Faith leaders urged to promote shared human values amidst diversity
As Christians worldwide commemorate Easter, people of all religious faiths have been urged to take advantage of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion to reflect on the imperative of sacrifice and religious tolerance in serving God and promoting love among the diverse people of the world.
Chairman of Guild of Interfaith Media Practitioners (GIMP), Alhaji Abdulkarim Abdulmalik in his goodwill message, said that Good Friday is a day of remembrance, and also an occasion that calls for peace, understanding and shared human values amidst our diversity.
He observed that the beauty of our diversity calls for the universal recognition of interfaith harmony as the common denominator of the quest for world peace.
Corroborating the position of the World Council of Churches (WCC) that Good Friday could be a time for Christians to reflect on their own faith and to show respect for the beliefs and practices of other religious communities, Abdulmalik noted that other faiths leaders should compliment the Council in spreading the message of glad tidings.
He observed that WCC’s call for peace and tolerance among the Christians, Jews and Muslims urging for a spirit of unity and respect in Jerusalem, faith leaders in Nigeria should replicate this call by admonishing adherents of their respective faiths to eschew religious hostility and bigotry.
According to him, GIMP was formed to promote interfaith peace and harmony through the mass media as he called on media professionals in Nigeria to join hands with the Guild in advancing this onerous ethical social responsibility.
Abdulmalik, however, urged journalists and religious leaders to join hands with the government in fighting insurgency, banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria.
According to him, the attack on hapeless victims is a pointer to the need for a strong jnterfaith collaboration with the government for a precision fight against criminality in our country.
