Merry Christmas To You and Your Family

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2025 

With all the thanksgivings to Almighty God for the best going forward to higher grounds of greater heights of triumph and Victory in the mighty name of our Lord JESUS Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

AMEN.

#God

#holidays

#Jesus

#christmas

#xmas 

#merrychristmas 

#newyear

#2025

Nigeria - Olympics Opening Ceremony 'Last Supper' Scene: Message from Most Rev Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo, Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Oyo

 

PRESS RELEASE

Olympics opening ceremony 'Last Supper' scene: Message from Most Rev Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo, Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Oyo

Christians should exercise their right of outrage and boycott

Access Multimedia Content

OYO, Nigeria, July 30, 2024/ -- The religious depictions of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting with contemporary ideological figures that are clearly offensive to Christianity at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2024 in France is to say the least shocking and disrespectful. Sadly, it is a perpetration of deliberate ongoing attempts in Europe and America to repurpose and cheapen Christian themes without regard for peace loving Christians who practice and profess their religion in peace. That this decadent caricature of one of the most cherished events of Christianity is publicized in France, a country with a rich and old Christian heritage, and at the Olympic games detracts from the status of the Olympics and belies all claims to enduring civility and respect for freedom of religion in the West. Christians should exercise their right of outrage and boycott to the extent that the damage already caused can be mitigated and redressed and future occurrences prevented. Governing bodies and organizations should take full responsibility for accommodating such insulting, tasteless art and expressions that can potentially cause further hurt and division in our already hurting and fractured world. Huge thanks to all who correctly expressed outrage on the subject well ahead of this. Regardless of what we go through as African we must never disrespect or thrash religious symbols and sentiments which touch people at their deepest levels of their being. To do this is to throw our humanizing and spiritual values and ideals to the dogs. +Bishop Badejo Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Catholic Diocese of Oyo, Nigeria.  SOURCE Catholic Diocese of Oyo, Nigeria

The Realization of the Power of Christian Cinema and Islamic Cinema in Nigeria for National Orientation and Nation Building

 

Nigerian premiere of "The 7 Churches of Revelation" on Ascension Day, May 9, 2024.

Buy VIP Tickets on 
 https://selar.co/1wn1v4

https://tix.africa/buy/nigerian-premiere-of-the-7-churches-of-revelation

The Realization of the Power of Christian Cinema and Islamic Cinema in Nigeria for National Orientation and Nation Building

Anyone who is intelligent knows the immense powers of mass communication in the circulation of information for public enlightenment and entertainment which we have seen the impacts on the society through sociocultural, socioeconomic and sociopolitical developments in every nation. 

The power of religion or human civilization has been known since the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible, the foundation of the two greatest religions, Christianity and Islam in the history of the world. 

The two religions have the largest populations in Nigeria with the biggest and largest markets and economies in the most populous nation in Africa.

The symbiosis of the two religions is the basis for the initiatives of the Christian Cinema in Nigeria (CCN) and Islamic Cinema in Nigeria (ICN) I have started for the acceleration of the exploration and realization of the power of Christian and Islamic films for the education, mobilization and sensitization of the people for national orientation in the nation building of a New Nigeria in the leadership of Africa among the comity of nations in the world.

- Ekeyerengozi Michael Chima,

Founder/Executive Director,

Christian Cinema in Nigeria and Islamic Cinema in Nigeria.

Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Background of Christian Cinema

Catholic priest Athanasius Kircher promoted the magic lantern by publishing the book Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae in 1680  Controversy soon followed as priests and masons used the lanterns "to persuade followers of their ability to control both the forces of darkness and enlightenment" and temperance groups used the lanterns to fight alcoholism. In the 1800s, missionaries such as David Livingstone used the lanterns to present the Gospel in Africa.

