Guild of Interfaith Media Practitioners (GIMP), has called on Faith Leaders across the country to reflect on spiritual message of Good Friday, and Easter by promoting love among the diverse people of the world.
The group stressed the need for Christians in particular, to take advantage of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion to reflect on the imperative of sacrifice and religious tolerance in serving God.
The chairman of the group, Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, in a goodwill message to Christians as they observe Easter, said that Good Friday is a day of remembrance, and also an occasion that calls for peace, understanding and shared human values amidst the nation’s diversity.
He observed that the diversity in the polity calls for the universal recognition of interfaith harmony as the common denominator of the quest for world peace.
Making reference to the World Council of Churches (WCC) which believed that Good Friday is a time for Christians to reflect on their own faith and to show respect for the beliefs and practices of other religious communities, Abdulmalik advised other faiths leaders to compliment the Council in spreading the message of glad tidings.
He observed that WCC’s call for peace and tolerance among the Christians, Jews, Muslims and a spirit of unity and respect in Jerusalem, places a burden on faith leaders in Nigeria to replicate the message in such call, adding that they should advise adherents of their respective faiths to eschew religious hostility and bigotry.
He said that GIMP was formed to promote interfaith peace and harmony through the mass media, and appealed to media professionals in Nigeria to join hands with the Guild in advancing this onerous ethical social responsibility.
Abdulmalik urged journalists and religious leaders to join hands with the government in fighting insurgency, banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria.
According to him, the attack on hapless victims is a pointer to the need for a strong jnterfaith collaboration with the government for a precision fight against criminality in the country.
