Five months after the shootings which killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, IofC New Zealand hosted a tour by two pioneering peacebuilders from Nigeria. Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, once the leaders of rival militias, shared their vision of secular and faith communities working together to create ‘a country where there is no room for hate’.
In forums in four cities, Pastor James praised New Zealand for ‘giving a gift to the world’ in the way communities had come together to support and protect Muslims after the atrocity. ‘The shooter was full of fear, believing in an untrue story of the danger from another culture,’ said Imam Ashafa. ‘Rather than negative solidarities where we drive our group against the other, we have to nurture new narratives of inclusive solidarity.’ They called for people to confront two types of corruption: the societal corruption of greed and hate and the inner corruption of fear and division.