Through the years, many Christians began to utilize motion picture for their own purposes. In 1899, Herbert Booth, as part of the Salvation Army, claimed to be the first user of film for the cause of Christianity

The Estimated Target Audience of Christian Cinema in Nigeria

The Estimated Target Audience of Christian Cinema in Nigeria

Christian Cinema is for evangelism, church planting and increasing the faith of believers as there is widespread decreasing passion for the gospel in Nigeria and we believe showing powerful facts of the Holy Bible can revive our faith in God and ignite the Pentecostal revival in Nigeria through Cinema Evangelism with the regular screenings of 

 Christian films in all the local government areas in the country with films dubbed in Arabic, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and other local languages.

Image credit:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/changing-religious-composition-of-nigeria-causes-and-implications-of-demographic-divergence/C780E68F677B92253395051D3B1C8FA3

In 2023, Nigeria had the largest Christian population in Africa, with around 88.4 million people who identified as Christian. The "
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1368604/christian-population-in-africa-by-country/

Professed and practicing Christians in Nigeria are estimated to be 46. 8 percent of the over 201 million people in the country. And they are the largest populations in the southern states and in the middle belt states. 

The northern states are predominantly Muslims.

The estimated target audience of Christian Cinema in Nigeria will be 18, 576, 000 people annually in all the 774 local government areas in the country with more than 80 percent of them from the south and middle belt.

There will be screenings mostly in the churches, followed by screenings in town halls and village squares or centres.

Tickets will sell from N100 (one hundred naira) to N500 (five hundred naira) per person.

Special private screenings will be provided for Christian groups and others with the tickets selling from N2000 (two thousand naira).

CCN will generate an estimated N29, 288, 000, 000 (Twenty Nine Billion and Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight Million Naira) annually from the sales of tickets and from advertisements.

We have received the partnership support of Cinewav of Singapore for instant cinemas to support Nigerians to have solar powered cineplex in every village in Nigeria. 

View Cinewav cinemas on
 https://www.facebook.com/cinewavapp?mibextid=vPdvX0B5T65af74v

Patterns of Evidence of the United States of America has agreed to let us do screenings of their films in Nigeria in churches and public spaces.

Christian Cinema in Nigeria is open to partnership and sponsorship and for advertising of approved products and services.

Contact:

King of Kings Books International

Tel: +234 814 582 6448

On WhatsApp.

Email: kingofkingsbooks@hotmail.com kingofkingsbooks@gmail.com

Realistically Profiling President Muhammadu Buhari on National Security With Facts

Realistically Profiling President Muhammadu Buhari on National Security With Facts

Part 1

Political leaders all over the world prefer euphemisms to harsh  criticisms and don't often like political incorrectness in public. But flattery is the worst form of praise.

Saying the truth, whether bitter or sweet is the best in overcoming the challenges of the existential realities of life in the world.

Freedom of speech is fundamental to the establishment of true democracy and good governance in the political administraton of every federal government. But freedom of speech can be abused and misused. Freedom of speech must be based on facts and not falsehood. 

I have read some news reports on those who have been arrested and even convicted for the defamation of the personality of President Muhammadu Buhari. They insulted him and so they were arrested and jailed after being judged guilty.  But I have seen that those who have been prosecuted and convicted for the defamation of the personality of President Buhari were powerless poor people who could not afford the services of good human rights lawyers. Whereas, I have seen celebrated political activists and state governors of the opposition party lambasting the President with fury and vitriol in public and the law enforcement agents did not query or arrest them. Why?

The state governors have immunity? What of the political activists who insulted him and are still walking about freely from Lagos to Abuja.

Many have called him a criminal and a terrorist and other derogatory names on Nairaland and escaped prosecution and indictment.

The horrifying incidents of kidnappings and killings in different states have provoked the worst criticisms of President Buhari and blamed for the failures of the state governors in internal security.  And majority of the citizens have also blamed him in ignorance of the separation of powers of the government administraton of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Majority of Nigerians are the underprivileged masses of poorly educated low income workers who are ruled by gullibility and the herd mentality of their religious beliefs of Christianity and Islam. And majority of them are also suffering from political amnesia, because they quickly forget the political history of Nigeria and the different political administrations and because they don't read, they often rely on hearsays, gossip and rumours for their assumptions and then jumping into ambiguous and erroneous conclusions on both the past and present current affairs in the country since the Independence of Nigeria on October 1, 1960 to date.

