Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has expressed dismay at the content of a recent sermon by Rev. Kris Okotie, in which he reportedly said that members of the Catholic congregation will go to hell. Onaiyekan said such declaration amounts to hate speech and deserves reproach.
Okotie, a former presidential candidate and Presiding Pastor of Household of God Church International Ministries, had at a sermon in Lagos last Sunday described the Catholic Church as “a counterfeit church set up by Satan”. He further said that Catholics “bow to idols and crucify Jesus every Sunday when they eat bread claiming they are eating the body of Christ,” adding that “they are not Christians, and have never been.”
But Cardinal Onaiyekan, in an exclusive interview with Saturday Newswatch in Abuja, rhetorically asked: “How can you live in the same country with such idea?” adding: “In some other countries, he may face some kind of tribunal to prove his claim. This is the kind of thing they call hate speech, which is also a crime. But in Nigeria, we are very patient.”
At first, Cardinal Onayekan declined to join issues with the pastor-cum politician. Prodded further, he repeated what is known to be in the scripture: ‘Forgive them for they know not what they are saying.’ He, however, stated further: “I will be happy to go to hell as a Catholic. But as you can see, that is part of where our problem is (in Nigeria). I am surprised that he (Okotie) made such a statement, if he did. We Catholics know very well that there are many kinds of Protestants that make those kinds of statements but we never take them seriously. Also, because we know that majority of our Christian brothers in Nigeria are not of that mould. We respect one another. Definitely, such a statement is not supposed to be helpful,” the Clergy insisted.
Asked if he would press for Okotie to be called to order by either the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) or the government, the Cardinal said: “Everybody who calls himself a religious leader should call himself to order and I do believe that it is not right for any Nigerian to ridicule any other religion. Preach your own and let other persons preach their own. But anybody who makes a statement to the effect that a faith like Catholicism that has more than 1.3billion people all over the world and that has proven itself (and he is saying) that we are all going to hell, that just shows what he has up there (pointing at his head with the index finger).”
On how Catholic faithful should treat Okotie’s hate statement, Cardinal Onaiyekan counselled:
“They should just ignore it and continue to live their lives as good Catholics. They should live in peace with everybody; be faithful to the tenet of your religion and you can be sure you will go to heaven. If we meet him there, we will say: ”Ol boy, you know you made a mistake.”
Cardinal Onaiyekan, who was last year jointly nominated with the Sultan of Sokoto for Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts at advancing peaceful co-existence between Christians and Muslims, also spoke on his friendship with the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims.
Saying his friendship with the Sultan dated back to when he was President of CAN, Onaiyekan said both of them strongly held the belief that Christianity and Islam have more in common that the differences often magnified by some mischief makers or ignorant persons. He stressed that the fact that Nigeria’s over 100 million citizens are almost evenly divided among the two faiths makes it imperative that adherents live in harmony. He said he and the Sultan felt that as leaders of the two faiths, God had imposed on them the responsibility to show the way. He urged the current leadership of CAN to build on the relationship he had established with Muslim leaders when he was the association’s president.
Said the Cardinal: “I have a strong conviction in my heart that God directs the lives of each and every one of us, and that when God puts anybody in the high position, there is also a huge demand on that person. And then I am aware that God has put me in the high position, that is why you have been struggling to meet me. Not because I am really better than anybody else; it is God’s own choice. And God chooses some people and puts them high and I believe firmly that if God puts you high, you also have a huge responsibility. In our Christian Bible, Jesus
says: “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Similarly, I believe the same thing is for the Sultan. He is Sultan because God made him so; even if you say he is Sultan because his father was also Sultan, why was he born by that man? Why wasn’t he born, even if he has to be a Fulani man, by one of those following cows in the bush? So God put him there and my interaction with him made me to realize that we have a lot in common; common grounds, as human beings and even from the religious point of view. We take our religions seriously and we take seriously the deeper levels of our religions and we found that the deeper level of our religions is common ground. He doesn’t believe that Jesus Christ is God because he is s Muslim. If he did, he would be a Christian. I appreciate and respect Prophet Mohammed – may the peace of Allah be upon him – but I don’t believe that he is a prophet that has come to improve on what Jesus has said. I don’t believe it. If I did, I would be a Muslim. “
He, however, stressed: “Despite that, we both believe in this great mighty God and we believe that our concept of what God is very common; the creator, the almighty, the all-merciful, the just who will judge the dead at the end of time. “This, we share and on the basis of this too we believe that this God of ours, it is his intention and desire that since he is our creator, all of us are from his arms. It is not as if only Christians are created by God, whereas Muslims I don’t know who created them, no. I am very sure the same God who created Muslims also
created Christians. And since the same God created us, we also believe and we share the fact that God’s interest in his creatures is that God has a common interest; God wants his creatures to live well; God wants them to relate well with one another. And therefore, when human beings begin to treat one another wickedly, we believe it is not according to God’s will that they should do so. And definitely it is terrible when they do so and claim to do so in the name of God. Both of us agreed on this thing and when you combine that with the fact that both of us also have been put in a special position by God of leadership, it becomes imperative that we join hands and see what we can do to work for peace; to work for mutual respect and if you don’t respect people, you can’t understand them and mutual understanding. “
For Christians who question the hand of fellowship he extends to Muslims, Onaiyekan said: “People seem to wonder how can you respect Islam when they reject Jesus, and I answered: ‘I don’t respect Islam because they reject Jesus. I respect Islam because they believe in the same God that I also believe in. Now because I am a Christian, my concept of God includes the person of Jesus Christ whom I believe is the son of God. But I said, I believe if you say you believe, it means it is faith. You can’t even prove it; it is not evident; it is not like 2+2 = 4. Two
plus two equals four is not something you believe, rather you know it. We Christians do believe that our faith in Jesus is a gift of God. If you believe it is a gift from God, then you must believe it is not given to everybody and those who don’t have that gift you don’t look down on. It is not their fault and it doesn’t mean that they are worse than you. These are basic things which unfortunately even though they are basic, many people don’t understand. I am talking from a Christian point of view. I suspect that there are Muslims too who believe that if you are not a Muslim, you are nothing. I dare say that they are wrong. One of the things I always tell people – you know I travel a lot – is that I was born in Nigeria, that I am a Nigerian of
today in which there are so many of us – about 170million, divided almost 50-50, meaning that we have 80 million Christians and 80 million Muslims. There is no Nigerian that will grow up to become an adult without having met a Muslim and no Nigerian Muslim would have grown up without meeting a Christian. What that means is that one of the essence of being a Nigerian is that you are familiar with the two faiths and we take it for granted here too. Don’t take it for granted, there are places in the world where they never met anybody else except
their own faith and the only thing they know about the other’s faith is what they hear. There are parts of Europe where they never met Muslims and the only thing they hear about Muslims is that they are Boko Haram; they are Al-Qaeda. That’s the only thing they hear about Islam. They can’t wake up in the morning, walk on the streets and meet a Muslim or come to the office, sit down and have a Muslim sit next to them. Here in Nigeria, it is normal and I think Nigerians take it for granted. We do take it for granted and I believe we should not and I keep insisting it is one of our greatest assets.”
Onaiyekan acknowledged though that “there are challenges” but added that “for us to live together, we need to make effort to do so.”
Source: Daily Newswatch
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