Another Clash, Another Victory

The Faladié Socoro church has experienced another attack. During their all-night celebration for Easter some young men began throwing rocks over the church wall injuring three people. The head of the family that has contested the church’s right to own their land sent his sons because the noise of the music bothered him.

Once the people had taken refuge in the sanctuary the young people grabbed larger rocks that penetrated the metal roof and crashed through into the sanctuary. The man was still not satisfied so he sent for the police. He honestly had no thought that what he had done was illegal. Not long after beginning their inquiries, the police arrested the attackers, including the father who had volunteered to go to the station to make a statement. When confronted with the wrong he had done he replied, “Well it worked didn’t it? The noise stopped!”

Once the arrests were made some people went to a local radio station and convinced them to announce that Christians were having Muslims put in prison and that people should rise up to oppose this. They also maligned the church’s pastor, the local prosecutor and the mayor’s office. Not only did no one respond to this call to violence, the government shut down the station which remains closed even now.

Since this was the third major incident in two years, the church lodged an official complaint. After much negotiation, they have decided to accept his apology on the condition that he promise never to repeat such behavior again.

Later the old man said, “Maybe God had something in this to help me. When my wife heard that the boys had been arrested she fainted and I caught her. It was the first time I’d touched her in nineteen years.” She had joined a religious sect during a trip and upon returning told her husband that he wasn’t a true practitioner of their religion. His response was to build a small room for her on the roof of their house, and the two had little to do with each other ever since.

A major newspaper in its report on the situation stressed that this was more of a property dispute than a religious conflict and commented, “This demonstrates that anyone who lives in an environment where he feels disturbed by the religious practices of groups that are not his own should find another place to live.” This again demonstrates the value of tolerance that most Malians hold as important.

As long as believers have freedom to practice and testify to our faith, we need to make the most of every opportunity. We can thank God that the church leadership has responded in a way that stands for their rights without furthering bitterness. They trust God to work in the lives of this family to bring them to experience new life in Jesus. Let’s pray for our brothers and sisters to effectively shine the light of the good news in their neighborhood.