Muslim women, youths and scholars in Kaduna city, northern Nigeria, on Sunday joined other Christians from neighbouring states to worship in a Church service aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence, religious tolerance, and better understanding.
The Church, Christ Evangelical Intercessory Fellowship Ministry opened its door to non Christians to observe its 8th Anniversary – the Church has a tradition of inviting these people to worship together.
The General Overseer of the Church, Pastor Yohanna Buru who expressed gratitude to the invited guests called on all worshippers around the world to learn to live in peace with one another.
Buru said “Muslims are not our enemies, rather they are our best friends, because we all worship one God and we all believe in life after death.”
He then prayed for love, forgiveness, dialogue and peace to reign among Nigerians.
A peace Ambassador, Ramatu Tijjani, who also attended the worship service said, “as the church celebrate its 8th year anniversary, I decided to donate gifts to the best Chorister, The Band, children Choir and Intercessory women of the Ministry, so as to strengthen love, unity… encourage togetherness, irrespective of faith Organisation; to boost mutual understanding and inter-religious dialogue between the followers of the two different faiths.
“Both of us worship one God and we are from one family “Adam and Eve”, she said.
She added that earlier in February during the international inter-faith week and Harmony “I donated 50 bibles to the church with a view to strengthen religious tolerance and mutual understanding in the state and the country at large.
Ramatu who stressed that both religion [Christianity and Islam] preach peace, harmony, forgiveness and tolerance, points out the need to understand each another to make Nigeria great.
She then called for the creation of Institutes of Comparative Studies in the country so as to end all forms of ethno-religious, political crisis in the country, explaining that comparative religious study is the branch of the study of religions that is concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world’s religions.
She concluded her speech by saying that, there are more than 6,000 religions in the world, most of which are very different from the literate Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), that many people think of when they hear the word “religion.”
