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The solution to
the ever-recurring conflicts in the world is not the placing of a
moratorium on the sale of weapons of mass destruction against those
nations which do not have it, or the ban of their production by those
nations who want to have them, it is not to be found in the
tightening of national borders nor in prioritising home land security
by nations; it is also not going to come through suppression of
minorities or the muzzling of resenting voices or tighter punishment
for criminals; it is to be found in allowing a spiritual drizzle to
water the troubled and restless hearts of people the world over; it
is to be found also in the feeding of the many who hunger both for
spiritual and material bread. The peace, which the world craves for,
is also to be found in the genuine return of the sense of community;
none can rise to the full truth of his being without a radical ascent
on the scale of being which a positive encounter with the other
brings. This kind of being-human-in-the-world cannot be reached
unless there is a deep religious sense, which is built on a deep
sense of the ultimacy in all that is authentically human and
authentically divine. Justice and equity should be the first step to
a new world. The presence of poverty anywhere reveals the pervasive
presence of injustice especially of a structural kind. This is why we
believe that the suffering and abandonment of Africa is a matter of
justice and demands a deeper search beyond the sporadic response that
has so far been fuelled by sensationalism that characterizes the
depiction of the African condition in Western media. |
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How can people
develop a sense of common humanity? How can the assault on the
dignity of people in Africa and in some parts of the world, become a
source of bitterness and pain to every man or woman in every part of
the world. How can this kind of awareness come about? It may not
exclusively mean the revival of various religions. Sometimes
religious revival, if not well-directed leads to fundamentalism.
Uncontrolled religious awakening leads to some kind of fundamentalism
and even intolerance and hatred directed against those outside the
reviving religion, or even against the complacent members of the
group. What is needed is a recovery of the real spirit of each
religion. This recovery, to my mind, may establish an essential
commonality among various religions, which could lead to some common
grounds and initiatives for the development of peoples. This recovery
is far from being advanced by those who absolutize religion or who
use religion as a means for political and economic control or even a
means for justifying terrorism and violence. The commonality, which I
find among all religions, is love. How can love become concrete in
our world?
Love is the
beginning and end of all religions and the propelling shaft around
which any form of spirituality should revolve. Love is not a mere
statement of purpose, it is a concrete event; a lived and living
experience founded on a spiritual awareness that we are yoked in a
network of shared relationship and sown in the wider garment of a
common destiny hidden in God. Thus the measure of the true value of
any religion is to what extent it promotes the peace and happiness of
humankind and projects the ideal of love. I belong to the Christian
religion, which defines itself as love, because her founder, Jesus
Christ, taught all Christians that love is the univocal defining term
and the measuring rod of those who wish to be and remain Christian.
This love has no colour or shape and so has the capacity of being
given and received. Christianity is a way of love-as-a-way-of-living.
It introduces a certain way of living among those who have accepted
the message of the Gospel.
That is why
it could be called a civilization in that it relates to the cultural
life of peoples from different tongues and tribes, race and nation,
who are bound together by an experience of the saving love of God who
is present in their midst, through Christ by the power of the Holy
Spirit. The civilization of love is concerned with how the reality of
God's love incarnated in Christ, and experienced by Christians and
the whole of humanity can assume reality in the world, encompassing,
seizing and possessing it. It is also concerned with Christian
praxis, that is, how the experience of salvation in the life of
Christians could lead to action, testimony, witness, mission and
dialogue, so as to make this salvation open to all. This experience
is spiritually and materially liberating. It also sets a certain standard.
This is
particularly needed in the brave new world of today, characterized by
a lot of competing tendencies-the message of the Gospel must
necessarily be discriminating though not intolerant as it encounters
various competing messages. This message must also be vigorously and
clearly presented as Christian.
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The experience of
each and every one of us is unique but it has relevance for our
collective humanity. The talents and gifts of every man or woman on
this planet earth are meant for the enrichment of our universe.
Indeed, it may be said that any life wasted in war, crime or disease,
or through poverty, is as much a loss both for the persons lost as
well as those who affected their deaths through act of violence,
injustice or negligence. The call of Christ for the world to embrace
the culture of love is one that should be taken seriously by every
Christian and men and women of goodwill everywhere. |
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This initiative
responds to a felt need-an interactive base for the meeting of minds
and hearts, for the cross-fertilization of ideas on concrete steps to
be taken to make the Christian message of love and friendship at all
levels of human social organization real and evident in the African
world, as well as the wider world. Many issues are today frontal in
the church as well as society: development of peoples, means of
social communication, secularism, the threat of an emerging
post-Christian era in the Western world, religious reawakening in the
developing world, human rights, relativism, poverty, defence of the
rights of the unborn, women and minorities, cultural imperialism,
inculturation, war, abolition of capital punishment, ecumenism among
others. We shall be basing our intellectual contacts here on Gospel
values, Christian anthropology, African critical thinking, and other
relevant lenses of perception that will help us arrive at a unified
vision of reality in the light of our Christian faith.
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As most of the
contributors here may be from the Third World and mainly African
writers or writers with African sympathy, we will be concerned about
the fate and fortune of our continent, our reflections while having a
universal content, are necessarily inspired by our own African
context. We will try to address the religious, political, cultural,
economic and social situation in our continent. This site is not a
news agency rather a forum to do the analysis of news and to cast
contemporary events in Africa in the wider canvas of their Christian
content and how they impact on the ultimate moral demands of
Christian discipleship. Our ultimate goal is to help in our small way
to contribute something positive to the African content. I saw this
prayer somewhere and I think it captures our vision and dreams in
this site: |
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Dear God,
Make us keep the sputtering lantern
burning and not break a wounded reed.
Make us understand the secret of eternal life
From the pulse of blood in our veins
And realize the worth of a life
From the movement of a warm heart.
Make us not discriminate the rich and the poor,
The high and the low,
The learned and the ignorant,
Those we know well and those we do not know.
Oh!
A Human life can't be exchanged for the
whole world
This supreme task of keeping the lives
Of the sons and daughters of God.
Let us realize how lovely it is
To feel the burden of responsibility
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- STAN CHU ILO
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