Monrovia – Changing Liberia from a secular state to a Christian state continues to develop serious debate in every sector of the country especially among members of the two major religions, Christianity and Islam.
Some Christians in the country are in support of the proposal while on the other hand majority of the Muslim population is totally against such proposal.
Sekou M. Wiles, Secretary General of the Islamic Foundation for Peace and Development (IFOPED) has described the proposal as a complete segregation against the Muslim community saying it would be counterproductive because it lacks elasticity and fulcrum in moving the nation and people on the right trajectory.
Says Wiles: “Therefore, we stand to advise the campaigners for Christianizing Liberia and all well-meaning Liberians to please re-direct their energy to our nation (Liberia) building process that is holistic and developmental.”
Wiles underscored that since the foundation of Liberia in 1847, Christian leaders had led it, yet development remains questionable due to the insensitivity of those leaders in adhering to the plight of the citizenry.
“In this light, we also like to caution our colleagues that our educational system is a mess, we don’t have access to good drinking water, electricity, health facilities, roads and our justice system has been undermined. So our focus should now be on unification and not Christianizing the country,” he mentioned.
He said the campaigners should know that Liberians are gearing toward a critical path of their country as the 2017 elections draw closer, adding the ability to handle it peacefully would determine the next direction as a nation and people.
“It is in this vein that we are particularly calling on our honorable house of legislature to please see the need to sensitively handle this argument carefully or else, it has the tenacity to undermine the social and political cultural of our society and therefore, we are urging you to please use your wisdom and legislative power in making sure that the proposition twenty five (25) should be placed under the carpet for the purpose of redirecting our attentions to issues of national progress of concern.”
“Moreover, let us beware that having a Christian state means, that there’s no other religion in Liberia except Christianity, which means people from other faiths will be marginalized and be subjected to a second class citizenship hence, we fear that when this so called Christianization is passed into law, individual will be prioritized base on the profession of faith, which we felt is a backward step and tendency to our national progress.”
Wiles stated that the plan is a gross violation and total disrespect to the constitution of this land (Liberia) which is bounding on every Liberian to protect and to uphold it sacredness.
