Brother Faraja,
I write not as a response to the attachment but to the idea you're proposing in these line of thought that "All human beings are equal except our beliefs, tribes and thinking, which are always accidents and never the essences of our humanity. We acquire them after getting out of the wombs of our mothers".
I am responding to this particular thought because I saw that you are a colleague in the area of languages hence you must know that what we write here influences the thinking patterns of may especially those who do not take to cross check the facts.
Our beliefs.
You first statement that All Humans are Equal is correct and true but to say that our our beliefs are not equal, is a little bit dangerous because this might mean that other people's beliefs are inferior to others. In my understanding, all beliefs are equal because they are beliefs that emanate from a people's world view as a community evolves and adapts to their ways of life. A people's world view is the sum total of how they have seen life from their own perspectives as it is revealed to them by God through creation represented by nature. The American Indians, the Incas of the Amazon, the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania, the Zandawe of Tanzania and the Khoisaan of the Southern part of Africa have their beliefs that have been formed and informed by what God HAS ALLOWED THEM TO KNOW AND THESE BELIEFS ARE IN NO WAY SUPERIOR OR INFERIOR TO THOSE OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD.
Tribes
Once again I would like to point out that this word tribe carries with it very derogatory implications when used to refer to the peoples of Africa or Asia. The European scholars of sociology and Anthropology use this term to refer to those communities perceived to be uncivilized or backward. The term has no significance at all. We better use the term community, people, Ethnic community but not tribe. We know we have many communities in Africa who speak different languages and have different Cultures which give us identity, so we not tribes we are communities. My problem here first is when you say that all human beings are equal except our tribes. What do you mean here? Do you mean that all communities are Equal? What equality are you talking about here? Wealth, height,population, or what?I refer you to Okot p'Bitek's African Religions in the Western Scholarship where a whole chapter discusses this issue. I
Thinking
You need to clarify what you mean by saying that our thinking is not equal. I thought all human beings collectively taken think. As a community and a people the thinking of Africans is equal to the thinking of European but different. The European or Asian thinking is never superior to any other. I Hope what you meant here is that we do not think the same. We all think differently but our thinking is equal and that is why we have in many countries, a freedom of speech and expression entrenched in the constitution.
Which are always accidents.
the three above, beliefs, "tribe" and thinking, you incorrectly brand them "Are always accidents"as a linguist I hope you know what what you mean when you put a phrase in the present simple. How do you conclude that these are accidents? As a Christian I do not believe that it was an accident to be born in Kenyan Acts 17:26,says that From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Read from your angle of thought, it is evident that you are happy with being born in Tanzania. You seem to feel inferior because it is was by accident that you were born black or white. There are no accidents with God because nothing gives Him a surprise.
Never the essences of our humanity.
This statement is also not correct because without beliefs and thinking, I do not see the purpose of life on earth. Humanity is what it because of the same things you are abrogating.I think that the way we think, the sets of our belief systems and the Communities in which we are born make us who we are and give us the identity and existence. Please revise the statement looking at each word semantically.
Thanks.
Paul
http://pauliyai.blogspot.com/
From: faraja kristomus <farajalugome@yahoo.co.uk>
To: wanabidii forum <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>; "mjengwamaggid@gmail.com" <mjengwamaggid@gmail.com>; Issa Michuzi <issamichuzi@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2013 3:59 PM
Subject: [wanabidii] Taarifa ya UDASA kwa vyombo vya habari kuhusu Udini nchini
--Wapendwa, sisi wanajumuiya ya wanataaluma wa Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam tumependa kutoa msimamo wetu kuhusu migogoro ya kidini nchini. Nimeambatanisha tamko la UDASA kwa vyombo vya habari. Asante sana.Mr. Faraja Kristomus (Katibu - UDASA)
Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
University of Dar es Salaam
P.O.Box 35040, Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
Mobile: +255 787 52 53 96 / +255 717 086 135
"All human beings are equal except our beliefs, tribes and thinking, which are always accidents and never the essences of our humanity. We acquire them after getting out of the wombs of our mothers".
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