Religion a vital tool in stoping terror and terrorism.
Michael Solomon(pictured) can be compared to the hundred of thousands of kids on the slum-infested streets of Nigeria that you would not want to touch, not even with a 10-centimeter pole, he was nicknamed "Shanawole", he was a chronic smoker . The only difference between himself today and who he was yesterday is due to the fated encounter with a certain man he met while he was wallowing in squalor. He met a Man of God, Pastor Tony Rapu and his life was transformed amazingly.
If not for that lifetime encounter with the man of God, he would have continue in endless "barbequeing" of of his internal organs with cigarette packs, and he is likely to become a menace or hardened criminal to his immediate society due to the influence of excessive smoking in the nearest future.
Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa with over 200 million individuals, According to a 2019 report From The World Factbook by CIA, here is the breakdown of her population based on religious census, Muslim constitutes 51.6% of Nigeria's population, Roman Catholic 11.2%, other Christian 35.7%, traditionalist .9% and an unspecified 5% (2013 est.). And has over 2000 worship centers across the country. According to Abhijit Naskar, a famous philosopher, "Terrorism is born of fundamentalism not of religion". Religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. However, Terrorism is born out of hatred , tribalism, ethnic differences, e.t.c. Religion plays an important role in curbing and reducing the rate of terrorism in Nigeria.
Religion preaches peace. There is no holy book that doesn't teach about peace and harmony, there is no verse of the holy book that says kill you self. In the Bible, a verse said (cite) " if you got hit on the right cheek ,turn the left", it is to avoid fight and let peace reign. The word Islam means " Peace". There is no religion that supports violence and killing, there are only demonic bloodsucking humans who tends to affiliate their inhumane terror to a religion, to created confusion and chaos. Hence, such believe should be abolished and discouraged.
Another important point to take into cognizance is this; if every religion set apart their various differences and unite together co-ordinatively to preaches love and peace, in no time, the harmful belief would be discouraged and no terrorists group would be able to hide under the umbrella of one religion or the other. In the Bible, it is written that everyone should " love your neighbor as yourself" , and in the Al -Quran" peace is one of the name of God". If you love your neighbor, you won't desire their down fall or do anything that would hurt them in any way. By preaching peace you will directly influence their.
their minds to be positive and good. Also, it changes the mindset of an individual; it allows any individual have an indepth view towards what life and living entails. it changes the way we think and our manner of approach towards one another. Constant preaching and propagation of positive messages of peace and hope helps to influence people effectively and has a very evident impacts on people's way of living. For instance, an aggressive and short temper individual is likely to have a change in attitude and character if he listens to peaceful and insightful doctrines regularly. Mr Muhammed, a good friend of mine, once told me that " You can't claim to have a good mind and do something bad " and surely, that's a really clear phenomenon. Your belief should be evident in your actions, every religion preaches peace, holiness, rihteousness, morality, modesty, courtesy, mutual respect and understanding among people. And as such, we should learn to act according to these beneficial virtues in order to have a peaceful community.
It is of necessity that we all join hands to tackle and curb terrorism, to help restore the peace of this lovely nation , and it can become a reality if every religious leader focus more on teaching their congregations about peace , togetherness and love for one's fellow human. Then as members of various religious beliefs, we should learn credence to the teachings of love, peace and togetherness in order to achieve a peaceful community, harmonious society, develop and advanced society.
©️Umar Yakubu
Gmail: yakubuumaru76@gmail.com