Whatever remarkable progress reports on the achievements and milestones in the administraton of President Buhari have been overlooked in the raging storms of insecurity ravaging the country. But the amnesia and ignorance of the majority of Nigerians would have been addressed by the Ministry of Information and Culture and not abandoned for Mr. Femi Adesina, the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity and his colleague, Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant Adviser on Media and Publicity of President Buhari. 

I have read a lot about the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) that recommended community policing to assist in complementing the efforts of the federal government in combating home grown terrorism which actually is the best recommendation, because community policing will be more effective in the identification of the causes of the grievances for communal clashes between herders and farmers, inter-tribal conflicts and banditry.

Community policing will end communal clashes, kidnappings and killings in different states. And the state governors should be responsible for that and not always crying wolf and calling for the head of President Buhari for their failures to secure lives and properties in the various communities in their states.

Cases studies in the peaceful community relations and conflict resolutions among herders and farmers in other countries in Africa will help to end the recurrent horrifying incidents of communal clashes, kidnappings and killings in Nigeria. 

- By Ekeyerengozi Michael China,

Publisher/Editor,

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter,

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi

The Princess and the Daughters of The Caliphate

What happens when the only daughter of the Sultan of Sokoto whose father has arranged to be married to Prince Hassan Suleiman, the first son of the Emir of Kano, but falls in love with a Christian Igbo Captain in the Nigerian Army?Will the "Daughters of The Caliphate" stand by her or against her?

This is a romantic drama of ethno religious conflict by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, author of "The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream", " The Prophet Lied", "Diary of the Memory Keeper", "Scarlet Tears of London", " In the House of Dogs" and other books.

 ©All rights reserved. EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima. 2021.

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi

Religious Leaders Meet with President to Form 'Circle of Protection'

President Barack Obama recently met with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama in the Map Room of the White House. July 16, 2011.


21 Jul 2011 03:09 Africa/Lagos


Religious Leaders Meet with President and Ask Him to Form 'Circle of Protection' Around Programs for Those in Need

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2011

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a meeting this afternoon with President Barack Obama and senior White House staff, national Christian leaders asked the president to protect funding for programs for hungry and poor people in the ongoing budget debate and in any deal concerning the default crisis.

All agreed that we can get our fiscal house in order without doing so on the backs of those who are most vulnerable. The shared concern was to cut the deficit in a way that protects the safety net, protects the vulnerable, and maintains our investments in the future.

Christian leaders at today's meeting included representatives from the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Council of Churches, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bread for the World, Sojourners, the Alliance to End Hunger, the Salvation Army, the National African American Clergy Network, the National Baptist Convention of America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. They are part of the "Circle of Protection," a nonpartisan movement that insists budgets are moral documents and that poor and vulnerable people should be protected--not targeted--in efforts to reduce long-term deficits. White House staff in the meeting included Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Director of Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes and Director of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois.

Leaders have been urging policy makers to recognize that a commitment to protect vulnerable people is a moral--not partisan--concern. They will continue to talk with policy makers as well as educate other Christians and voters about the moral issues at stake in the budget.

"As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people," the leaders wrote in a joint statement. "Therefore, we join with others to form a circle of protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad."

The Circle of Protection statement has been signed by more than 60 heads of Christian denominations and religious organizations, and endorsed by 45 heads of development agencies as well as leaders of other faiths. The Circle of Protection movement has worked to uphold the bipartisan consensus that has long prevailed in deficit-reduction agreements--that programs serving poor and hungry people should be protected and exempted from any automatic cuts.

