Church attendance in Kaduna still low — Cleric

Bishop of Kaduna Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Josiah Fearon, has lamented the low turn-out of Christian worshippers to churches in Kaduna for Sunday service.

He said many road blocks and security check-points that people had to go through before getting to their churches had discouraged many Christians.

Fearon, in his presidential address at the Second Session of the 19th Synod on Friday in Kaduna, added that many had resorted to worshipping at their homes rather than risk being killed by insurgents.

The cleric noted that for the state to overcome the security challenge,  bombings must be stoppd, adding that even “businesses have dropped and the level of living has also dropped deeply in Kaduna.”

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According to him, the effect of the bombings in the state, followed by reprisals that affected the economic, social and religious lives of the people of the state was gradually ebbing.

The cleric noted that though confidence was returning, a significant part of the metropolis was still scared.

“Though church attendance is picking up, we still do not have encouraging attendance at church activities as we used to, and Sunday services are still not full,” he said.

He also decried the state of the nation, particularly the security situation, saying Nigeria had yet to make any significant move towards becoming a safe place to live.

Fearon said, “Today, this merciless killing has become a part of us in the northern states of the country. It has even degenerated further to the level of attacking villages and killing human beings as if these evil men were hunting for animals in their wild.

“These atrocities continue in spite of pleas from religious individuals, various committees and leaders, both national and international. Nigerians seem to be helpless and all they can  do is to wait ,pray and hope that this same God we all  call upon will bring this self-destructive path that has been enforced on the good people of Nigeria in general, and the northern states in particular, to an end.”

“Our hearts are bleeding in sympathy for the families of those who have had to pay the price for religious and political intolerance and bigotry in Nigeria. Also, do we feel pained by those who have decided not to live by the principles of their religious convictions, as well as those bent on using the name of God to destroy an entire segment of a big and promising country.”