By Owei Lakemfa

THEY are two worlds apart: Ibadan in Nigeria and New York,  United States. Both have tales of (in)sanity, intolerance and cries of revenge rather than rationality or forgiveness. Humanity has immense propensities towards  religious blow-outs ignited by the two dominant religions: Christianity and Islam.

Although both originate from the same region, speak basically the same language of monotheism, angelic messengers, peace, a fiery hell and  an idyllic heaven,  there are rivalry problems sometimes bordering on interpretation, but most times choreographed by religious bigots and  people who seek to gain some mileage.

The Nigerian case was at the country’s premier University of Ibadan. It began  on August 13 during  the Friday Ju’mat. A young lady, Miss Seun Olubunmi Adegunsoye , 400-level law student  sat quietly through the sermon like other worshippers, but when the prayers started she stood up to shout about her lord Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation.

Understandably, the congregation was  hurt that their prayers had been disrupted right inside the mosque, during ju’mat  and  in the month of Ramadan by an  ‘infidel’.   But good reason prevailed, rather than allow the suicidal lady to be transformed into a martyr to bigotry, the mosque leaders saved  and handed her to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Olufemi Bamiro. Based on tentative statements, he sent  Miss Adegunsoye on suspension pending a full investigation and the normal disciplinary process of the university.

That should have satisfied all, but some acclaimed defendants of the faith would not have any of this. They barricaded the university gates protesting that the lady was handed over to her guardian. So who else would she be handed over to, the hang man? They were angry that she was not immediately expelled from the university.

In what civilised community is that done? Why can’t the religious people learn from  the Almighty in the case of Adam and Eve? As we  know, God had ordered the two accused persons who were residing in the Garden of Eden to eat  of  every fruit except that of knowledge, but they disobeyed him. God knew what they had done, but rather than summarily deal with them, he still gave them fair hearing.

Adam’s defence was that it was the woman whom God had given him that made him commit the eternal sin. When Eve was put in the dock, she heaped the blame  on the serpent. It was after hearing them out that he passed sentence. So why would the protesters  in Ibadan want Adegunsoye sentenced even before her plea is taken? Then they had a more ridiculous demand: that since the lady attends the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, the church should be banned. God Almighty!

By disrupting the prayers, the lady must have known that her action would neither win  her more converts nor earn her a ticket to heaven. I therefore thought that the lady, who is said to be in the  Second Class Upper bracket, deserves our sympathy as she quite obviously needs psychiatric attention. The subsequent actions and demands of the protesters diminish the peaceful, reasonable, dignified  and commendable reaction of the worshippers in the mosque at that ju’mat prayer. Care must be taken that the actions of Adegunsoye and the reactions of the protesters   do not become indistinguishable.

In New York, the contention is over the move to build an Islamic centre which would include a mosque two American blocks away from  the site of the former  World Trade Centre.  The proposed centre is a $100 million  13- storey glass and metal building  on the site of  the  former Burlinton Coat Factory Building on Park Place. The antagonists of the project feel that since the  19 hijackers who destroyed the twin towers of the Trade Centre resulting in over 3,000 deaths were Muslims, building a mosque so close to the site would be a dishonour to the victims, and insensitive to the emotions of their families.

A Cable News Network (CNN) poll this month showed that 68 per cent  of Americans oppose the planned mosque while 29 per cent support it, although most respondents  recognise the right of Muslims to build it. Given the fact that  the key mid-term elections  are due in three months, it will be politically (or opportunistically) incorrect to swim against the tide of public opinion.

But President Barack Obama did not think the issue has to do with politics or elections, rather it contains ingredients of basic freedom of belief, tolerance and the rejection of efforts to demonize a particular religion. So at a White House dinner to mark Ramadan,  Obama said Muslims “have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country”, including the right to build a mosque in any part of America.

This was like a welcome gift to some Republicans like Sarah Palin who are trying to equate  Islam with anti- Americanism. Senator John Cornyn, Texas Republican, claims that  Obama’s endorsement showed that the White House  (and) …”the president himself  seems to be disconnected from the mainstream of America”.

Clearly, the Republicans are playing on crude  religious sentiments; painting  Islam in anti-American colours and seeking  to present people like Obama who seek religious tolerance, as politicians  who do not deserve to lead ‘God’s Own Country’.

But as Nelson Mandela argued, a true leader is not one who follows the followership, but one who leads them, even in new directions “confident that he is leading his people the right way”. Although Obama has been forced into some retreat on the matter, his position is basically right.

The New York state authorities are trying to  work out a compromise which will see the centre being moved away to state land, but the issues remain; do we want a world of peace, love and forgiveness, or one of conflict, hatred and vengeance? If this were put to the faithful of  both religions, I have no doubt that they will pick the former, but why in many instances, do their actions not always support  such fundamental beliefs?