"We applaud the president for acknowledging that any budget deal must protect programs vital for hungry and poor people," said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "The best way to reduce federal deficits is to negotiate a responsible budget that includes cuts in spending as well as increases in revenues."

The Circle of Protection leaders have met with both Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress, and they have requested meetings with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Circle of Protection leaders will host a teleconference tomorrow, July 21, at 11:30 a.m. ET. Media are invited to dial 888-296-4205 to participate. Speakers during the press call will include most of those who were at the White House meeting. For more information on the Circle of Protection and to view the full list of signatories, visit http://www.bread.org/hunger/budget/circle-of-protection/.

Bread for the World ( www.bread.org ) is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

SOURCE Bread for the World

CONTACT: Racine Hamilton, +1-202-688-1138 office; +1-301-922-8417 cell, rhamilton@bread.org; or Kristen Youngblood , +1-202-688-1118 office; +1-202-423-7379 cell, kyoungblood@bread.org

Web Site: http://www.bread.org

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The Muslim Woman Who Saw Jesus!

The Muslim Woman Who Saw Jesus!

Millions of people are still perishing in ignorance of the Truth of Jesus Christ, because of their unbelief and being misled by false doctrine and false religion. That is why I have to remind them of the awesome testimony of Gulshan Esther, a Muslim girl, imprisoned by her religion and severe disability, but was healed and set free by Jesus Christ HIMSELF!



You should also read the book of her unforgettable testimony The Torn Veil: The Best-Selling Story of Gulshan Esther



A true story of freedom and miraculous healing as a Muslim girl finds faith in Christ

When Gulshan Esther, a devout Muslim girl, was six months old, typhoid left her a cripple. Her loving father took her from Pakistan to England to find a cure, but the only hope the British specialist could offer was prayer. Gulshan and her father made pilgrimage to Mecca and begged Allah for healing, but it was not until her father’s untimely death that Gulshan began to receive an answer. In her grief she wanted to die, but as she called out to God, for the first time in her life she sensed she was being heard. She heard a low, gentle voice say, "I won’t let you die. I will keep you aliveÖI am Jesus, son of Mary."

As Gulshan began reading the Quran, her interest in Jesus grew, until one amazing night he appeared to her in her bedroom in a blaze of light. He restored her crippled arm and leg and taught her The Lord’s Prayer. He told her to go to his people—now her people—and tell them what he had done. Since that time, and to this day, she has been a joyous, obedient disciple of Christ. The Torn Veil is an amazing story of faith and determination.

This moving autobiography was first published in 1984 and has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide.

Click on the Amazon image of the book cover below to order for this book of the extraordinary testimony of this Muslim woman who saw Jesus our Lord!

John Jay's report on Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in America

Victims of sexual abuse by priests calling for justice

The cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have done collateral damage to the church and exposed the clergy to public condemnation and mockery making millions of people to lose their faith in the Catholic Church and the rest of Christendom.

Cases of have been confirmed in Canada, Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Belgium, France, and Germany, while cases have been reported throughout the world.

Pope John Paul II declared in 2001 that "a sin against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue by a cleric with a minor under 18 years of age is to be considered a grave sin, or delictum gravius."

With the approval of the Vatican, the hierarchy of the church in the United States claimed to institute reforms to prevent future abuse including requiring background checks for Church employees and volunteers, while opposing extensions of the statutes of limitations in sex abuse cases.

Additional information from the Wikipedia


The following is the news release on the John Jay's report on the various investigated cases of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the U.S.

13 May 2011 20:12 Africa/Lagos


Release of John Jay's report on The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010

PR Newswire

May 13

What: Release of John Jay's report on The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010

When: May 18, 2 p.m. ET (Media should be in place by 1:45 p.m.)

Where: USCCB, 3211 4th St. NE , Washington, DC 20017-1194 (USCCB is located on 4th Street, between Michigan Ave., NE and Lincoln Rd. NE, and a short walk from the Brookland Metro stop.)

