighbours, colleagues, and friends".

They said that the violence "is often reported in the media as clashes
between Muslims and Christians, but the real cause is largely political.
Religion is frequently used by local leaders as an easy way to manipulate people's feelings and to hide these underlying agendas."

The writers, a group of mixed nationalities and religions, all believed that the statement issued by the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria, which appealed for calm, was far more effective.

The international director of the Barnabas Fund, however, which works on behalf of persecuted Christians around the world, said it supported
Archbishop Akinola's statement.

"While I utterly deplore the Christian counter-attacks in Nigeria,
Archbishop Akinola has rightly pointed out that peaceful conduct is all too often seen as weakness by Muslims. This makes Christians all the more likely to be targeted.

"Western leaders, who are eager to prevent Muslim feelings from being hurt, do not seem to have the courage to speak out about what is happening to innocent Christian minorities in the Muslim world."

'US liberty could be next to go'

THE BISHOP of Washington has accused the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola of violating both human rights and statements made by the Anglican Communion in his support for a new Nigerian law that criminalises same-sex marriage.

The Bishop, the Rt Revd John Chane, also warned that the same curtailing of civil liberties could soon spread to the US.

In an article in The Washington Post on Sunday, the Bishop said that
Nigeria's new law "denies gay citizens the freedoms to assemble and petition their government". It "also infringes upon press and religious freedom by authorising Nigeria's government to prosecute newspapers that publicise same-sex associations and religious organisations that permit same-sex unions".

Bishop Chane wrote of how the Episcopal Church in the US and the Anglican Communion "are engaged in a bitter internal struggle on the role of gay and lesbian people within the Church". But he pointed to the Primates' Meeting last February ( News, 4 March 2005) where 38 member provinces said: "The victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us."

In the article, "A gospel of intolerance", Bishop Chane said there was now "reason to doubt those words". He warned American civil libertarians against Archbishop Akinola and his movement. Gifts from wealthy donors were allowing the Institute on Religion and Democracy ( www.ird-renew.org), based in Washington, "to sponsor so-called 'renewal' movements that fight the inclusion of gays and lesbians within the Episcopal, Methodist,
Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches, and in the United Church of Christ".

Bishop Chane warned that if the institute succeeded in "renewing" these
Churches, "What we see in Nigeria today may well be on the agenda of the Christian right tomorrow."

Bishop Chane urged Archbishop Akinola's supporters in the US that they
"publicly disassociate themselves from his attack on the human rights of a vulnerable population". Both Archbishop Akinola and the IRD were unavailable for comment.

Archbishop Akinola: his US supporters should publicly dissociate themselves, the Bishop of Washington says.