Invaluable religious mosaic 
Worku Belachew 

                     

Ethiopia has been the hallmark of inter-religious harmony. It is an all-too common and age-old phenomenon to observe adherents of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other local religions leading peaceful life together.

In recognition to this and to take inspiration from Ethiopia’s backlog of experiences, the annual World Interfaith Harmony Week was marked in Addis—for the first time outside of the UN Headquarters. The annual marking falls on the first week of every February. 

On the event last Friday, the Inter-religious Council of Ethiopia (Council) received award from United Religious Initiative-Africa for promoting tolerance peace and co-existence among the people.

Both the event and the award have conveyed clear and succinct messages to any observer as to the steadfast position of Ethiopians in nurturing religious peace and harmony. It speaks for itself the fact that cynical ambitions of individuals and groups cannot and will not take roots in this land.

Giving less regard to religious differences, Ethiopians have been interacting among themselves in various social platforms. As such, the people have not been precluded from socializing; be it intermarriage, neighborhood, friendship, and the like due to variations in their world views. 

Put this very fact another way, Idir is one of the typical and traditional community associations in most places in Ethiopia.  Members of this community association cooperate particularly in times of funeral. Members comfort family of a deceased, provide monetary support and extend helping hands before, on and after the funeral.  Membership to this association is absolutely free from discrimination on the basis of religious belief, among others. 

To the surprise of all, Christians and Muslim brothers and sisters even cooperate in building religious shrines of one another. It is a nightmare to observe such a strong bond in most other societies— isn’t it? 

Without a shadow of doubt, the people have been passing on these virtues over generations. And the current one has constitutionalized and institutionalized the virtues by declaring equality among all religions and establishing Inter-religious Council of Ethiopia respectively. As a result, cohesive factors—brotherhood, neighborhood, friendship, respect and humanity—have further become the defining attributes of the peoples irrespective of religious orientations.  

That is why the spillover effect of religious radicalization has repeatedly failed to take roots in Ethiopia though few individuals and groups never quit toiling to import the components and assemble them here to orchestrate their destructive goals.

The ideals being promoted in the World Interfaith Harmony Week, “Love of God” and “Love of one’s neighbor”, which have already become the cultures of the people, helped to abort radicalization before it completes it metamorphosis. 

However, the wave of religious radicalization is still razing peace in most countries of the Horn of Africa. Thus, the Council should take further inspiration from the award and recognition to accelerate its activities targeting the youth. 

It has to facilitate platforms whereby the bulging youth population, who hold various religious beliefs, can build inter-faith understanding. It has to also use the media, public forums, religious ceremonies, and the like, to teach the virtues and values of the past generations. 

In addition, as the youth is so active on social media, the Council and other stakeholders should make sure that this important section of the society does not involve in all-forms of hate speech and discriminatory activities. In fact, those who always see the glass half empty involves in disseminating sensational posts on social media. To this end, leaders of various religions must aware the youth on how to chase the pessimists out of the cyber village. 

By doing so, it is the youth who, first and foremost, taste the sweet fruits of peace. It is this part of the society who fulfills its aspiration in a developed Ethiopia. The youth has all the potent to either   build or demolish the country. Thus, tasks on the youth have to be doubled, tripped and quadrupled…

The world has once again proven that it can emulate lessons from Ethiopia on matters regarding inter-faith harmony.   Hence, this heritage has to further get nurtured to keep the country’s peace and fast-tracking all-round development.