After reading a post from my mentor Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba about religious tolerance, I feel like I should also share my thought on the subject.
I am a Muslim. I was born in a Muslim family, raised by Muslims. Socialized to believe that Islam is the true faith.
As a Muslim growing up I have made friends with people of different beliefs. I even had some atheist (those that believe in no supernatural deity). We are similar in many things. We all wish to attain happiness. We could agree on many things. We could play and laugh about many things. The only time we could start noticing our differences is when we start talking about what each one believe in (our faiths). The discussion will start getting hot and eventually become boring as each side would do their best to convince the other that they are right and the other side is wrong.
But the more I age the more I come to the realization that we should not identify by our religions alone if peace should reign. Amartya Sen would warn us against the urge to promoting 'solitarist' identity (reducing someone's identity to just one aspect). For instance, we share a nuance identity: I am a Sierra Leonean, a Loko, a father, a member of a community/ group, a member of a political party, a Muslim (or Christian), a bike rider, so on an so forth... The list can go on and your identity is elaborate. If I cannot agree with you because of your belief, I should make peace with you because you are a Sierra Leonean (for instance). If I cannot make peace with you because you a Sierra Leonean, I should find reason to make peace with you because of you are an African. And if I cannot make peace with your identity as an African, I should make peace with you because you are a human just like me. I just cannot afford to 'solitarise' to identity.
We should understand the fact that it is not easy to divorce one's faith for another. It is years of invested interest. One has gained a lot of social capital in their faith. They sometimes risk losing close friends, family, opportunities and potential gains when they attempt converting from one faith to another. Think about the stigma and psychological pressure that accompanies the switchover process. It may be that the person you hate for their beliefs loves your ideas and wish to join you in worship but fear that they cannot handle what comes with it (the price they pay). You don't have to harm them, attack them, insult them, or cut them off for your belief sake.
Anytime you want to drop a bomb on them or attack them for their beliefs, think about the fact that those people are more than their beliefs. They could be parents, they could be people of your lineage, they could be sharing a city with you and help pay taxes to develop that city that provides for your family, they could be breadwinners of their families, too.
You don't have to hate someone for their belief. The same way you find it difficult to understand why they are rooting for their religion so deeply, is the same way they wonder why you are reluctant to convert to their religion. Our differences is what makes us humans. Because we have intelligence, we have different convictions. Humans are not computers that you programme (artificial intelligence). We reason and make choice. God has granted us that right. We have no right to deny a fellow human the chance to make a choice as long as that doesn't go against your rights.
©Amadu Wurie Jalloh
