RESPECT, THE CROWN OF DIALOGUE
Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua
I learnt as a child that
“respect is not fear. Respect
like power primarily points to self. “Respect yourself and control yourself”.
The sadness of some leaders is that they see power has vested in the hat
or cap (authority) whereas power is vested in the self. Some people will
therefore sell their heads to buy a hat or a cap. Consequently, they do not have their head
anymore to control themselves or to govern others. No one can give what he or
she does not have. As a matter of fact, authority must be
adored with respect in the way and manner a person relates to others
irrespective of their age, colour, tribe and religion. Respect is a quality that a person possesses.
If you delete the letter “R” from
the word “respect” what you get is “expect”. It means then that respect is
a quality that is expected from every reasonable person. A person who has no
respect has lost value for life. The
contents of respect are: Kindness, goodness, empathy, sympathy, politeness,
graciousness, gratitude, appreciation of people’s differences, patience,
endurance, objective judgment. The opposite of respect is contempt or
disrespect; this is couched in rudeness, pride, intolerance, anger, insults,
disagreements and superiority complex.
To get the crown of dialogue therefore, you must do what you are
supposed to do with self-control, self-discipline and be a paragon of humility.
Out of respect for humanity and
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus did not provide his followers with
skills for violence and vengeance. He respected the customs and traditions of
the Jews and was never provoked to vengeance at any time. Jesus respected and
trusted people. He was not jealous of any one. Jesus is therefore a model of
authority, power and leadership. For instance, John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we
saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because
he wasn’t in our group”. Jesus said, “do not stop him, no one who does a
miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me” (Mark 9,
38-39). In the book of Numbers,” a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and
Medad are prophesying in the camp. Joshua son of Nun spoke up and said, “Moses,
my Lord, stop them (Number 11, 27 -28)!” Moses did not stop them but wished
that the whole Israel could prophesy. The respect Jesus had for both good and
bad people, his friends and enemies was so embracing that he sacrificed his
life. “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on
the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5, 39). Jesus’ respect has
no limit: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2,
8)! Isaiah prophesied this: “The LORD has opened my ears, and I have not
been rebellious; I have not drawn back from those who pulled out my beards and
my face from insult and spittle” (Isaiah 50, 5).
A Christian is therefore not
equipped for violence. This explains why the flourishing churches in North
Africa and many parts of the world were wiped out and conquered by Muslims
whereas the Muslims say that the Qur’an teaches non violence, tolerance and
respect for other people’s religions: “Those of you possessing affluence and
ample wealth should not make oaths that they will not give to their relatives
and the very poor and those who have made emigration in the way of God. They
should rather pardon and overlook. Would you not love God to forgive you? God
is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (Qur’an, 24:22). Islam enjoins Muslims to
“make allowances for people” (Qur’an, 7:199). “A good action and a bad action
are not the same. Repel the bad with something better and, if there is enmity
between you and someone else, he will be like a bosom friend” (Qur’an 41:34).
“The repayment of a bad action is one equivalent to it. But if someone pardons
and puts things right, his reward is with God. Certainly He does not love
wrongdoers” (Qur’an, 42:40). ”Those who give in times of both ease and
hardship, those who control their rage and pardon other people, God loves the
good-doers” (Qur’an, 3:134). ”You will never cease to come upon some act of
treachery on their part, except for a few of them. Yet pardon them, and
overlook. God loves good-doers” (Qur’an, 5:13). If every Muslim respect the
teaching of Islam and humbly submit to Allah, the world will indeed be a heaven
on earth. The dented image of Islam as a terrorist religion will be redeemed.
If every Christian respects the teaching of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God
will reign in our midst.
Lack of respect for human
dignity, culture and the teaching of the holy prophets have made religion a
cause of terror, fear and division in the world today. It seems that religion
has divided the world more than it had united the world. Jesus foresaw this and
warned his followers ahead of time: “Do you think
that I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Luke 12,
51; Matthew 10, 34). They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is
coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God
(John 16, 2). Isaiah had already prophesied the persecution that those who
profess the true God will go through. “Hear the word of the LORD, you who
tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you, and exclude you because of my
name, have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy! Yet they
will be put to shame” (Isaiah 66, 5). A revelation to John was a vision of war
because of religion: “Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider
was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.
To him was given a large sword (Revelation 6, 4). We may need to think further
why there is no peace in the Middle East, the home of Judaism and Islam. The
reason is not far from lost of respect for each other’s religion and
territorial boundary.
On August 7, 2012, someone asked me in Spain, “Father
what is your attitude to those who do not believe in God? Do you dialogue with
them? I do not believe in God. I only believe that people should be respected
and appreciated for who they are”. Religion is becoming very unpopular in many
parts of the globe and the respect the ministers of God use to enjoy has been
sold to the winds. Each minister now earns his own respect by a personal
witness of life.
The Second Vatican Council was
very conscious of the way human beings must be respected even when they do not
practice any religion. In Gaudium et Spes (GS), the Church emphasized that this
can open up to people the meaning of their own existence[1].
What make a person is what he or she is and not what the person has. [2]
The Council took very seriously the need for
respect for people of other religions [3]
and the need to conduct a respectful
dialogue with atheists given that Atheism is one of the most serious problems
of our age. [4] Atheism arises from different causes, and
believers themselves frequently bear some responsibility for the atheism of
others, concealing rather than revealing the authentic face of God. [5]
It is true that some people who believe in God have not proven to a reasonable
extent the reality of God in their actions.
Our dialogue today should therefore have a mission of restoring faith in
God and redeeming the lost respect of religion.
This we must do by respecting ourselves and others.
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