Bropleh's call for religious tolerance is the right call, but patronizing to gain political advantage is wrong

Tuesday, January  08,  2008 

   By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

      Information Minister, Lawrence Bropleh got us all talking when he injected into the national debate recently what intellectuals are fond of doing; that is the putting forth of controversial ideas that often stirs the emotions of those that don’t think the way they do.

    As the official voice of the Liberian government, Bropleh used his position to sound an alarm about the need for religious tolerance, and added a dose of intellectual stimulation needed in a society still struggling from scholarly chaos and massive brain drain, a result of a self-inflicted civil war that obliterated every known infrastructure that nurtures learning, as we know it.

                                  

    It is risky business, of course, to express those ideas in any intolerant society that pretends to cherish freedom of expression on the one hand, and hypocritical on the other hand when the same government encourages the expression of views that openly supports its policies directly or indirectly, especially when the views are coming out of the mouth of the Minister of Information.

     I really don’t fault Minister Bropleh for throwing into the mix what he truly thinks about the age-old problem of religious discrimination that exists in the Liberian society.

     Like racial discrimination enshrined in the Liberian Constitution that prohibits non-Negroid from owning properties and becoming citizen of Liberia, religious discrimination is a day to day thing that is painful to a cross section of the population. It is a subject nobody dare discuss because of the sensitivity of the issue, which really will not go away until it is fully discussed on the national level with the mindset of finding practical solutions that will bring genuine healing to the nation in its quest for lasting peace and pluralistic democracy.

   “I’d like to make the following recommendations to the government,” Bropleh said, “to consider the establishment of a religious advisory board that would be inclusive and representative of all the major religions in our nation. As we seek religious tolerance, our national legislature needs to revisit the exclusivity of national holidays granted to the Christian religion, and think of a more equitable religious arrangement.”

    Bropleh went up another notch with his bold pronouncements by saying the following: “I will even dare to recommend that we enact a legislation that will set a day aside at the height of the Muslim Hajj as a national holiday. Alternatively, all religious holidays could be declared as working holidays wherein those persons who are religiously inclined would seek time out to give special prayers and thanks to the Almighty God.”

    Bropleh’s perceived crusade about religious tolerance, some want us to believe is tantamount to the betrayal of his Christian faith, which I also want to believe is in the right direction and was made to get the attention of the nation during the holiday season when Christians gathered around the country to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

     It was also a clever way of getting the attention of those whose help he will need for this issue to get traction, especially from those who still don’t believe one of their own, a Methodist minister would be so provocative about an issue that needs more than intellectual grandstanding to become a reality.

     Whether it is intellectual grandstanding or not at least Minister Bropleh ought to be applauded for bringing the debate to the nation, which in my view is success already because it is generating the kind of discussions needed for our nation’s leaders to do something about it now or in the future.

     This is the kind of discussion we need to heal the nation because some Liberians have complained both in public and in private that the Mandingoes or Muslims, (who are often told) by those Liberians to "go back to Guinea" where they supposedly hailed, are the ones they claimed who are not fully assimilating into society by virtue of their perceived distance from the greater Liberian population. The just-ended civil war comprised of leading members of the the Mandingo community, also fueled the hatred between the groups and did not help to bridge the divide, either. 

     However, how can we move away from our mistrust and limited perception of those we looked at with suspicion that don’t look, speak or act like us, let alone understand something so dear to their hearts like religion if we don’t make an attempt to bring them closer to being a full-fledge members of society? Do we move from point (a) to point (b) by disrespecting the collective feelings and religion of others because of our claim to Liberia, a country they also claimed belong to them? 

     I want to believe Mr. Bropleh did not just come from nowhere to inject himself into the national debate by saying what he said about religious tolerance without understanding the issue, or without ever getting some kind of clearance from his immediate boss, President Sirleaf, who is on record for being sympathetic to the Liberian Muslim community.

     In 2007, President Ellen Johnson endorsed the setting up of a 19-member Liberia National Hajj Committee mandated to administer the activities of Liberian Muslims, who were expected to attend that year’s pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Within the same time, President Sirleaf also donated several bags of rice to 41 Mosques and Muslim communities in the metro Monrovia area, in commemoration of the Holy month of Ramadan.

     During their administrations, both Samuel Kanyon Doe and Charles Taylor played the politics of rice by distributing several bags of rice to the Muslim communities, with Taylor going even further transporting at one time about 200 members of the Islamic faith to the annual Holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

    Like the Muslim population who have to painfully watch as the nation celebrate those state-sanctioned Christian holidays such as “Fast and Prayer Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas,” coupled with another policy that requires non-Christian students to adhere to morning rituals such as daily devotion and the teaching of the Bible as a curriculum in public schools, without celebrating a state-sponsored national holiday of their own, indigenous Liberians were at one time subjected to celebrating offensive holidays such as “Pioneer’s Day and Matilda’s Day,” known throughout history at a time native Liberians were reportedly murdered by the settlers as the natives fought back to regain their land and their dignity.

    Even though I am for religious and racial tolerance, I am against the politics of patronizing done conveniently by President Sirleaf and past Liberian presidents to win the hearts of the Muslim community, which is a cheap way of playing president.

     Just as it is wrong for a sitting president to play “Religious Sponsor-in Chief” by endorsing the setting up of a 19-member committee to administer the activities of the Liberian Muslims, it is dead wrong for the government or the president to be in the business of donating bags of rice to any particular religion. President Sirleaf ought to empower the local Red Cross to do its job.

     To right the wrongs of the past and to forge genuine national unity, Bropleh’s message of religious tolerance should be taken seriously because it is the right way to go, and the right thing to do.

 

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