Freedom of Worship and National Security – Need Not Be Mutually Exclusive

Long before it had become the fashion of the day, the Eritrean people had never had to think twice to freely practice a religion of their choice. For centuries, that has been and still is the case for the majority of the Eritrean people who happen to espouse Christianity and Islam. This freedom of worship is equally true to the minority of Eritreans who may practice some spiritual belief other than the Islam and Christian faiths. The Eritrean people have long established the wisdom of co-existing with each other irrespective of which religion one follows. The Eritrean people realize that religion is a private matter, which is voluntarily chosen by individual(s) with the understanding that someone else may follow another religion without being detrimental to each other. In other words, like the Tigrigna saying goes “Everyone occupies his own grave” or something to that effect.

One version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “Religion” as “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith”. As I am sure that most Eritrean citizens will agree with me, any religious faith must be based on doing something good to one’s self and his fellow human beings as he follows the guidelines of whatever teaching one is inclined to adhere to like the Holy Qur’an or the Holy Bible for example. Indeed, if that is all what religion is all about, and if that is what adherents of any religion believe in, it follows then that there shouldn’t be any hostility or mistrust of any sort between adherents of various faiths? That is precisely why we have some exemplary harmony between the adherents of different religions in Eritrea. That is something to be proud of and the credit goes primarily to the big hearted Eritrean people who had the wisdom and insight to be tolerant to each other’s faiths. In fact it is not uncommon to see Eritreans joining their countrymen in rejoicing religious festivities even when a particular holiday may not be a part of a religion they themselves adhere to.

As we all know, the Eritrean people fought single handedly and won hands down to realize the long cherished independence of their country. The struggle for national independence, which they fought valiantly against injustice of any kind, has helped reinforce their tolerance of people with faiths that may be different than their own.

That being the reality of the Eritrean people’s religious experience then what is all that fuss that sometimes one hears from certain self serving evangelists of various cues and some “Eritreans” with malicious intent that there is “No religious freedom” in Eritrea? Where is the real problem coming from? I will tell you where it is coming from. Mostly, it is coming from sources whose interests do not coincide with that of the Eritrean masses. The Eritrean people do not need such self patronizing missionaries whose mission is less of spiritual one and more of a sinister disguise with earthly evil. There is nothing wrong with our ingenious religions that we have had for thousands of years and for which our people were able to practice them freely and with the utmost respect of each others’ beliefs. So what is the need and urgency of some of the so called “New religions” when the proponents and sponsors of those religions could not even make any headway in their countries of origin? How naïve and sinister of them that somehow Eritrea could be the dumping ground of their bogus teachings because it is a new, young (and unassuming) country? Wrong! Think again.

That being the driving force behind this uninvited pests in our country, what about some of the unassuming Eritreans who may fall in their trap? As the Americans say there is no such thing as “Free lunch”. One wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it anyway if it comes under the “Free lunch” package, a package that more than likely would have to be paid back by the “benefactor” sooner or later in one form or another.

A government, any government, renders goods and services (mostly services) for the benefit of its constituents. Eritrea, a young nation that has been colonized by one of the most backward countries and most brutal regimes in Africa, her economy is not that well developed like the highly advanced economies of the world. Thus, just about every service to the people is provided by the government. Besides the usual national security services (army, air force, navy and police), the municipal services (fire protection, electricity water, telephone and other infrastructure) are all provided by the government.

So, even if one is to forfeit the sacred national duty and obligation of a citizen to serve his country, any Eritrean national of any religion is duty bound and obliged to serve the nation if he is going to enjoy the services the nation has to offer. He must therefore serve Eritrea regardless of what his religious beliefs or personal feelings may be. It is only fair that all Eritreans be treated equally before the law. I do not believe that is asking too much. Now, I am cognizant of the fact that some religions may discourage its members from participating in some type of national services program. Heck, some religions reportedly don’t even recognize any nations on this Earth but the Heavenly Kingdom. Well, I say “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar“. It is also my strong view that Eritrea can not afford such “Luxuries” as is available, for example, for the United States. The US has a huge supply of people from which she can muster the required number of personnel to enlist into its armed forces or other community service requirements. Needless to say, although such opportunity is not necessarily always automatically granted, the US does have some room for “Conscientious Objectors” and other people with some restrictive faiths to be able to satisfy both the individual needs and that of the nation. Unfortunately and for obvious reasons, Eritrea does not have those options at its disposal. Eritrea has had too many unfortunate experiences of the need to get in a state of perpetual readiness for any eventuality thanks primarily to the ever voracious appetite for grabbing our land by our neighbor to the south. Thus, it seems to me that one “Can not have his cake and eat it too”. It got to be one way or the other or, if you will, “If one can not stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”. I am afraid that is a way of life that we have to live by considering the geographical environment we reside in. Thus, it does not benefit anyone, including the ones who seemingly are tooting their horns, murmuring about “Injustices” here and “Lack of freedom” there usually to satisfy some foreign sponsors and audiences.

Finally, my friends, let’s all work to safeguard our beautiful country’s existence as a political entity and for the benefit of its long abused citizens. Our people deserve peace and tranquility for, God knows, they have gone through immeasurable hardship and difficulties perhaps more so than any other peoples who have fought for national liberation and to assert their rights. We must be solidly behind our people and government in their hour of need for if we don’t have a legally and politically well-defined country, all the personal needs, good wishes and aspirations we may have wouldn’t matter at all. It is all to no avail. We must know our priorities. First and foremost, let us assure ourselves and ascertain our children and grand children and their children and so on - some decent futurity by providing them a country that can defend itself from all sorts of enemies to start with. More importantly, let' us avoid being the instruments of certain foreign devils that seem to be hell bent on destroying our hard won independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our Martyrs have heroically challenged such eventualities by acting with deeds and stating “Over our dead bodies”. Let’s not disappoint them now!