Sierra Leone is a predominantly Muslim country. Yet both Islam and Christianity are thriving religions here. From my UK perspective and probably stereotyped opinion, and given the political climate we all live in at the moment, I assumed that this would have caused tensions in their society. Yet this is not the case, in fact many Sierra Leoneans have gone out of their way to point this out – it is a cause of great pride. One friend said “can you imagine how much more horrific the war had been if we’d let religion get in the way too?”
One example of this was on the ferry over to pick the group up from the airport (an experience in itself). The room we were in had entertainment, and the guy happily put on a Christian worship CDs, which most people in the room sang and clapped along to. Augustine, our colleague from Sierra Leone pointed this out, saying that most of the people in the room would have been Muslim. Yet it seemed no issues for everyone to be together and singing along.
They have a thriving inter-religious council, that met continuously throughout the war too.
Muslims here celebrate Christmas and Easter and Christians celebrate Eid and respect (and many observe) Ramadan. One friend said that people will even attend services, or prayers with friends anf family of the other religion. You see no real obvious, traditional or overt symbols or expressions of people religions on the streets – except for the many mosques and churches that line the streets many side by side. Traditional religious dress, such as conservative dress or women wearing the veil is almost non-existent – yet everyone you speak to, from both religions have extremely deep faiths.
Obi, another friend here told me today about his family. He is a Christian, so is his brother, one sister and his mum. His two other sisters and another brother are both Muslim, and his father is the Imam at their local mosque. They all respect and celebrate each other faiths, celebrate major festivals together and from what it sounds like, have very vibrant conversations. His family is certainly not unique. He says people are taught from a young age to understand each others religions.
So it appears as if education and understanding is the key. Everyone understands and knows about each other religions. We have such issues glaring issues in the UK about all this.
What can we learn from how the different religions live together so cohesively?
Can we learn from how the Muslims here make the Christian minority feel valued and respected? Can we learn from how much education and respect of other religions is so valued?
Obi says the key is being confident enough in our own religions to not feel the need to ‘convert’ each other – it is from that that conflict arises.
The guys here say that the integration is simple. It based on mutual understanding. Whereas in the UK it is based on ignorance and fear.
Fundamentalism and evangelicalism in both religions in almost frowned upon here. For them, ‘tolerance’ isn’t even a word they’d use. They don’t need to ‘tolerate’ eachother, they moved beyond that and just get along.
Yet we here in the UK and in most countries around the world can’t even seem to get the toleration stage.
There is much for all of us to learn from Sierra Leone.
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