Religious Unity

 

There Can Be Religious Unity!

Can there be such a thing as religious unity? How can it be when we are so different in faith, dress and culture?  How can it be when you are a Jew and I am a Hindu? How can it be that me, a Catholic, can work with a Muslim and be one nation? Should I convert you to my religion so that we can work together? If we integrate the good of religion to better the nation, we will achieve religious unity.

Every man and woman is religious. No man has ever been able to abandon his god, as much as any man can abandon a personal vice. It does not matter that this god be gold, good looks or grass. Every man and woman will live by the principles, virtues and values of their god or their personal vice. 

In Africa, all nations are made up of many people groups and clans. In these nations, people groups may claim superiority by numbers, wealth and culture or even religion. No nation can get rid of people groups, yet no nation can survive, or succeed, unless people groups unite in the purpose of nationhood. What matters is not the tribe we come from, but that each of us does our duty to the nation.

Religion is spiritual. Religion has a duty to worship God. Religion has a duty to bring men to God. That is a good thing, but driven by competition for numbers we try to dominate each other. We strive to multiply our numbers by methods and means that are sometimes questionable to prove that we are the superior religion. This only removes the focus from our duty to the nation to our differences of opinion.

I have a dream like Desmond Tutu and Martin Luther King. I have a dream where black, white, yellow and orange live together in one nation. A nation where people are judged not by their colour, but the content of their character. I have a dream that we can build a great nation by working together. I have a dream that today we will learn the principles of this present reality. The reality that, as iron sharpens iron, we can hone the harmony that will heal all the nations of the earth.

I have a dream where people will not be judged by their religion, but by the virtue of their values. I believe that competition is good if it is driven by devotion to godly values. If competition is driven by the principles of a virtuous life on which God and all men agree such as humility, chastity, equality, forgiveness and love for your fellow man, then I would love to live in such a nation, because godly values have no religion. I would love to live in a nation where no man has to convince me by the principles of doctrine to join in his worship, but rather where I will be attracted to worship God with him by the virtue of his life. I have no business to challenge you to change your religion if my testimony does not speak to you first.

So what is my object? The matter I submit to you is not what tribe, religion or nation you belong. My object is that we belong to a nation and it is our duty to inspire that nation to unity, acts of charity and the fear of God. We may have our differences on matters of faith and belief, but it is our common duty to ensure that the people of the nation, in which we live, give up personal vices and uphold the virtues and values of a godly nation. In this one duty, we must properly represent God.

The fact that we are religious is only evidence that we all seek after God.  Though we live in a physical kingdom, we live by the virtues of the spiritual kingdom. We belong to two nations. We are a people of privilege. We have always had dual citizenship.

 Our focus should be on the well-being of the nations and the eternal destiny of humanity. Our duty is to give hope and courage to mortals in this world and prepare them to meet God on the other side. If we do this well, it will not matter to which religion we belong, but that we will have done the will of God. Yes, we can unite for the good of the nation!

Allan Bukusi, 7-8-2010