When threatened, Christians can defend themselves —Archbishop Kaigama

President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria and Archbishop of Jos, Most Reverend Ignatius Kaigama, in an interaction with journalists, speaks on the need for Nigeria to take the issue of religious freedom seriously in the light of recent events, whether Christians should take up arms in self-defence, and why the change championed by the present administration must begin from the heart. RITA OKONOBOH provides excerpts:

IN your earlier message, you focused on the need to embrace change first from the heart. In the spirit of the change championed by the present administration, we want you to expand on your stand?

The change must start from within and must start from every single Nigerian, whether child or adult as our responsibility. We will be chasing shadows if we think the problem is out there. People think the problem is external; some think the problem is with those in government, and I would say maybe that is true to a certain extent, but if we look inwards, we would see that the problem is from the inside and we must all do something about that. Nigeria cannot disintegrate and the only remedy is looking into our hearts and seeing where the evil is. There is evil; there is sin; there is corruption in our hearts and that is what is expressed on the outside as violence, religious terrorism, killings, and destruction of lives and property. I am saying let us all eschew evil and be faithful to our religious values. We profess religion in this country; we build big mosques and churches and have big celebrations in the name of Jesus Christ. We have programmes on television and radio, but what goes on in our hearts? Is it only about the external appearances? It has to be from the heart and if we return to the heart, there is salvation for you, for me and for Nigeria.

Some Christian ministers, in the light of the southern Kaduna killings, among others, have advised Christians to take up arms. What is your stand on that?

The phrases ‘kill them,’ ‘retaliate,’ are not the vocabulary of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has a different way of approaching this issue. We are not advocating tit-for-tat as the question suggests. When we begin to engage in violence to solve violence, we only multiply violence. And the Christian message is very clear about that. Jesus Christ teaches us not to discriminate or do bad things to others. If other people kill in the name of religion, our religion, as Christians, does not allow that. However, that does not mean we should sit down and just allow anybody burn our houses, destroy our means of livelihood and even kill. We have a right to self-defence. Self-defence is not about just attacking people. That somebody threatens your life, you have the legitimate right to defend yourself. Even in human and divine law, this is allowed. However, when you hear people say ‘kill everybody,’ that is not the message of Jesus. Killing doesn’t solve anything, from whichever side it is carried out. We must stress that. It will only create more violence, more tension and will only destroy the country we are trying to build.

There were reports that the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, only allowed the practice of Islam, following an official circular that the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria was the only religious association allowed to practise in the university. The institution has come forward to explain the position of the circular, in the light of concerns of religious discrimination. What is your take on this?

There should be religious freedom, wherever in the country. It is a mark of civilised religion to allow people practise their faith however they want. It will be unfortunate if there are public universities in Nigeria that restrict freedom of worship, especially in favour of a particular religion. If such is true, then the university’s authorities need to look into that. The problem of religious discrimination seems to be growing and we hope that something is done pretty fast, otherwise, religion can do good, but can also be used to foster selfish and criminal interests.

What is the implication of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Association celebrated last week to Christianity in Nigeria?

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Association, as the name suggests, has to do with Jesus and Mary. Jesus, no doubt, is God and became man, took flesh, and therefore, has a heart. His heart was a loving, forgiving, all-embracing heart. His heart was of goodness and sweetness, and therefore, as Christians, who bear the name of Christ, we must aim to have such a heart. If you are a true Christian, you must have the heart of Jesus, which is a sweet, loving and forgiving heart. Mary is a special person selected by God and entrusted with the responsibility of bringing forth Jesus into the world, and in our sight, she is full of grace, blessed, holy and pure. She is everything that is good and that is testified by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We give her tremendous honour in the Catholic Church, and for those who do not know the importance of Mary in the history of salvation, may think the Catholics worship her, but that is far from truth. Mary is human; she is not God and we don’t worship her. We honour and pay her respect as the angel did when he brought the news to her. We believe we can learn from her person. Her heart is that of a sweet mother, who embraces everyone and we believe that through her, we can have divine intercession. So, you can see that the heart of Jesus and Mary are special.

What is your message to members of the association?

We have stressed that it is not about lip service but looking at the importance of the association. That the association must be alive from within and imitate the ways of Jesus and Mary and in their fellowship with the downtrodden, especially for those in need. The association should be involved in social activities, so as to expand their horizon to embrace everyone we meet as a human being created in the image and likeness of God. There should be no room for discrimination, or selfish interests. Jesus came for all and members of the organisation should take note of that.