Muslims and Christians find Peace through One Family under God Campaign

The One Family Under God campaign in Nigeria is starting to gain the attention of local governments and rulers as an effective formula for creating peaceful, ethical societies. The campaign, now in its third year, engages religious and spiritual leaders and civil society partners to take the lead in building interfaith relationships and partnerships based on universal principles and shared values to counter violent extremism and foster community level social cohesion.

For the past decade, Nigeria has experienced conflict between its Muslim and Christian communities resulting in election-related violence and extremist groups such as Boko Haram. The instability has curtailed peace and development. A prime example can be found in Dutsen-Wai, located in the northern part of Kaduna state in central Nigeria.

The One Family Under God campaign, spearheaded by Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, calls on religious leaders to emphasize shared values rather than differences as a common ground to forge cooperation and understanding.

Heading up the initiative are the “Twins of Kaduna,” Rev. Hayab and Sheik Maraya, who work together to conduct the local trainings. They are a living example of what a vision that encompasses the aspirations of all faiths can do. As they visit communities throughout the Kaduna state together, hosting workshops and events that stress the common spiritual and national heritage of Nigerians as One Family under God, other faith and community leaders are inspired to become examples in their respective community and put their shared values into practice through joint peacemaking projects and social action.

The outcomes are gradual but visible. Half a year after the training programs, residents reflect on the impact of the program: neighbors are less apprehensive of each other, multi-religious schools have reopened, co-workers from Muslim and Christian backgrounds are starting to travel to work together and former residents are being encouraged to resettle in Kaduna.

Recently, communities that have experienced an outbreak of violence approached GPF to conduct training programs as a means to curb the tension among religious communities.

This is but a small indication of the potential of interfaith leadership when they work together based on a shared vision to better their communities and world.

Receive updates on the One Family under God Campaign by visiting the Global Peace Foundation website at globalpeace.org.

As with many countries around the globe, Kenya has struggled to stem and address youth radicalization and violence in its many forms. In a recent interview with a leading 24-hour TV channel for Eastern Africa, KTN News, Global Peace Foundation Kenya Director Daniel Juma spoke on the importance of involving the youth in the National Peace Initiative to secure peaceful balloting in the upcoming 2017 presidential election.

The One Nation under God campaign is a nationwide peace initiative encouraging youth to be agents of peace who promote social cohesion and counter political incitement and violence. In the interview, Director Daniel Juma emphasizes the importance of involving youth in building solutions: “It must be about the people, not just the politics. We must give hope to the youth.”

The Global Peace Foundation works with its partners around the world to build lasting, inclusive solutions based on universal principles and shared values. A key focus in East and West Africa is youth radicalization. Click here to read more on GPF’s approach to countering and preventing youth radicalization.

The original post appears on Global Peace Foundation. Global Peace Foundation is an international non-sectarian, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, which promotes an innovative, values-based approach to peacebuilding, guided by the vision of One Family under God.  GPF engages and organizes a global network of public and private-sector partners who develop community, national, and regional peace building models as the foundation for ethical and cohesive societies. Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon is founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation.

The New Era Unification Song Campaign launched in 2015, was led by an unprecedented coalition of government, civil society and private sector partnership to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Korean independence and raise awareness with the younger generation of a dream for Korean unification.

The campaign engaged over 30 top names in Korean Popular culture and opened a new genre of K-pop that promotes a vision for a unified Korea.

Among the new songs is “하나의 꿈,” a ballad evoking the emotion associated with “Arirang,” a traditional Korean song still is sung on both sides of the 38^th parallel and in diaspora communities across the world.

“Arirang” is a bone wrenching song of longing for loved ones. It’s adaptation in “하나의 꿈” conveys generations of tears shed for loved ones separated for seventy years. “We are one family” affirms the song, reminding us that unification is inevitable, but needs every one of us.

Watch Insooni’s moving performance of the song at the 1K concert.

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