Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Cartoon
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Eritrea: Where Muslims and Christians Live in Peace
Thomas C. Mountain
23 Sep 2015

by Thomas C. Mountain

Western media claim that religious hatreds have wracked the Middle East and Africa from time immemorial. But lethal fractures are not intrinsic to these societies, nor are they inevitable. The multi-ethno-religious – yet proudly secular – nation of Eritrea, is proof.

Eritrea: Where Muslims and Christians Live in Peace

by Thomas C. Mountain

“No one is allowed to spread religious hatred or intolerance, the matter is too sensitive.”

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place in the world where Muslims and Christians live in peace?

Where their children play together, their families eat together, Christians visiting their Muslim neighbors at Eid, Muslims going to eat next door at Easter?

Where a Christian girl can marry a Muslim boy without any real commotion within families?

Where Muslims and Christians dance together while celebrating weddings and holidays, old and young, rich and poor, different tribes and languages and all this peacefully?

I am not talking about a community, a village, town or even a province. I am saying wouldn’t it be great if an entire country of millions of people, lets say half Muslim and half Christian, lived together in respect and harmony?

In today’s world, its hard to imagine that this could be possible. In Iraq the Christians have been driven from the land. In the Central African Republic the muslim peoples have been chased out.

In Switzerland, popular vote made the display of Islamic culture in the form of minarets on the roofs of their houses of Islamic worship illegal. In Kenya a series of Muslim clerics are murdered by supposedly Christian police.

In Nigeria, and now Cameroon and Chad, religious fanatics claiming membership in Islam drive Christians from the land.

In the USA the Gestapo a.k.a. the FBI, has at least one full time agent monitoring every single Muslim Mosque in the entire country.

So wouldn’t it be great if there was somewhere on this planet where Muslims and Christian respect each other, and dwell together in peace and harmony?

“The Eritrean people are united on this point, that no one is going to divide us along religious lines.”

I live in Eritrea and have seen this all existing for years now, first hand, many, many times. Jamal’s family are our Muslim neighbors. My wife is Christian. We eat together on Eid and Easter. In this country every tribe dances, mostly everyone together, grandparents and grandchildren, men and women, boys and girls, no matter social, religious or ethnic status.

Eritrea, about 5 million people, is half Muslim and half Christian. There are a total of nine tribes in our country, and some of the tribes like the Saho and even the largest, Tigrinia, have both Christian and Muslim members.

The one thing we dont have is religious fanatics, no Jerry Falwell or Osama Bin Laden allowed. No one is allowed to spread religious hatred or intolerance, the matter is too sensitive. The Eritrean people are united on this point, that no one is going to divide us along religious lines like has happened in so many other African and Asian countries.

It is really nice living somewhere Muslims and Christians live in peace, I just wish that this be known for all the world to see, so all the lies and slanders I hear said about us can be swept into the dust bin of history and maybe, just maybe, other countries in this world may take heed of us and bring religious peace to their lands, and Muslims and Christians will live together in peace.

Thomas C. Mountain is an independent journalist living and reporting from Eritrea since 2006. He can be reached via twitter @thomascmountain on Facebook at thomascmountain or at thomascmountain at g mail dot com

Trending

Africa – Where the Next US Oil Wars Will Be
Rwandan President Paul Kagame is Not Papa Africa Saving Slaves
“Nissan, You Made Us Mad”: Union Promises to Fight Mississippi Defeat
How Identity Became a Weapon Against the Left
Why Claudia Jones Will Always Be More Relevant than Ta-Nehisi Coates
It's Getting Real – Google Censors the Left. And Us.

More Stories


  • Homecoming for Two of the Bronx 120
    Kyle Fraser , Black Agenda Radio producer
    Homecoming for Two of the Bronx 120
    24 Apr 2018
    Two years ago, New York City police and federal agents stormed into five housing developments in the Soundview section of The Bronx and swept up 120 young men on criminal conspiracy charges.
  • South Carolina Wants to Silence Inmates at Troubled Prison
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    South Carolina Wants to Silence Inmates at Troubled Prison
    24 Apr 2018
    “Brothers are going to find a way to communicate with the outside, and they will no longer tolerate the kind of human rights abuses that previous generations experienced,” said longtime prisoner ri
  • Durham NC Bans Police Exchanges With Israel
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Durham NC Bans Police Exchanges With Israel
    24 Apr 2018
    A ten-group coalition won unanimous passage of a bill prohibiting the Durham police department from exchanges of training or information with Israel -- the first city in the U.S. to do so.
  • Corporate Media “Could Care Less” About International Law
    Kyle Fraser , Black Agenda Radio producer
    Corporate Media “Could Care Less” About International Law
    24 Apr 2018
    University of Illinois professor of international law Dr. Francis Boyle said the illegality of U.S. attacks against Syria and occupation of its territory is a non-issue for U.S.
  • Kiilu Nyasha
    Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
    For Sistar Kiilu Nyasha: Freedom Is A Constant Struggle…
    19 Apr 2018
    Never thought I’d see the day that I’d pray for: Fake News; Never thought I’d see the day that I’d pray for: Alternative Facts from Boss Tweet— pray that
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us