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Religious ethnic crises conflict nigeria
Nigeria Christian persecution
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Nigeria is the most populated nation in Africa and lies on the continents fault line between the largely muslim north and the predominantly christian south. For several years now radical muslims have been carrying out a holy war or “jihad” against christians in Nigeria in hopes of one day establishing a separate Islamic state in the country’s north. Over the last decade there have been thousands of christian fatalities perpetrated by muslim extremist.
Christians every day are having their rights violated and live terrefied of possible attacks from terrorist organizations whose sole purpose is to attack Christians. The problem has intensified and grown to a point where police have to stand watch outside of church services to protect the people inside from possible attacks and raids from violent religious persecutors.
These religious persecutors are mainly the Boko Haram, a terrorist group who’s attacks target christians. “Boko Haram” which means “western education is forbidden” has existed in several forms since the late 1990’s. The group which is behind most attacks on christians in Nigeria conducts military grade attacks on civilions several times a week.
The terrorist organization suffered setbacks in July 2009 when clashes with Nigerian government forces led to the death of hundreds of its members including the former leader Mohammed Yusuf. In July of 2010 the group’s leader Abu Bakrer and second-in-command Abubaker Shekau appeared in a video claiming leadership of the terrorist organization and threatening attacks on all western influence. months in Nigeria. Later thatstatementekau issued a second staement expressing solidarity with al-Qa’ida and threatening the United States.
Under Shekau’s leadership Boko Haram has co...
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...ist to raid chrisitian villages.Everyday in Nigeria at least one chrisitan has their religous rights violated in some way or form. The terrorist will not stop until they get what they want or until they or stopped. And the only hope for some people is that someone interferes with the terrorist and stops their reign of violence over the innocent people of the poverty stricken country.
Works Cited
“22 Christans Killed in Attack On Church in Northeastern Nigeriaattackssecution.org. n.p. 28,
Jan,2014. Web. 28, Jan, 2014Christiansarem”. The National Counterterrorism Center. NCTC. n.d. Web. 5th, Feb, 2014.
Greene, Richard Allen. “Religious PersecuHaramis Widespread, Report Warns”. CNN.com. CNN,
29 Apr, 2010.web. 2 Feb, 2014
Musselman, Greg. “NigeReligioustians Face Persecution”. cbnafrica.com. The Christian
Broadcasting Network Inc, n.d.web. 10, Feb. 2014.
Nigerian
Retrieved from http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/268/540 White, J. R. (2014). Terrorism and homeland security (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
...taken up his religion also say that our customs bad.” Christianity is destroying and guiding two different societies. It guides the people that don’t believe in Christianity to convert because converts who once had the same beliefs as them are saying that theirs customs are bad. This causes Ibo people to convert to Christianity.Which guides the Christian society into better directions because they are gaining more converts. At the same time this destroys the Igbo religion because they are losing their members to the Christian society.
Since the beginning of Christian Fundamentalism there has been many interactions between religion and militancy. A well known activist group was established in America after the civil war called the Ku Klux Klan. They were a protestant led organization who engaged in violent acts such as lynching, murder, arson, cross burning, rape, arson, demolition of property and other horrendous crimes. This was all carried out against African Americans, Muslims, Jews and other ethnic minorities. They were openly Christian terrorist in their philosophy, basing their beliefs on a “religious foundation” in Christianity. (Al Khattar, Aref. M. 2003.) Their burnings and physical abuse that they caused were not only to frighten and warn their enemies but to also show their devotion and overall worship to Jesus Christ.
Response to terrorism. FreeRepublic, LLC, 10 Febuary 2001. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/537799/posts.
...lim violence mentioned in class lectures include a taxi cab driver in NYC who identified himself as a Muslim and was shot dead by the passenger, four pieces of construction equipment was destroyed at a future mosque site in Tennessee also in Tennessee, a pipe bomb went off in a mosque in Jacksonville killing somewhere around 60 people. This is only a few example of the many hate crimes committed against Muslims in the United States. Muslims not only face hate crimes in the U.S., but all over the world today which is particularly disturbing in the U.S. which has a Constitution that states all citizens are free to practice their own religion, but clearly as of late, this is not true for Muslim Americans.
...at shocked me through all these articles is how there weren’t a single positive story about Nigeria. I had to get to the third page before I found something that was “kind of positive” about Nigeria. These definitely illustrate what the speaker was saying about single stories. Also 8 out of 10 stories where related to Boko haram. Therefore it won’t be a surprise for me to hear that people believe that Boko haram is the daily cup of tea. I didn’t really found anything that was directly related to the chapter because most of the stories were about BOKO haram crisis. The only thing that I found related to the chapter was how the Biafra war that has opposed the three major’s ethnics groups: Yoruba, Igbo and Hausas is still reflecting on the actual Nigerian crisis. In the north were these crisis are occurring, only certain ethnic groups or religious groups are attacked.
Religion and the Igbo People The Igbo are a profoundly religious people who believe in a benevolent creator, usually known as Chukwu, who created the visible universe (uwa). Opposing this force for good is agbara, meaning spirit or supernatural being. In some situations people are referred to as agbara in describing an almost impossible feat performed by them. In a common phrase the igbo people will say Bekee wu agbara.
