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
The U.S. corporate media loyally follow the state's narrative about other countries. Nicaragua has instituted rules similar to those in the U.S. regarding governance of NGOs. But destabilizing that…
Rwanda's agreement to take asylum seekers from the United Kingdom has its roots in a similar arrangement made with Israel. There would be fewer asylum seekers if the UK and its allies did not hatch…
A Washington DC Black Lives Matter organizer's efforts to prove police surveillance, of her activities, an anti-imperialist summit countered the U.S. narrative at Summit of the Americas, a defense…
April Goggans is an organizer with Black Lives Matter DC. She filed a Freedom of Information act request with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington in order to determine the extent of…
Erica Caines is Co-Coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace Haiti and the Americas Committee. She is also co-editor of the Hood Communist blog. She discusses the recent anti-imperialist summit…
