Bishop Kukah speaks on Nigeria's religious crisis

                            

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Dr Matthew Kukah has berated those who claim they kill in the name of God.

Dr Kukah who made the statement at a book launch in Abuja yesterday, January 12 stated that those who kill in the name of God do not have a sense of confidence in the God they worship.
His words: ''I often wonder when people say they kill in the name of God, it must be that they are worshiping a God that is so defenceless and doesn't have the ability to defend himself.''
The event was the book launch of renowned professor and author, Olufemi Vaughan titled Religion and the Making of Nigeria.
Quoting the Pope of the Orthdox Church when he visited the former president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, Kukah after some churches in Egypt were burnt down, said:
''It is possible for us to have religion without a country, but it is impossible for us to have religion without a country.''
The Bishop also quoted Usman Dan Fodio who once said: ''A country can live with unbelief, but a country cannot live with injustice.''
Dr Kukah accused the northern ruling class of continuing to use religion as a cover to hold to power, adding that Nigeria have not been unable to separate criminality from religion.
''If somebody wants to murder in the name of God, if God gave you a licence and gave you a gun, we should be able to say that well, that is not applicable here in Nigeria, you are a bloody criminal and you should go to prison.
''It has been impossible for us to prosecute anybody precisely because we have this belief that somehow people can actually and genuinely kill in the name of religion,'' Kukah said.