Religious Riots Elevate - Now Christians are killing Muslims

[ck4829]

"Christian mobs rampaged through a southern Nigerian city Tuesday, burning mosques and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence that followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad over the weekend.

Residents and witnesses in the southern, predominantly Christian city of Onitsha said several Muslims with origins in the north were beaten to death by mobs which also burned two mosques there.

"The mosque at the main market has been burnt and I've counted at least six dead bodies on the streets," Izzy Uzor, an Onitsha resident and businessman, told The Associated Press by telephone. "The whole town is in a frenzy and people are running in all directions."

The violence appeared to be in reprisal for anti-Christian violence Saturday in the mostly Muslim northern city of Maiduguri in which thousands of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches, killing at least 18 people."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/nigeria_sectarian_violence

I think it's unfortunate that this had to be called 'reprisal'. Reprisal means to take back something. It's murder either way, when it's Muslims killing Christians, or when Christians are killing Muslims.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. It was only a matter of time

[zanne]

2. Fundies finally getting their wish.

Holy War. Gimme that old time religion.

[Bellamia]

3. Shades of the Crusades...

You know, in college courses there's the classroom work and the "field" work, in the classroom you learn all OTHER religions are evil, then go out in the field and "Learn" to be as bad as they are. Makes me embarassed to be a Xtian.

[Igel]

5. Yep.

Tit-for-tat violence, precisely like the Crusades.

[951-Riverside]

12. No I disagree but I'm afraid to say more without offending anyone.

[Beelzebud]

4. Imagine no religion

It's easy if you try.

Nothing to Kill or Die for.

And above, only sky.

[meganmonkey]

6. An eye for an eye

leaves the whole world blind

:thumbsup:

[mwb970]

7. You're a dreamer. (n/t)

[Beelzebud]

8. I'm not the only one!

:)

Someday maybe the rest will join us...

[Igel]

9. It's communalism.

Get used to it. It's been going on for the last few years in Nigeria: It's usually set off by Muslims in response to some "provocation." Which, of course, is never proven, nor is proof needed. There's usually some rumor that's never substantiated, such as a Xian touching a Qur'aan, or insulting Muhammed, followed by Xians killed, stores burned or looted, churches torched.

Then, a few days later, there's a response, with Muslims killed, stores burned or looted, and even mosques torched.

Sometimes it's triggered by the Xians. The rumors in these cases usually involve some violence or significant property damage, sometimes violence or damage that didn't occur, or which is falsely attributed to the Muslim community.

Some people try to bill it as entirely tribal in nature, because tribes tend to be all or mostly one faith or the other; in part, it is, no doubt. But typically the violence starts after mosque lets out on Friday, as the result of an imam or a group at a mosque getting people riled up. The violence has also greatly increased since Sa'udi Arabia's ramped up their proselytizing in Nigeria, and acquired a collective nature; moreover, no longer is it "you took my ox", but "you insulted my faith".

This latest campaign is cartoon-inspired, I'd guess. It'll be billed as unrelated to religion, instead it'll be done for some political or secular purpose. Even if those doing the initial violence believe otherwise. Dupes.

[Yupster]

10. This Nigerian religious violence has been

out of control for a decade now with very little reporting.

Stuff that happens in Africa just doesn't seem to make the news.

[onethatcares]

14. no oil, no suprise.

and yet the right has been talking about saddams mass graves again like they give a flying shit.

[bobbieinok]

11. Muslims and Christians in Nigeria.....from a Nigerian perspective

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare1.com/Articles/TaslimAnibaba/2005/08/jesus-vs-christianity-missing-link.html

[bobbieinok]

13. another discussion of the role of pentecostals in Nigeria

http://www.wacc.org.uk/wacc/publications/media_development/2005_2/media_and_fundamentalism_in_nigeria




Media and fundamentalism in Nigeria
Walter Ihejirika

If one is asked to characterise the current religious and media situation in Nigeria, two visible phenomena will be very hard to omit. These are: the proliferation of the churches belonging to the Pentecostal Christian denomination, and the dominant presence of their religious leaders in both the print and electronic media in the country. Conversion to these churches has been on a steady increase, with membership rising up to 20 million within a thirty-year period. There has also been considerable impact on the Nigerian media landscape.

Despite disparities in name and orientation, most of the Pentecostal churches1 in Nigeria belong to the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), an organisation formed in 1991 as the umbrella body to incorporate ‘(all) christian (sic) churches, organisations and believers who believe, experience, practice and cherish the FULL GOSPEL message with evidence of speaking in an unknown tongue, in addition to their Evangelical Faith and practice.’ (PFN, 1995: 2). The Nigerian Pentecostals claim that they proclaim the Word of God as set down in the Bible without compromise or adulteration. This uncompromising stance on things related to the Word of God clearly paints them in fundamentalist colours.

....

It is also very clear that with the increase in prominence of the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria with their fundamentalist messages, the other religions and Christian denominations have fallen back to consolidate their own ground and safeguard their own religious values. This is especially true of the Muslims in the North. The introduction of Shari’a laws in most of the Northern states of the country5 should be read as an attempt by the Muslims to bolster their own identity in the face of what they perceive as growing Christian fundamentalism. Even among the other Christian denominations, serious pastoral measures are being adopted to counteract the growing Pentecostal influence.

At the end of the day, the Pentecostal churches may not succeed wholly in their agenda of bestriding the Nigerian socio-religious arena like a mighty colossus. But by projecting themselves as a major religious force to be reckoned with, they have acquired a big bargaining chip in the national public arena. They can now influence media and social policies, and even make significant contributions to ongoing efforts towards creating a new Nigeria.