Nigeria turned into a rioting battlefield over The Miss World Contest to be held December 7, 2002.  According to news stories, a national newspaper, Nigeria's This Day, offended Muslims because it said the Prophet Mohammad would have married one of the Miss World beauty queens were he alive today.  So far, over 200 people have been killed by rioting in a mass of scorched bodies, burned houses, overturned cars and looted shops.  The fighting is between Muslim and Christian dominated areas.

Does this make any sense to you?  The newspaper was likely just referring to the beauty of the contestants; making a pun that even Mohammad would have married one.  This was an obvious error on the part of the newspaper and its editors.  Surely, this would have offended and angered some in the Muslim community.  But, rioting, killing, burning homes and businesses?  Can the human race not rise above such barbaric acts?

The largely Islamic north of Nigeria has witnessed deadly eruptions of sectarian and ethnic clashes since about a dozen states began implementing strict Muslim sharia law in 2000.

As each generation passes, we see signs of hope in our world and its inhabitants.  But, we are constantly reminded of how far we still have to go by events such as this.  Will we ever learn to live in peace with our brothers on this planet?  Are you as frustrated as we are by this senseless violence?

We will continue to live by our "Ten Commandments of the Ethical Atheist" and hope that others will too.  We will continue to have hope, as hard as it may be in times like these.

Policeman stands over a victim of riots (Reuters TV/Reuters)	Dead body is retrieved (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
House set ablaze by rioting (REUTERS/Juda Ngwenya)	Miss World Contestants (AP Photo/Boris Heger)

 

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Notes:

• Why Nigeria for the Miss World Contest?  Nigeria won the right to host this year's pageant after Nigerian Agbani Darego was crowned Miss World 2001, the first black African to win the title. But Nigeria's plans to stage its biggest show-business event had been hit by controversy from the outset, with international campaigners calling for a boycott over the case of Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic law in northern Nigeria for bearing a child out of wedlock.
• The editor of Nigeria's This Day, Simon Kolawole, was arrested on Friday for running the article with Mohammed references.

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References:
   1. "Miss World Quits Nigeria After Dozens Die in Riots", By John Chiahemen , Reuters, 11/23/2002

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 - Ethical Atheist

[Created: 11/24/2002]
[Last Update: 11/27/2002]