Ugandan Faith Leaders Critique Joseph Kony Video
A box of Kony 2012 campaign posters at the Invisible Children offices in San Diego. The workers are monitoring the social media impact of their Kony 2012 campaign.
The viral internet video “Kony 2012” brought attention to Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony but has been criticised by faith leaders in the region.
“We see it as being outdated. It should have been released in 2003 … but now that it is drawing a new attention to the problem, we would like the international community to find ways of stopping Kony. He is still there,” said Anglican Bishop Johnson Gakumba of Northern Uganda diocese.
“Our proposal is dialogue, since we believe the military option will not help,” added Gakumba, also the chair of the interfaith Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiatives.
“[The video] lacks the current facts of the [Lord’s Resistance Army’s] activities. The video misrepresents the current situation on the ground and is full of over simplified justifications,” the ARLPI said in a statement. ¦ —ENI
Campaign for Liberian Christian State
At the precincts of Old Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, hundreds of civilians have been signing a petition that is seeking to make the West African country a Christian nation.
But the campaign is being questioned by prominent Christian leaders who are cautioning that the change will split the country on religious lines and lead to instability. Roman Catholic Archbishop Lewis Jerome Zeigler of Monrovia said the country should remain a secular state, where all faiths practice their faith freely.
“(A main) Christian principle is love your brother and your sister … Why do we want to select one religion among other religions?” Zeigler was quoted as saying in the New Democrat.
Liberia’s constitution grants all citizens freedom of religion, thought and conscience but the campaigners are seeking to amend parts of that constitution to revert to the 1848 Christian one.
The campaigners say they want to “give back the country to God.” Jonah Woiwor, the committee’s chairperson, told reporters that the campaign was not opposing the existence of other faiths in the country.
“True Christians will only opt for an equal society … Diversity will not harm us, but better us,” he said.
Christians account for 85.5 per cent of the population and Muslims 12.2 per cent. ¦ —ENI
Cameroon Fears Expansion of Extremism from Nigeria
The campaign of violence in Nigeria carried out by the Islamist sect Boko Haram has raised fears of religious extremism gaining a foothold in Cameroon, its neighbour to the east.
Secular and religious authorities have warned against following a group responsible for an estimated 450 killings in 2011 and has stated it wants to replace Nigeria’s secular government with Shariah, or Muslim law to address poverty and injustice.
The president of the Cameroon Association of Imams, Sheik Ibrahim Mbombo Mubarak has said he is concerned that some Muslim leaders have welcomed the “hate doctrine,” and have allowed Boko Haram faithful to preach in their mosques.
Political leaders have said they are concerned that poverty in Cameroon, where 40 per cent of the population lives on less than one dollar per day, could make Boko Haram attractive to many people.
“They came here and told me that all our problems are caused by Western education and Western ideas,” a resident of Lagdo, Oumarou Djam, told ENInews. ¦ —ENI
