Spirituality, like Nationalism can also be a source of intolerance

By JENNIFER MUCHIRI

Clan conflicts in Moyale; tribal conflicts in Nyakach; bomb attacks in Westgate and Likoni; grenade attacks in Eastleigh…. What, pray, has become of our society?

The spate of terrorist attacks in Kenya leads us to question our ability to preach peace-making and cultural tolerance. The attacks in homes, schools, churches, vehicles, eateries and shopping malls reek of religious intolerance, bigotry, stereotypes, prejudice, ethnocentricism, tribalism and racism, all of which lead to suffering for thousands of people.

Lives have been lost, people maimed, and families separated and displaced. Why? What wrong had Satrin Osinya committed? What about Moyale residents who have had to seek refuge in Ethiopia? And the Kenyans disabled in the 1998 bombing?

Fundamentalism is the source of all intolerance. We cannot have civil relations with one another until we appreciate our differences.

This is the idea that Malise Ruthven explores in Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning (Oxford University Press, 2004). Ruthven argues that religious fundamentalism has been a major source of conflict since the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Kenya has lost innocent lives in the name of religion in the recent past. The contradiction is that all religions are interested in the idea that all human beings, in spite of their differences, are one in humanity; that every human being should care for the interest of the other.

Unfortunately, some religious believers, not religions, are preaching war. Which religion do these people subscribe to? Which God do they believe in who requires human sacrifices? What satisfaction do they derive from seeing an innocent one-year-old struggle with a bullet in his skull?

Indeed, to borrow from the idea of Ruthven who says that ‘fundamentalism’ is a dirty 14-letter word, the acts of terror performed as a result of fundamentalism are despicable.

Nationalism can also be a source of intolerance. Why, for instance, do we keep saying ‘Kenyan Somalis’ yet we do not say the same of the Maasai, Luo or Pokot?

Cultural intolerance can metamorphose into political, gender, economic and generational intolerance. This is why it is easy for one to say that some people are lazy yet the said people have not been given opportunities to show what they can do, or that women are unwilling to join certain professions yet the professions are ring-fenced.

We often forget just how much social and economic inequalities contribute to violence in societies around the world. Young men and women easily get indoctrinated and recruited into terrorist groups in a bid to seek better conditions for themselves and their loved ones.

Capitalism, in a way, contributes to violence due to the increasing levels of inequality and injustice. Therefore, if we are to eradicate terrorism, we have to think about the social and economic causes of the same. Killing fundamentalists and people deemed to be inclined to terrorist groups will not solve the crisis.

Every member of our society needs to be a peace advocate. We cannot afford to be casual about terrorist attacks. None of us is safe. When Westgate was attacked, some heartless Kenyans said the attack only affected ‘the rich who have money to waste in expensive shopping malls’.

What will those people say about the attack on the church in Likoni or the eatery in Eastleigh? Terrorism and violence do not respect age, socio-economic class, gender, tribe, race or religion.

I wish we would all listen to the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his foreword to Experiments with Peace (Pambazuka Press, 2010), edited by Jorgen Johansen and John Jones: “Blessed are the peacemakers! The phrase has come into household use worldwide. It crosses borders and cultures, it speaks to peoples and nations. Peace! What a wonderful, wonderful word! To make peace! What a wonderful task!”

The essays in this book, based on subjects related to peace, war and conflict resolution, serve to remind us that no society in the world can progress in the absence of peace.

ISOLATION

Our society is cosmopolitan and none of us can afford to live in isolation. We need to remember the basic values that bind us as humanity.

How can we hope to achieve a terror-free existence? In Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance, Fethullah Gulen (2006) observes that “the way to rescue contemporary civilisation from imminent destruction is to re-educate human beings on the basis of love, tolerance and dialogue, and to get organised.”

All peace loving Kenyans should continue to fiercely condemn terrorist acts regardless of the excuses offered for such. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”