Muslims want a secular Liberia

Thousands of Muslims converged on the grounds of Liberia's Capitol Building on 26 March to present to lawmakers a petition calling for Liberia to remain a secular nation as enshrined in the 1986 constitution.

They arrived in trucks, buses, and motorbikes from around Monrovia to see the lawmakers, who had about a week prior received a petition calling for Liberia's leaders to officially declare the country a Christian nation.

A four-page petition signed by nine Youth and Women groups from the Muslim faith called for the maintenance of Article 14 of the Liberian constitution, which gives equal leverage to all religions in Liberia. The groups pointed out that a secular state endeavors to treat its citizens equally, regardless of religion, not giving preferential treatment to a particular religion/non-religion over another religion/non-religion. They further argued that one religion's supremacy could lead them to kill and dominate the rest of the population to the point that it may provoke war, causing people to flee from its “godly rules”.

The Hon. Henry Fahnbulleh received the petition, and expected to forwarded the petition on to the house committee claims upon the resumption legislative of work following its two-week Easter Break.

The Muslim mobilization is in response to the action on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, when Christians under the banner of Liberia Restoration to Christian Heritage Committee (LRCHC) petitioned the Liberian Legislature to "Christianize Liberia" from its current secular state.

The petition ceremony took place at the Capitol Building, the seat of the Liberian Legislature. Prayers and a gospel musical extravaganza that rocked the grounds of the Capitol Building was the setting for the presentation of the petition to the lawmakers.

Recent statistics from the Liberia Institute of Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) indicate that 50% of the population are Christians, while 30% are Muslims. Other faiths comprise 15% of the population, and non-believers are 5 per cent.

According to the concerned Christians, they had solicited over 700,000 signatures from across the country to amend certain provisions of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia to give the Christian religion an exclusive religious right.

Said the petitioners: “We, as campaigners, want to amend certain portions of the 1986 Constitution in a bid to revert Liberia to a Christian nation.”

Article 14 of the 1986 Constitution states:

“All persons shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment thereof except as may be required by law to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. All persons who, in the practice of their religion, conduct themselves peaceably, not obstructing others and conforming to the standards set out herein, shall be entitled to the protection of the law. No religious denomination or sect shall have any exclusive privilege or preference over any other, but all shall be treated alike; and no religious tests shall be required for any civil or military office or for the exercise of any civil right. Consistent with the principle of separation of religion and state, the Republic shall establish no state religion.”

In contrast, Article I of the 1848 Constitution states: “We, the People of the Commonwealth of Liberia, in Africa, acknowledging with devout gratitude, the goodness of God, in granting to us the blessings of the Christian religion, and political, religious, and civil liberty, do, in order to secure these blessings for ourselves and our posterity, and to establish justice, insure domestic peace, and promote the general welfare, hereby solemnly associate, and constitute ourselves a Free, Sovereign and Independent State, by the name of the REPUBLIC of LIBERIA , and do ordain and establish this Constitution for the government of the same.”

The activist Christians say their campaign to make Liberia a Christian nation despite the 1986 Constitution is due to the fact that Christians are in the majority in Liberia. The concerned Christians insinuated that "deviant and anti- cultural behaviors like homosexuality, rape, prostitution and corruption" continue to permeate the country simply because the country is not "Christianized."

If the proposal is passed by the Legislature, the National Elections Commission (NEC) will organize a referendum for the country to vote on the amendment proffered by the LRCHC.

With the competing petitions now in the hands of the law markers, Liberians worry about the possibilities for conflict and instability. Radio and television talk shows have made the issue a hot topic. And a public with split opinions anxiously awaits the outcome.

There are Christians and Muslims that reject the idea of protesting on behalf of religion, while others think that the groups must claim what is due them by expressing their interests democratically.