“My People Perish for Lack of Understanding!” Hosea 4:6

Abstract

Anthony De Mello, the Indian Jesuit mystic, in his Wake Up video, tells a story of a man whose beard was on fire while the man was praying. The people around shouted to him, Mr! Mr! Your beard is on fire; your beard is on fire! The man laughs and replied; don’t you see me praying for rain? This is the irony of religion that despite its power to perceive violence it can also conceal within itself the paralyzing fear, ignorance and unfathomable stupidity to do nothing while the whole world is on fire. Through religious belief, one can possess the knowledge and the power to love and the strength to change the face of the world. Yet, for lack of knowledge, those who assume the place of God or gods or his/her self-appointed “will” slaughter other human beings in cold blood. Hence, religious violence is either motivated by religion or violence directed towards religions and their adherers. St. Paul asks, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (Rom 11:34-35). For lack of knowledge, many perpetrators and propagators of religious violence claim to know the mind of God, his will and exact details of his intentions. However, God’s commandment is very clear:“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27). The inseparability of the two commandments defines the right attitude of any spiritual or religious person. If Africans are “notoriously religious” as John Mbiti claimed (Mbiti, 1970), one would expect them to have a better understanding and a better practice ofGod’s greatest commandment of love. Therefore, any religious person or institution that refuses to acknowledge and obey these commandments fails the fundamental responsibil-ity of its true mission. Many kill and many are killed in retaliation, others live in fear of the inevitable.Those who have died should not be forgotten. Those who have suffered and continue to suffer from religious violence all across Africa should not give up or feel abandoned by the true God, who wills to reconcile all humanity to Himself