[lit-ideas] An amazing article.

From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 02:53:44 EST

In Africa, Islam and Christianity are growing - and blending

By Abraham McLaughlin, Staff writer of The Christian Science MonitorThu Jan
26, 3:00 AM ET

At first, it seems a surprising sight: inside a two-story mosque in
sub-Saharan Africa's largest metropolis hangs a life-size portrait of Jesus
Christ.
Yet worshipers at "The True Message of God Mission" say it's entirely natural
for Christianity and Islam to cexist, even overlap. They begin their worship
by praying at the Jesus alcove and then "running their deliverance" -
sprinting laps around the mosque's mosaic-tiled courtyard, praying to the one
God
for forgiveness and help. They say it's akin to Israelites circling the walls
of Jericho - and Muslims swirling around the Ka'ba shrine in Mecca.
This group - originally called "Chris-lam-herb" for its mix-and-match
approach to Christianity, Islam, and traditional medicine - is a window on an
ongoing religious ferment in Africa. It's still up for debate whether this
group,
and others like it, could become models for Muslim-Christian unity worldwide
or whether they're uniquely African. But either way, they are "part of a
trend," says Dana Robert, a Boston University religion professor.
Amid intense sectarian violence in this half- Muslim, half-Christian country,
these groups serve as tolerant peacemakers. Also, with widespread poverty
and health concerns here, people are seeking practical, profitable religion
more than rigid doctrine.
Before Islam and Christianity arrived in Africa, people here "believed in
deities being close" - in gods who resided in trees or rivers and helped or
hurt
locals daily, explains Kamaldeen Balogun, an Islamic studies professor at
Olabisi Onabanjo University in southeastern Nigeria.
"You in the West are satisfied with one hour of church on Sunday," says Mr.
Balogun. But for people in Africa, who he says need so many solutions, "This
is about a practical way of life," about a willingness to combine Christianity
or Islam with their own traditions to "see if they can make something new" -
something that will help.
Worshipers at the "True Message" mission say unifying the two theologies has
made a major difference in their lives.
A slight woman with a quick smile, Kuburat Hamzat says she came here in 1998
with a severe menstruation problem. She was embraced by the mission's "man of
God," a soft-spoken, bald man named Samusideen Saka. He told her, "Dancing
will not kill you" and prescribed 91 laps of "running deliverance" each day.
He also explained the commonalities of the great faiths to Ms. Hamzat who had
grown up in Islam. That understanding, she says, changed her. "Because I
understood that in my mind, I got healed," she says. Her problem hasn't
recurred,
she says. Others say they've been cured of barrenness, mental illness, and
other troubles.
Pastor Saka explains that his father was an herbalist and that both Muslims
and Christians would come to him for healing. Although he grew up Muslim, and
has been to Mecca on pilgrimage several times, he couldn't comprehend
Nigeria's sectarian strife. He now considers himself a Christian, "but that
doesn't
mean Islam is bad."
Quite the opposite. Next to his mosque is a televangelist's dream - an
auditorium with 1,500 seats, banks of speakers, a live band, and klieg lights.
On
Sundays the choir switches easily between Muslim and Christian songs, and
Pastor Saka preaches from both the Bible and the Koran. His sermons are often
broadcast on local TV.
The broader context here is Africa's dramatic shift in recent decades to
Christianity and Islam. During the 20th century, fully 40 percent of Africa's
population moved from traditional religions to "different shades of
Christianity," says Philip Jenkins, a history and religion professor at the
University
of Pennsylvania. It is, he adds, "the largest religious change that has ever
occurred in history." There are debates about whether Christianity or Islam is
spreading faster in Africa, but clearly they're both on the rise - and
sometimes are the source of tension.
In Nigeria's religious city of Jos (short for "Jesus Our Savior") the
government says 50,000 people died between 1999 and 2004 in sectarian clashes.
Until a peace deal last year, Sudan's northern Muslims and southern Christians
were at war for two decades.
Clearly, the religious revolution is still shaking out. "People are
converting rapidly, but they don't necessarily have instruction" in the details
of
their faiths, says Boston University's Professor Robert. Nor have they had
"time for their belief system to solidify." It is, she says, "still shifting."
She argues that eventually the faithful will choose one religion or another,
and
the hybrids will fade away.
But the ferment is quite evident on the chaotic streets of Lagos, which is
home to some 10 million people. Hundreds of church-sponsored banners scream
out, "It's your day of RECOVERY @ LAST where life's pains are healed" or
"Jesus
Christ: A friend indeed! Even in times of need!!"
Healing is a regularly promised feature of churches across Africa. It's
symbolic of a key element of the continent's religious explorations - fusing
faith and rationality, Professor Balogun says. According to Western thought,
with
its emphasis on rationality, "Everything that goes up must come down," he
says. But a more African approach is that, "By divine intervention it may not
come down." In fact, his university is initiating a degree focusing on the
religion-science nexus.
Meanwhile, it's not just Saka who's exploring the common ground between
Christianity and Islam. Sitting in a wrought-iron throne, swathed in silky
white
fabric, the founder of "Chrislam" has these words for followers of the two
great faiths: "The same sun that dries the clothes of Muslims also dries the
clothes of Christians." Stroking his beard, the man named Tela Tella says, "I
don't believe God loves Christians any more than Muslims."
His followers calls him His Royal Holiness, The Messenger, Ifeoluwa or "The
Will of God." Since the religion's founding two decades ago, this small band
has been gathering almost daily to hear his message of inclusiveness - that
Christians and Muslims, "who are sons of Abraham, can be one."

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[lit-ideas] An amazing article.

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