Who:

Karen Terry , Ph.D., John Jay College and principal investigator for report

Diane Knight, ACSW, Chair, National Review Board, USCCB Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection

Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, Chair, U.S. Bishops' Committee on Protection of Children and Young People

Media who wish to attend must pre-register by calling USCCB Office of Media Relations, 202-541-3200 or e-mailing media-relations@usccb.org by Tuesday, May 17, 3 p.m.

Registrants should indicate beforehand if they wish to do a brief individual TV, radio or print interview with Ms. Terry, Ms. Knight or Bishop Cupich following the media conference.

Media who cannot attend in person can participate in the conference through Adobe Connect and/or listen via telephone. To register for this and to receive a password, please e-mail media-relations@usccb.org . After the presentations, media can submit questions via e-mail as time allows.

The report and related information will be available at www.usccb.org after the media conference.

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- May 13, 2011/

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Web Site: http://www.usccb.org

Nigerian Girls Who Do Juju

Majority of Nigerian prostitutes on and off campus do juju.


Nigerian Girls Who Do Juju


I have met and befriended about three of them and they were all well educated and from comfortable families. Those who were close to them would never believe that such beautiful ladies were members of cults they joined when they were students at different universities in Nigeria. One of them even made sacrifices at the lagoon of the UNILAG. The second used special candles for rituals and the third one confessed that a python once came out of her vagina and said she was no longer in the cult. But her close female friend told me that she lied, because she was still keeping her white ritual plates. I made sure I never slept with anyone of them. I always had my Holy Bible whenever I passed the night with one of them. My friend dated another one who soon showed him her true colours one fateful day as they slept after making love. She suddenly got up and started singing and dancing in a strange ritual.

Majority of Nigerian prostitutes on and off campus do juju.

These are not rare cases, because many girls and ladies in Nigeria are ritualizes and pretending to be "Christians". They practice juju which they use in their relationships with men.

September 11: No True Christian Will Join Rev. Terry Jones To Burn The Qur'an

"In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.".
~ Andy Warhol

Rev. Terry Jones got his Andy Warhol’s moment as his preposterous threat to burn copies of the Qur'an on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which he called "International Burn a Koran Day” shook the whole world within minutes and made him and his http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_World_Outreach_Center Dove World Outreach Center of only 50 members famous beyond their little corner of the earth in Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.

Rev. Terry Jones, the firebrand pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center.


Muslims worldwide were enraged and protests broke out in Afghanistan and other Islamic cities with three people reported dead. President Barack Obama and other world leaders including notable Christian leaders have condemned his senseless plan. He received an invitation to fly to New York to meet with Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam of Park51, and he has decided to suspend his plan, but he would not cancel it.

GAINESVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 10: Conor Munro (R) joins a protest across the street from Dove World Outreach Center where Pastor Terry Jones had scheduled a Koran burning for tomorrow on September 10, 2010 in Gainesville, Florida. Jones has said that he would cancel the planned burning of Korans on Saturday if he was able to meet with the organizers building the Park51 mosque near Ground Zero. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle) Courtesty of the Washington Post.


No right thinking person would have joined Rev. Terry Jones to burn the Qur’an. But there have been confirmed reports of Muslims destroying the Holy Bible. The reports said copies of the Holy Bible are “confiscated -- and sometimes shredded -- by Saudi customs officials at ports of entry.”

Let the Muslims destroy copies of the Holy Bible, but would they be able to stop the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Jesus Christ never supported violence and was a peacemaker and commanded his believers to live in peace with all and not to force others to believe in him. He never waged war against anyone like Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Jesus Christ never beheaded anyone or abducted any woman and he was not a terrorist. The difference between Christianity and Islam is as clear as blood and water. Therefore, true Christians must practice what Jesus Christ preached and follow his holy footsteps.

Jesus Christ would not support any Christian to burn any Holy Book, including the Qur’an.




