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
BAR's Executive Editor, Margaret Kimberley, recently joined Political Misfits to discuss U.S. politics, including the recent presidential debate, bipartisan support of Israel, a SCOTUS ruling, and…
On July 5, 1852 Frederick Douglass was asked to speak on the topic of the nation’s independence celebration. Now known as What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, the speech was a stinging…
After seven years of asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London and another five years imprisoned by the United Kingdom, Julian Assange is finally a free man. The prospect of justice, of Assange…
The US Supreme Court’s decision to grant the President of the United States “absolute immunity” merely codifies criminal behavior by all US presidents. Take, for example, Barack Obama’s assassination…
Biden’s debate meltdown has Democrats scrambling, but they no longer have an excuse for holding a virtual convention.