Al-Qaeda Introduction Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization established in Peshawar, Pakistan, between 1988 and 1989 by Osama bin Laden and his teacher Abullah Yusuf Azzam. Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist network that is considered the top terrorist threat to the United States. Al Qaeda is seeking to get rid of all westerns from Muslim territory and replace their own Islamic regime. They are a group of people who work together to plan acts of terrorism against Muslims and non-Muslims especially in the United States. Al Qaeda believes that they are fighting a holy war against the enemy of their religion.
Extremism manifests itself dangerously in the Islam religion (Palmer, Monte, and Princess Palmer, 37). The Muslim religion has some laws and believes that no one should question their design, origin or application. Good people should punish immoral people in Islam religion without showing mercy to them. In Islam, human beings have no right to offer forgiveness to others that can easily lead to and create peace to oneself in the society. The unforgiving nature makes human rights groups in many ways try to change and support governments that try to overthrow Muslim extremist governments. Such an approach creates a war never ending between the Muslim governments and other governments that fight the extremist ideals. In East Africa, Somalia presents a case example by observing how the Government is not able to control the ever fighting and dreadful Al-Shabaab. The “Al-Shabaab” is an Arab name for Muslim youth who over the years try to use enforce extremist rulers in governing the country and hence controlling the resources. Muslim fighters and rebels arm themselves with arsenals they use to fight groups that oppose them by killing and torturing them. The al-Shabaab launches attacks that kill people and openly claim responsibility for the losses and the deaths they cause. They also punish members who commit sin using the retrogressive laws of the Quran on the people they label sinners. Other extremist
...’s depictions of both traditional and modern beliefs in varying degrees illustrate the importance of both in contemporary Nigerian culture, as well as the greater Africa as a whole, and how both are intertwined and cannot exist without the other. In effect, she skillfully subverts stereotypes or single perceptions of Africa as backward and traditional, proving instead, the multifaceted culture of Africa. She further illustrates that neither traditional African nor western culture is necessarily detrimental. It is the stark contrast of the fundamental cultures that inevitably leads to clashes and disagreements. In the end, what holds African countries such as Nigeria together is their shared pride. Modern, western influences can bring positive changes to society, but new cultures cannot completely eradicate the foundational cultures to which a society is founded on.
During the first half century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government including governors in the eastern provinces took no active measures against Christians. The attitude of the higher Roman authorities had always been that Christianity was merely a sect of Judaism, and as such, were entitled to share in its privileges as a recognized religion. In 64 A.D. this attitude suffered a severe alteration. On July 19, 64 A.D. occurred the great fire of Rome. Half a million people were left homeless. Popular rumor persistently asserted that the fire was started by incendiaries acting under the orders of the Emperor Nero. It was said that Nero wanted the city burnt down so he could build a new city which was to be re-named after himself. Nero felt that something must be done to deflect the public indignation against him. To do this he contrived that accusations should be brought against the Christians. So Nero began an aggressive persecution of the Christians in Rome. Those who confessed their guilt were brought to trail. During these trials a great number of other Christians were uncovered and were also brought to trial. Oddly enough, these people were not charged with starting the great fire of Rome, but rather for “hatred of the humankind.”
To colonize the land of Nigerian tribal people or any other lands in the world, the British wisely used religion as a tool of invasion. Though the process of spreading Christianity took longer time than war and killing, the attack on belief and spirituality made the native people completely submit to the new government which generated and supported the religion that those people followed. In fact, the British missionaries succeeded in convincing the Igbo people of the new religion despite the Igbo’s conservativeness and extreme superstition.
In conclusion, it is clear that the coming of Christianity to Africa was not greeted with open arms. While it granted Africans the chance to acquire new teachings, it also insinuated itself within politics, family, and traditions, utterly destroying them from the inside out. Having been detailed within novels by Achebe, Oyono, and Thiong’o, it is easy to see how these “pacifying” roles eventually led to a total conquest for all of Africa.
Religious accusations which serve as catalysts for conflict help to develop an accurate portrayal of imperialism and Ibo culture. In Things Fall Apart, the missionaries assertively state “Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm” (Achebe 146). This quotation shows the imperialists accusing the gods the Ibo people believe in and worship of being false gods that are idols. These gods cannot harm them and do not pose any threats. Also, in Achebe’s interview, “An African Voice,” he says “You have leaders who see nothing wrong in inciting religious conflict. It’s all simply to retain power” (Achebe, pars. 9-10). Achebe says that it’s all about staying in control and sustaining (political) power. He additionally implies that there are leaders who see nothing (morally) wrong ...
The 3 G’s of "God, glory, and gold" was very important to the development of Nigeria (Adebajo 2013). Through the British colonization, more people in Africa were converting to Christianity. Later, any of them became missionaries influencing others to do the same. Unfortunately, as Christianity spread, traditional beliefs suffered, which led a rift between new Christians and Muslims. Also, Church Missionary Society and Methodist Missionary Society were the organizations to first create schools in Nigeria. In the schools in order to read the Bible you had to be literate, which led to literacy spreading throughout Nigeria. They even used schools as places to spread Christianity. In schools, the English language was taught. This shows how the British spreading the religion and education led to a increase in Nigerians being able to read and speak