Factors Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence Between Chrstians and Muslims:

Abstract

The relationship between Christians and Muslims started during the revelation of Islam to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century and eventually permeated Africa. It had its place in Liberia‟s evolvement. By the time the American Colonization Society (ACS) repatriated Afro-Americans from America to form a permanent settlement in Liberia for, among other things to spearhead the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the African continent, Islam was already established in Liberia. This study sought to analyze the reasons for peaceful co-existence between Christians and Muslims in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County, Liberia. Islam came to present day Liberia through Bopolu in the 1800s while repatriated Christian settlers from America who came to establish a permanent settlement brought Christianity to Liberia in the 1900s to among other things, spearhead the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Africa. However, faced with hostility from Dey tribal people, the Christian settlers sought intervention of the already established Muslims, whose intervention led to consolidation of the permanent Liberian nation on 26th July 1847. With the experience of interreligious conflicts in other areas of the country, the study used qualitative method (in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and direct observation) to collect and analyze data to establish reasons for the peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Bopolu District. The data analysis results identified trade by Mandingo Muslims from Musardu in Guinea as the dominant mode by which Islam to Liberia, and attribute to American Missionaries the advent of Christianity to Bopolu. Intermarriage, common culture, mutual-mindedness and believe that all serve the same God were established as dominant factors undergirding the peaceful coexistence of Christians and Muslims in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County, Liberia. Outcomes of the study filled a significant gap that can be used as an important tool in fostering national social cohesion of Christians and Muslims in areas still predisposed towards religious intolerance in Liberia.