Hundreds slaughtered in Nigerian religious violence
In Nigeria, Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell reports on the weekend slaughter of hundreds of Christians in Nigeria, apparently in reprisal for the killing of hundreds of Muslims in January.
His report opens:
The killers showed no mercy: They didn't spare women and children, or even a 4-day-old baby, from their machetes. On Monday, Nigerian women wailed in the streets as a dump truck carried dozens of bodies past burned-out homes toward a mass grave.
Rubber-gloved workers pulled ever-smaller bodies from the dump truck and tossed them into the mass grave. A crowd began singing a hymn with the refrain, "Jesus said I am the way to heaven." As the grave filled, the grieving crowd sang: "Jesus, show me the way."
At least 200 people, most of them Christians, were slaughtered on Sunday, according to residents, aid groups and journalists. The local government gave a figure more than twice that amount, but offered no casualty list or other information to substantiate it.
An Associated Press reporter counted 61 corpses, 32 of them children, being buried in the mass grave in the village of Dogo Nahawa on Monday. Other victims would be buried elsewhere. At a local morgue the bodies of children, including a diaper-clad toddler, were tangled together. One appeared to have been scalped. Others had severed hands and feet.
The horrific violence comes after sectarian killings in this region in January left more than 300 dead, most of them Muslim. Some victims were shoved into sewer pits and communal wells.
Read the Associated Press report.Sunday's bloodshed in three mostly Christian villages appeared to be reprisal attacks, said Red Cross spokesman Robin Waubo.
Nigeria is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The recent bloodshed has been happening in central Nigeria, in towns which lie along the country's religious fault line. It is Nigeria's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands.
Comments
Whereever we have sharia law such incidents are bound to happen. Nigeria has a population breakdown of 48% Christians to 50% Muslims.
Having separate laws for Muslims and Christians creates all the problems. There should be one rule of law like we have in the United States with complete freedom of religion. The Mulsims main focus is not drinking Alcohol and avoiding Swine flesh. Corruption is OK.
Time has come to for the world to condemn Sharia law wherever it is being practice. These outdated laws are out of step with the modern world.
Posted by: concerned citizen | March 8, 2010 11:11 PM
When people kill for Jesus, they must expect to be killed for Jesus too. It is only the secular state that has stopped such actions in democratic societies and that can only be accomplished by a strict separation of church and state.
We know that absolutist beliefs have already resulted here , in many deaths, bombings and hate based harassment of those who deviate from religionist doctrine and that that hate could explode here if allowed to get out of hand.
Posted by: Robert Littel | March 9, 2010 11:57 AM
The intrusion of religious dogma into civil law is generally a mistake.
Posted by: BankStreet | March 9, 2010 12:02 PM
BankStreet - I'd say it's always a mistake.
Posted by: rino | March 9, 2010 12:19 PM
BankStreet - We should all be thankful our had the wisdom to keep the two separate when writing the constitution.
Posted by: ravensfan | March 9, 2010 4:47 PM
When people witness for Jesus and are kind like Jesus, they must expect that they will be treated kindly also. Unfortunately it doesnt always happen that way. Sometimes Christians are killed even when they didnt kill anyone.
Posted by: Clay | March 9, 2010 5:49 PM
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty....
Posted by: BankStreet | March 9, 2010 6:07 PM
Clay you are crazy--in Nigeria the Christians killed the Muslims--massacred them--then the Muslims rose up and did the same in the most abhorrent fashion-- what can be more despicable than killing children in the name of Allah or Jesus?
Religion is a molotov cocktail--and this would have happened even with separation of church and state--this would have happened even with one civil code of law--simply because, in Nigeria, the Islamists and the Christians come from different tribes--the Igbos are usually Christians, the Hausas can be Christians or Muslims and the Yorubas and Fulanis are usually Muslims--these tribes have differing ethos, tenets, levels of sophistication and education---the Igbos--the Christians--tend to be Western educated, more democratic and more independent--they live in the South--the Hausa--Fulani, tend to hail from more autocratic political structures, are often less educated, poorer and more fundamentalist in matters religion--they live in the North.
Read about Biafra and the slaughter of the Igbos during the Nigerian civil war not to draw quick conclusions about Sharia or lack of separation of church and state being reasons for these killings-- tribal rivalries and animosities existed in Nigeria-- well before Christianity or Islam-- when tribes practiced animism.
Keep state and church separate, erase all Sharia, these people will still kill each other over tribal schisms but religion lends itself so much more to violence--it inflames passions, deepens divisions and blinds sanity--the rampage against the non believing enemy is a satisfying high for the religionists.
Keeping church and state separate or extinguishing Sharia won't mitigate the incendiary power of religion to set old tribal wounds aflame in a country like Nigeria. Note that these killings have occurred in the central part of Nigeria--there is no Sharia law there--economics is another reason for the killings--in the central part of Nigeria, as is written in the article, the tribes are vying for fertile lands-- god, an invention of men, has been exploited in Nigeria to window dress greed--man made religion buoys all too human a trait called avarice--eliminate the "other" so you can have it all--human philosophy 101 from time immemorial and even better if you and your co religionists can have it all--that is positively thrilling.
Ravensfan Anon
Posted by: Anonymous | March 10, 2010 12:53 AM
@Ravenfan Anon posted as Anonymous:
I am impressed by your knowledge of Nigerian tribes and research. My roommate in school was a Christian Nigerian from a very prominent "Onabanjo" tribe in the 70's.
There was no tension then. Islamization is a recent introduction.
Separation of church and state worked in Europe and is working in America.
Mr. Ravensfan Anon maybe a super human being able to live on the faith of his own abilities, but lesser mortals all over the world need faith.
We must have separation of church and state and get rid of Sharia laws from the constitutions of all Muslim countries.
Posted by: concerned citizen | March 10, 2010 12:48 PM
I am aware of what the story above says about the "Christians" doing the killings. Thanks.
Posted by: Clay | March 10, 2010 12:49 PM
Maybe the transsexual upstairs told the Nigerian christians to kill the muslims! Right Clay?
Posted by: Monty | March 22, 2010 11:32 PM