Religion, World Order, and Peace: An Indigenous African Perspective

Abstract

Religion, World Order, and Peace: An Indigenous African Perspective Wande Abimbola It is now ten years since the historic gathering of the leaders of the world’s religions took place at the United Nations building in New York. A lot has happened in the world since then; the most despicable being the attack of the twin towers of New York on September 11, 2001. It is therefore a very good time, ten years after the gathering of the year 2000, to take stock of where we are and where we are going as far as religion is concerned in the world. It is sad to note that it appears that the United Nations has not taken advantage of the gathering of religious leaders to put in place a consultative forum of religious leaders to assist with conflict and intolerance, which have certainly not diminished since the year 2000. Such a body of religious leaders drawn from across the world should urgently be put in place by the UN. This will help to address and probably reduce violent conflicts now going on in the world, most of which are borne out of religion or at least have religious undertones. There is also the need for the establishment of a United Nations Commission on Religion to examine the rights of the world’s indigenous peoples. This will be a follow‐up to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. This is an urgent issue since the shameful and violent conversion of minority peoples of the world has continued unabated. The indigenous peoples of the world remain powerless in the face of competing claims and onslaught of Christianity and Islam. Billions of dollars are being spent every year to eradicate the way of life and identities of indigenous peoples of Africa, Australia, and the Americas in the name of evangelism, which those two religions claim to be part of their holy scriptures. This age‐old practice has led to what could be described as genocide or annihilation of the identities of indigenous peoples of the world. The competition between Christianity and Islam for converts among the indigenous peoples of the world has resulted in violent conflicts in Africa and elsewhere between the adherents of these two religions. Three of such violent clashes occurred in Nigeria within the last six months, leading to the massacre of thousands of people. How can the United Nations pretend that such violent clashes are none of their business? To whom are the indigenous peoples of the world going to turn for protection or succor? The forcible conversion of indigenous peoples of the world has been going on for more than a thousand years. It is about time the United Nations Organizations and its numerous agencies begin to do something about it. In fairness to Christian leaders around the world, there were two major conferences that they have convened to examine some of the issues mentioned earlier since the last couple of years. The World Council of Churches held its own conference in Geneva in 2004, and the Vatican convened its own conference at Lariano Vellitri in 2006. I was present at both conferences at which lots of recommendations were made, but nothing concrete has been performed. The Lariano Vellitri conference was convened by Pope Benedict XVI specifically to address the issue of conversion. The Pope wanted the religious leaders of the world to put in place a code of conduct for conversion of people from one religion to another. We are all patiently waiting to see what the Pope will do with the recommendations of the 37 religious leaders of the world at Lariano Vellitri. Perhaps there is no better way to demonstrate the need for a world forum on religion at the UN than in the implementation of the claims of scientists on climate change. Most of the indigenous religions of the world are rooted on respect for the environment. My own religion, the Yoruba religion, for example, is based on what can be described as a worship of nature. We believe that when our divinities, known as Òrìsà, finished their work on earth, they then changed themselves to different forces of nature. Sàngó became...