SUDAN: Interfaith consultation explores deeper engagement between Christians and Muslims
Episcopal News Service. March 11, 2009 [031109-01]
The Episcopal Church of the Sudan's (ECS) Commission for Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations held its first consultation February 23-27 in Juba to address the goal "that Sudanese communities of different faiths understand, respect and live in harmony (co-existence) with each other," said a report from the Rt. Rev. Michael Jackson, bishop of the Church of Ireland's Diocese of Clogher, who attended the meeting.
The consultation included presentations and discussions about ecumenical dialogue with Muslim partners; the relationship between Sudanese churches and the national government; a review of provision for Christian teaching and curriculum in schools; devising an interfaith curriculum in theological institutions; issues concerning the safety and dignity of women and children; and increased local interaction between Christians and Muslims to develop mutual understanding and respect, and to safeguard permanent prosperity.
The consultation was organized by Sudanese bishops Andudu Adam Elnail of Kadugli, chairperson of the commission, and Ezekiel Diing of Bor, vice chairperson. It was facilitated by the Rev. Dr. Johnson Mbillah, general adviser to the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa, and Jackson, chairperson of the Anglican Communion's Network for Interfaith Concerns management group. Participants included bishops, clergy and lay people, both men and women, of ECS along with representatives from the Sudan Council of Churches, Church Mission Society and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The primate of ECS, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, was represented throughout the consultation by Bishop Justin Badi Arama of Maridi. Also present was the Rev. Canon Enock Tombe, provincial secretary of ECS.
"Future immediate work will concern the strengthening of ecumenical relationships within the Sudan -- nationally and regionally -- clustered interfaith workshops with Muslim people," said Clogher. "The commission recognized the importance of positioning interfaith dialogue within the contexts of identity, mission and witness. It further recognized he interconnectedness of the dialogue of life and the dialogue of ideas."
Sudan has been devastated by two back-to-back civil wars spanning some 40 years. The official end to the most recent civil war came in January 2005 when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was negotiated between northern and southern government officials with the involvement of international leaders. A separate conflict in Darfur, a remote region of western Sudan where government-backed militias have carried out a program of ethnic cleansing for the past six years, has claimed at least 300,000 lives and displaced as many as a million people from their homes.
The ECS "intends to implement its strategic plan between 2009 and 2013 with the overall purpose of improving social, economic and political development within the ECS and Sudan in general," said Clogher in his report. "This aspiration is set against the urgent need for comprehensive social reconstruction after the civil war."