The New Fault Lines

I just returned from Nigeria, and I put these reflections in a note on my facebook.

The New Fault Lines

The 20th Century emerged with a battle between communism and democracy, resulting in the fall of the Iron Curtain. It was a conflict of ideologies, and to an extent, those ideologies were promoted by governments on both sides. At times, a challenge to the basic ideas on either side was worthy of treason, but openness gave way, and one of those two systems ended up with the upper hand. As I stand at the beginning of this century, I see a great tension that is also based on ideas, and these ideas are often deeply held. However, these ideas are central to worldviews and run deeper than government propaganda machines. They reflect grassroots movements, two of which could arguably be the largest grassroots movements in history. These movements shape the thinking of not millions, but billions of people in literally all corners of the world. These ideas give guidance to all of life’s activities, from birth to death and even after death. These ideas are not merely political, they are theological. I am talking about the tension between those who identify themselves as Muslims and those who identify themselves as Christians.

More than likely (though Russia and Georgia have offered a substantial challenge to this theory), the major conflicts of this emerging century will come between Christians and Muslims. We have already seen several conflicts this decade that support this: 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and the Balkans where peoples who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus are at odds with the peoples who follow the teachings of Muhammad.

A place where these two worlds seem to collide and where there is both high identity and high practice in a very spiritually inclined context is in the country of Nigeria. This African mega-country straddles this line of demarcation between these two groups. In fact, this line that separates these two worlds runs right across Africa—right at about 10 degrees north of the equator.

My time in Nigeria has raised some questions in my mind. After hearing of pastors who had been killed and had had their bodies burned for refusing to renounce their faith and seeing some of the churches that I read about on the BBC news website six and eight years ago because I didn’t find sufficient coverage in the American press, I have been profoundly reminded of this confrontation that is before us.

As a follower of Jesus, I am stirred by the acts of faithfulness of Christians who have shown their loyalty and even given themselves as sacrifices in the same spirit as Perpetua and Felicity did against the Romans. I have often thought, “How would I react if someone pointed an AK 47 at me and demanded that I shift my loyalty or lose my life?” I can say that to lose my life is to gain life, but honestly, what would I do? What would you do? I recall that quote in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: “My soul is prepared, Dr. Jones, how’s your’s?” I will have to say that my prayer is that my soul would be prepared. It seemed as if everyone I talked to in Kaduna had vivid and disturbing memories of the religious clashes—having guns fired at them, losing loved ones, seeing carnage.

But as a follower of Jesus, I am also carrying a heavy yoke in prayer for the situation in Kaduna. I heard from several Christian leaders in separate contexts about how many Christians vowed “enough is enough,” and they fought back. The quote that I heard multiple times was, “We had turned the cheek so many times that we no longer had a cheek to turn.” I sensed the conflicting approaches that emerged within the church—in ways that remind me of yet another film, The Mission, where Jesuit missionaries identified with the Guarani in different ways. Both gave their lives for their cause. Rodrigo fought; Father Gabriel chose pacifism. I wonder how God, who stands for grace and who stands for justice, would have the Holy Spirit guide the Church in these situations and if there is an answer that transcends culture and time.

The last six years have been relatively peaceful in Kaduna as there has been an absence of overt large scale conflict. Apparently, the governor of the state has ensured that a heavy handed security presence enforce this. However, there seems to be a deeper wound that has developed. The method of coexistence shifted from Christians living side by side with Muslims to Christians living in one part of the city and Muslims living in another, and people rarely passing across the religious fault lines—sort of like passing though Samaria.

Will the responses of faithful Christians in 2000 and 2002 be a legacy that will inspire and point people to a loving relationship with Jesus? Will their witness of fidelity be a greater influence on the universal church than a spirit of reconciliation? How will God’s peace be known in places like Kaduna, Nigeria? How will God set people free, both inside and outside the church? How will the Holy Spirit saturate the souls in Nigeria? Please join me in praying for this periphery of the new Christendom.