Freedom of Conscience is one of the hallmarks of a free and civilized society. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or in private to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, worship and observance’ It can be rightly said that lack of freedom of religion or an abuse of it is at the root of most problems that plague the world including poverty, hunger, diseases, wars, conflicts and terrorism, early in this 21st century

In Nigeria, the situation of freedom of conscience is bad, very bad. The situation is serious and needs to be urgently addressed. Most Nigerians live in situations where their conscience is not free and their freedom is not conscientious. They live in situations where their freedom of conscience is not protected, not defended and not guaranteed.
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Crossposted at The Unapologetic Mexican, Jesus' General, and Corrente.

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It is always striking to me that those who speak the loudest about their faith are those who seem to feel that everything is a threat to their faith. To me this in no way illustrates a strong faith on their part, but rather an extremely weak faith.

One of the most ludicrous examples are those who feel threatened by fantasy books like Harry Potter. This issue has come up recently in Georgia schools because a mother with apparently very weak faith felt threatened by this book and wanted it banned. Thankfully the Georgia school board, in this instance, has been more reasonable. From Salon.com:

The Georgia Board of Education voted Thursday to uphold a local school board's decision to leave Harry Potter books on library shelves despite a mother's objections.

The board members voted without discussion to back the Gwinnett County school board's decision to deny Laura Mallory's request to remove the best-selling books.

Mallory, who has three children in elementary school, has worked for more than a year to ban the books from Gwinnett schools, claiming the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft.

"It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," said Mallory, who is considering a legal challenge of the board's ruling. "The kind of stuff in these books -- murder and greed and violence. Why do they have to read them in school?"
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