The best way to mark September 11 is to remember the beloved ones we lost and light a candle for everyone of them. Join in the Day of Remembrance Memorial Service.

"How blessed are those who make peace, because it is they who will be called God's children!
~ Matthew 5:9

Sub-Saharan Africans Deeply Committed to Christianity and Islam

15 Apr 2010 05:01 Africa/Lagos


Sub-Saharan Africans Deeply Committed to Christianity and Islam

New Pew-Templeton Survey of 19 African Nations Finds Signs of Tolerance and Tensions Between the Faiths

WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The vast majority of people in many sub-Saharan African nations are deeply committed to one or the other of the world's two largest religions, Christianity and Islam, and yet many continue to practice elements of traditional African religions. Most people support democracy and say it is a good thing that people from other religions are able to practice their faith freely. At the same time, many also favor making the Bible or sharia law the official law of the land. And while many Muslims and Christians describe members of the other faith as tolerant and honest, there are clear signs of tensions and divisions between the faiths.


These are some of the key findings of a new survey released by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa" is based on a major public opinion poll exploring religion and society in the region. It is funded by a generous grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, which aims to increase people's knowledge of religion around the world.


The survey is based on more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews conducted in more than 60 languages or dialects in 19 countries. The countries were selected to represent different geographical areas and reflect different colonial histories, linguistic backgrounds and religious compositions. In total, the nations surveyed contain three-quarters of the population of sub-Saharan Africa.


While 90% or more of the respondents in most of the countries surveyed identify as Christian or Muslim, many people retain beliefs that are characteristic of traditional African religions, such as belief in the protective powers of sacrifices to spirits and ancestors. Many keep sacred objects such as animal skins and skulls in their homes and consult traditional religious healers when someone in their household is sick.


The report finds that on several measures Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa hold favorable views of each other, and in most countries relatively few see evidence of widespread anti-Muslim or anti-Christian hostility in their country. But Muslims and Christians also acknowledge that they know relatively little about each other's faith. And substantial numbers of African Christians (nearly 40% or more in a dozen nations) say they consider Muslims to be violent, while Muslims are more positive in their assessment of Christians.


Additional findings from the survey include:

-- Sub-Saharan Africans generally rank crime, corruption and unemployment
as bigger problems than religious conflict. However, substantial
numbers of people (including nearly six-in-ten Nigerians and Rwandans)
say religious conflict is a very big problem in their country.
-- The degree of concern about religious conflict varies from country to
country but tracks closely with the degree of concern about ethnic
conflict in many countries, suggesting that they are often related.
-- Many Africans are concerned about religious extremism, including
within their own faith in some countries. Indeed, many Muslims say
they are more concerned about Muslim extremism than about Christian
extremism, while Christians in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia
say they are more concerned about Christian extremism than about
Muslim extremism.
-- In most countries, at least half of Muslims say that women should not
have the right to decide whether to wear a veil, saying instead that
the decision should be up to society as a whole.
-- Religion in sub-Saharan Africa often involves intense, personal
encounters with God, divine healings and other experiences often
associated within the Christian community with Pentecostalism. But
many of these beliefs and practices are common among African
Christians who are not affiliated with Pentecostal churches.
-- Majorities in almost every country say that Western music, movies and
television have harmed morality in their nation. Yet majorities in
most countries also say they personally like Western entertainment.
-- In comparison with people in many other regions of the world,
sub-Saharan Africans are highly optimistic that their lives will
change for the better.


The 19 countries represented in the survey are: Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.


The report, including a summary of findings and an interactive Web component, is available online (http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=515).


The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life conducts surveys, demographic analyses and other social science research on important aspects of religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world. As part of the Washington-based Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy organization, the Pew Forum does not take positions on any of the issues it covers or on policy debates.


The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today's most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life.


