Do Your Homework

24 September 2003

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

- Mary Elizabeth Hansen

When the leader of the world-wide Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, returned from a Muslim-Christian conference in Doha, Qatar this past April, he issued a statement in which he expressed profound gratitude for the opportunity to dialogue with his Muslim brothers about the use and understanding of scriptures. He ended his press release with the hope that Muslims and Christians could continue to work together, "for a just and reconciled world." More recently, on September 13 th , in the aftermath of 9/11 commemoration ceremonies, the Archbishop extended his support for Islamic schools. He stated that they were "nothing to apologize for." He urged Muslims in Great Britain to continue their work in establishing Islamic schools and to seek state funding for those institutions. It would seem that Archbishop not only wanted to keep in touch with his Muslim counterparts, but that he would like to see their presence expanded and strengthened in the birthplace of Anglicanism.

Perhaps the head of the Anglican Church should have checked with his fellow believers in Nigeria before he urged expansion of Islamic schools.anywhere. Nigeria is home to the largest population of Anglicans in the world. It is also a country that is wracked by sectarian violence. Since 2000 the twelve northern states of Nigeria, which are predominately Muslim, have introduced sharia. The imposition of this "Islam rules apply to all" has resulted in a huge wave of violence and in the death of almost 10,000 people.

According to a report released by the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News and Analysis, Kano, the largest and most populous state in northern Nigeria, recently made it compulsory for all girls, Muslim and non-Muslim attending schools run by the state government of Kano to wear the hijab. (Islamic headscarf) Since Kano had already closed all of the state-funded Christian schools, Christian girls attending the public schools have little choice. Wear the hijab or become a school dropout. The report also noted that the reason that Christian schools in Kano closed was because they did not meet the new state mandated standards, which included the forced hiring of Islamic clerics to teach all students in Christian schools about Islam.

Lateef Adegbite, secretary general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, has a larger plan for all of Nigeria. He stated that sharia would eventually be introduced in the southern states of the country where Islam is the minority religion. Certain Islamic officials in Kano also revealed their ultimate goal. They would have 19 of Nigeria's 36 states adopt sharia and then use this majority to impose Islamic laws over the entire country. The president of Nigeria, Olusegon Obasanjo, has expressed his opposition to sharia law, but to little avail. The odds are against a secular state as the Islamists grow stronger and more militant in one of the most important countries in Africa.

The Christians of Indonesia, home to the world's largest population of Muslims, have also recently suffered a setback in religious freedom. According to a press report from the Voice of the Martyrs, in June the Indonesian Parliament passed a law that required schools with 10 or more students of a particular faith to be given religious instruction by a teacher of the same faith. This law, say Christians, is meant to force Christian schools to use their own funds to pay for Islamic teachers for their Muslim students and to construct mosques on Christian campuses. Since many Muslim parents send their children to Christian schools because of the higher quality education that they can receive, this law will negatively impact almost every Christian school in Indonesia.

Yet, the Archbishop of Canterbury believes " the more the merrier" in regards to the establishment of Islamic schools in his native country of Great Britain. Perhaps Archbishop Williams should ask around..and see how things are going for his flock in Nigeria and Indonesia.

Archbishop, do your homework. The same pluralism that you seek in England, is being rapidly eroded in one of the most populous Anglican countries, Nigeria, and in other countries where Christian minorities are under pressure by radicalized Muslim majorities. What dhimmis the world over need is a strong defender, not a naive appeaser for the Islamists.