The Pope’s hand of fellowship

In the midst of it all, the world is also blessed with moderate or liberal people who concede that others have a right to be who they are. There cannot be peace, mutual understanding and universal brotherhood if the hardliners call the shots in any sphere of life. I am convinced that the future belongs […]

In the midst of it all, the world is also blessed with moderate or liberal people who concede that others have a right to be who they are. There cannot be peace, mutual understanding and universal brotherhood if the hardliners call the shots in any sphere of life. I am convinced that the future belongs to the moderates.
Today, I salute Pope Francis I who recently shocked millions of people the world over when he gave permission for the Quran to be read in the Vatican. The Pope has been trying to bring the Palestinians and Israelis together in the belief that no matter the ancient prejudices and pre-Biblical legacy of hate that has, in turns, turned both sides to play cobra and mongoose, the descendants of Father Abraham could be made to embrace peace through the instrumentality of moderation and love.
The Saudi-funded Al Arabyia network reported the unprecedented Papal magnanimity as follows:
“For the first time in history, Islamic prayers and readings from the Quran will be heard at the Vatican on Sunday, in a move by Pope Francis to usher in peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Francis issued the invitation to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit last week to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.
“Abbas, Peres, and Francis will be joined by Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious leaders, a statement released by Peres’s spokesperson said, according to the Times of Israel. Holy See officials on Friday said the evening prayers would be a “pause in politics” and had no political aim other than to rekindle the desire for Israeli-Palestinian peace at the political and popular level, according to the Associated Press. The Vatican will broadcast a live feed of the event to viewers across the world.”
Since that announcement, many Christians have criticised the Pope’s decision saying that there could be no peace between Israel and Palestine and indeed, as far as they were concerned, between Christians and Muslims. I beg to differ. I am not as naive as to think for one moment that the recitation of the Quran in the presence of both Peres and Abass would automatically end millennia of distrust and hate. Indeed Rev. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the custodian of Catholic Church property in the Holy Land, has already warned us that we shouldn’t expect a sudden “outbreak of peace”, but I am thrilled by the possibilities.
Reading the reactions of commentators on the internet many of which are in the hard line mode, I am more persuaded that the road to peace and progress for mankind can only be charted by moderate people, not sanctimonious fanatics who believe that all religions — and indeed races — are parallel lines that should never meet.
A careful study of the problems bedevilling the world would show that those on the far right of the spectrum are the high priests of hate and strife. The Balaka and anti-Balakas of this world may be adherents of different religions but there is a sameness in their subscription to homicide and arson as tools for religious purity. Yes, we have said many times on these pages before that there is a lot of work to be done to rein in extremist groups who hide under the name of Islam to perpetrate violence as exemplified by the Boko Haram terrorists, but that does not justify general stereotyping. It is wrong to declare any group of people as too far gone in violence to be redeemable because, truth be told, violence has no religion. Didn’t some Hindus go for the jugular of Muslims the other day?
And if we extend the debate and talk about the kind of violence being unleashed on the internet by faceless cowards who derive pleasure in celebrating the disconnection of man from fellow man, we would see how hollow, how unscientific, how narrow their convictions are.
We need to borrow a leaf from Pope Francis’ demonstration of brother-hood and large-heartedness. In Nigeria, it is customary to subscribe to ancient stereotypes. Many of the violent statements that have contributed to rending the country’s unity to pieces were made by so-called good Muslims and Christians, or patriotic militants and ethnic jugglers. I make bold to predict that their days are numbered. Their worldview is dated. Their apocalyptic vision will not come to pass. They will be cast into the abyss by little gestures such as the unprecedented demonstration of tolerance by Pope Francis.
The future belongs to the moderates; to those who are willing to embrace other people and respect their differences. Anyone who still behaves as if he has been bitten by the superiority bug is the type that will reintroduce racism or slavery, or worse. Delusional Hitler believed in his super race but where is he today? If only he had had the benefit of SOC 101!
Pope Francis has my full marks for transcending the man-made barriers of hate to trigger an outbreak of love. In the final analysis, the ocean of tolerance depends of such significant tributaries as the Pope’s gesture.

Committee of pro-chancellors

I was privileged to attend the last conference of the Professor Kimse Okoko-led Committee of Pro-Chancellors of federal universities held in Abuja. The well-researched papers presented by the resource persons under the theme “Repositioning Nigerian Public Universities for Global Competitiveness in the 21st Century” could well point the way forward in the nation’s quest to reinvent its universities.
One of the key resolutions was that universities must explore new sources of funding, such as grants from local and multilateral agencies, joint venture investments (including exploring facilities in the capital market), endowments, research for industries, and alumni endowments, among others. In the cases where fees were being charged or contemplated, participants recommended that avenues for finance for indigent students (including the revival of the student loans schemes; bursaries and scholarship; and the setting up of an Education Bank, among other initiatives) should be put in place.
Bravo CPC!