The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for research and discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. The Foundation supports work at the world's top universities in such fields as theoretical physics, cosmology, evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and social science relating to love, forgiveness, creativity, purpose, and the nature and origin of religious belief. It also seeks to stimulate new thinking about freedom and free enterprise, character development, and exceptional cognitive talent and genius.


Source: Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life

CONTACT: Mary Schultz, +1-202-419-4556 or Robbie Mills, +1-202-419-4564,
both of Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life

A Different Kind of Religious War

Happy Easter with Our Best Wishes from Nigerians Report.


2 Apr 2010 15:00 Africa/Lagos


A Different Kind of Religious War

WACO, Texas, April 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Who do you say that I am?" asked Jesus of his disciples. And the rest of humankind has been struggling to answer that question ever since.

Nowhere has answering this question been more divisive and more of a struggle than in resolving the tension between two seemingly rival claims: Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, and Jesus was only fully divine. This schism was central to Christianity during the Church Councils of the fifth century, when it seemed inevitable that the church would abandon its belief in the humanity of Jesus.

It also is a schism that led directly to the collapse of Roman power in the east, to the rise of Islam, to the destruction of Christianity throughout much of Asia and Africa, and to the strengthening of Christianity in Europe. The mainstream Christian church kept the belief that Jesus was fully human - but at the cost of losing half the world.

This battle to "keep" Jesus human is recounted in "Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years," written by Philip Jenkins and published this month by HarperOne. Jenkins, a religious historian with joint appointments at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion and Penn State University, explores the violent and bloody controversy that erupted between the Western and Eastern churches. These battles, says Jenkins, had enormous impact on the future of Christianity and the world.

It was the Council of Chalcedon, near Istanbul in 451, that seemingly settled the matter, formulating the statement that eventually became the official theology of the Roman Empire. This acknowledged Christ in two natures, joined together in one person. This Chalcedonian definition stands today as the official view of Jesus for the vast majority of Christians.

"During the fifth century there were two sides, both of which thought Christ was God," Jenkins says. "What varied was the idea of how much humanity he held. The view that won and became orthodoxy was the view that Christ was both fully human and fully divine. The view that lost was the 'One Nature' view - the idea of Christ in which the human nature was wholly overwhelmed by divinity.

"But Chalcedon was not the only possible solution, nor was it an obvious or, perhaps, a logical one," Jenkins writes. "Only the political victory of Chalcedon's supporters allowed that council's ideas to become the inevitable lens through which later generations interpret the Christian message."

And, the "official victory of Chalcedon," as Jenkins terms it, came with a cost. Violence, bloodshed and death occurred, driven both by the quest for the "right belief" and the secular concept of honor prevailing at the time, which fostered vendettas and feuds. People of the fifth century had no qualms in justifying violence to support their view of the Christ they worshipped.

The struggles recounted in "Jesus Wars" remind us today that beliefs form and reappear throughout time - and must be engaged and confronted. While the violence prevalent then is abhorrent in today's world, the church must still explore new ideas - or risk extinction.

Writing in "Jesus Wars," Jenkins says, "...dialogue can itself be a positive thing, a way in which Christian thought develops its own self-understanding. A religion that is not constantly spawning alternatives and heresies has ceased to think and has achieved only the peace of the grave."

About Philip Jenkins

Dr. Philip Jenkins, one of the world's leading religion scholars, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, a position he has held since 2009. He is also is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities at Pennsylvania State University, where he has taught since 1980. An historian by training, Jenkins' work has been lauded in many different disciplines including sociology, criminology, and religious studies. Jenkins earned his bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. in History from Cambridge University. He is the author of 24 books, more than 100 book reviews and approximately 100 book chapters and refereed articles.

Provided by Newswise, online resource for knowledge-based news at www.newswise.com

Media Contacts: Jill Scoggins, 254.710.1964, jill_scoggins@baylor.edu

Source: Baylor University

CONTACT: Jill Scoggins, +1-254-710-1964, jill_scoggins@baylor.edu

Web Site: http://www.baylor.edu/

1 Apr 2010
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