Even though the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom named Nigeria a “country of particular concern” on May 1, Catholic Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, has said that the so-called religious violence between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria is not, in fact, about religion—a view that has been endorsed by the Sultan of Sokoto, one of Nigeria’s leading Muslims. These “are matters between groups with special interests,” the archbishop said during a meeting with members of the commission. Archbishop Onaiyekan attributed the conflicts to the corruption of politicians. Nigeria is an example of how opinions about religious freedom in a country can differ widely between international activists and a country’s native clergy. According to the commission, a country is designated as a country of concern when its government has “engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the universal right to freedom of religion or belief.”
Causes of Nigerian Violence Debated
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Pope Leo said that if the teen “had come all the way to Rome, then (the pope) could come all the way to the hospital to see him.”
A Reflection for Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Molly Cahill
As emergency workers searched for survivors and tried to recuperate the bodies of the dead, Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers for people impacted by the latest shipwreck of a migrant boat off the coast of Yemen.
The Archdiocese of Miami celebrated the first Mass for detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Trump administration’s controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.