Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Common Citizenship

[ 89 ] — PANEL DISCUSSION THREE — Another example is the Education as Transformation Project pilot programme which was inundated with over 700 university students, professors and administrators who understand that religious diversity on campus is a modern way of life and that no education can ignore the nurturing of the spirit alongside the mind. The conference in New York, for example, saw participants raise questions on topics such as interfaith service learning, methods of meditation and interreligious insights on non-violence. Participants chal- lenged the traditional American separation of spirituality from education and invited reflective thinking and faith issues back into the academic arena. The general benefits of interreligious education are that it: v Douses the tension of stereotype or resentment against other peoples’ religion that causes distance in relationships. v Increases beneficial inter-relationships and widens a student’s family network. v Enables religiously bi-literate or educated people who know the history and theology of other religions to have a better grasp or understanding of world politics, history, culture and literature. v Gives students or others ample opportunity to make an informed decision in adulthood of the religion they have the conviction to practice in life. v Reduces religious conflicts and promotes mutual coexistence. v Provides an opportunity to see the world from more than one religious perspective and make better informed decisions. This would make room for the accommodation of other religious adherents in the practice of their faith and mural interaction. v Allows room to appreciate similarities in all religions, especially, the common factors of God and peace. It also allows us to understand the reasons for differences in religious beliefs. v Enhances interfaith dialogue and makes it more productive. Interreligious education contributes effectively to the forma- tion of people’s and societies’ religious identities, as well as to shaping perceptions about the Other. Therefore, it plays an essential role in promoting common citizenship and social cohesion. Consequently, the role of religious educational institutions and relevant organizations emerge in develop- ing curricula that contribute to promoting the culture of dialogue and the principles of peaceful coexistence, as well as in building the capacity of institutions and curriculum developers to enable them to integrate the values of common citizenship and social cohesion into educational systems. Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle President of the Christian Association of Nigeria Rev. Dr. Supo Ayokunle served as pastor of the Estate Baptist Church, Oyo, Nigeria and senior pastor of the Jubilee-Life Baptist Church for sixteen years before he was elected the 6th Nigerian General Secretary — now President/CEO — of the Nigerian Baptist Convention and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the largest ecumenical body in Africa. Rev. Dr. Ayokunle earned a Master of Education in Guidance and Counselling from the University of Ibadan, and a Master of Divinity in Theology from the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso in 1995 before proceeding to the UK to obtain a master’s degree in Theology and Religious Studies from Liverpool Hope University and a PhD in Theology with emphasis on liturgical studies. He is an executive member of the Baptist World Alliance whose head office is in Falls Church, Virginia. He is also a Central Working Committee member of the World Council of Churches and member of the executive committee of the World Body Each individual who plays a role in education processes, be it student, parent, teacher, school director, policymaker, curriculum developer, or planner, makes a vital contribution by translating the curriculum and aims of dialogue and social cohesion into everyday experiences