DECLARATION IN RELATION TO NON-LUKUMI RELIGIONS Page 1

 

 

THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-LUKUMI RELIGIONS

PROMULGATED BY

OBA ERNESTO PICHARDO

JANUARY 28, 1998

 

On Non-Lukumi African Religions

  1. In preparation for the next millenium, the Church examines more closely its relationship with other religions. Mankind is being drawn closer together by global trends and nations are becoming more inter-dependent. In our task of promoting unity, the Church considers in this declaration what we have in common and what draws us to fellowship.
  2. The whole human race is one community, one in their origin, for Olodumare is the one creator of all. Mankind from the various religions of the world seeks answers to unsolved questions in relation to its existence and thereafter. A universal denominator among the various peoples, is its beliefs, or recognition of a Supreme Being, and the existence of a spiritual reality that influences their physical world.
  3. African religions bound by universal precepts in relation to natural law, contemplate the divine mystery and express it through human inquiry and experience. In various forms, each in their own religious manner, seeks what is true. All follow teachings that may differ in many aspects. Nonetheless, in sincere, devout, and confident manner, by their own human effort and supreme illumination, they try to recognize, preserve and promote that which enlightens all humankind. Each religion proposes ways through teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites: a genuine certitude of spiritual, moral, and social truth. However, this certitude is at times stained by ruinous manifestation.
  4. The Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye does not reject what is true and holy in other African religions. Therefore, the Church earnestly urges the establishment of formal relations to promote good will and reason in mutual compatibility, through dialogue and collaboration with representatives of African religions.
  5. Furthermore, while each religion hold to its respective tenets and rites, the Church rejects discrimination because of race, color, condition of life, or religion. Following the teachings of Ogbe 'Di, Lukumi faithful should maintain good fellowship regardless of their state in life.

 

DECLARATION IN RELATION TO NON-LUKUMI RELIGIONS Page 2

On Christian Denominations

  1. While it is true that Christian authorities in past eras, and those led by their precepts, committed grave destruction justified by their truth, what happened in their passion cannot be held against present and future generations. The Church wants to foster mutual understanding and respect, following the teachings of Baba Ejiogbe, where in wisdom requires the use of practical objectivity. The Church rejects being bound to past passions, without distinction that, in error, that surrenders the human spirit to bondage (Ogbe Osa).
  2. Christian Holy Scripture attests, Christianity cannot be reconciled with our faith. Nonetheless, the human community shares universal values. It is those values consistent with the universal dignity of the human person that foster fellowship.
  3. Therefore, as the next millenium develops into more global inter-dependence among nations, the Church recommends movement towards an inter-denomination fellowship based on common tenets whenever possible.

On Yoruba Indigenous Religion and Brazilian Candomble

  1. Muslim and Christian "passions" of the past curtailed the originality of the Yoruba indigenous religion. This caused an alteration in its form, but not in its essential religious tenets. From the Old World experience of the Yoruba, diffusion occurs that gave birth in the New World to a new experience that survived in Brazil as Candomble. The old and the New World manifestations of the Yoruba religion have adapted to its past and present environments: political, social, and civic (okanran irosu).
  2. The Church rejects nothing that is true in these two religious forms. Moreover, bound by their moral obligation to seek the truth, especially in matters religious, both religious forms are one and the same.
  3. Thus, the Church acknowledges the bond that spiritually ties them with the Lukumi manifestation. Since the spiritual patrimony common to the three forms is so great, the Church wants to establish a "formal fraternal order" for mutual respect and theological studies.

 

|Table of Contents|