By Rev. Alfred Fuka Tofibam
If someone stabs you and leaves the knife lodged in your body, while urging you to forgive and reconcile, what should your response be? Worse still, what if they keep twisting the knife even as they preach peace?
This is the moral tension at the heart of conversations about reconciliation between Africa and the institutions—political and religious—that shaped its past.
Christianity, Colonization, and Slavery
History is not neutral. It speaks.
In 1452, Dum Diversas, issued by Pope Nicholas V, authorized the conquest and enslavement of non-Christians. Three years later, Romanus Pontifex expanded these powers, granting Portugal sweeping rights over African lands and peoples. By 1493, Inter Caetera under Pope Alexander VI helped formalize what became known as the “Doctrine of Discovery,” legitimizing European claims over non-Christian territories.
These decrees did not remain on parchment—they became policy. They helped shape the transatlantic slave trade and centuries of colonial expansion.
More recently, on March 25, 2026, the United Nations declared the transatlantic slave trade one of the gravest crimes against humanity and called for reparative justice. Yet key global powers resisted or abstained.
So the question remains: can there be peace without justice?
Africa’s Unhealed Wound
The 1884–85 Berlin Conference partitioned Africa among European powers, redrawing borders and destinies without African consent. Its consequences are still visible—in fragile states, economic dependency, and conflicts such as Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis.
To speak of reconciliation today without addressing this legacy risks sounding hollow.
The biblical “Golden Rule” (Matthew 7:12) calls for mutual fairness. Measured against it, the historical relationship between the Global North and Global South raises difficult questions.
The Conditions for Peace
Peace is not a slogan. It is a process.
There can be:
No peace without justice
No justice without truth
No reconciliation without acknowledgment
No restoration without restitution
A wound ignored does not heal—it festers. The return of looted cultural artifacts, fair economic relations, and honest historical reckoning are not symbolic gestures; they are necessary steps toward genuine reconciliation.
The Message of Jesus
Jesus challenged both political and religious power. His ministry consistently confronted injustice, hypocrisy, and empty ritual.
In Luke 4:18–19, he declares a mission to proclaim freedom for the oppressed. That message remains relevant today.
At times, truth is uncomfortable. It disrupts. As Matthew 10:34 suggests, it can even divide. But without truth, there can be no lasting peace.
Faith and Responsibility
Scripture is clear about what is required:
“Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion… Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.” (Zechariah 7:9–10)
Faith that ignores injustice is incomplete. Religion that overlooks the vulnerable contradicts its own foundation.
The Path Forward
Africa’s future cannot be built on denial—nor on dependency.
Healing requires both external accountability and internal transformation:
Honest acknowledgment of historical wrongs
Concrete steps toward restitution and fairness
Economic and educational empowerment
Moral and spiritual renewal
Reconciliation must move beyond speeches. It must produce measurable change.
At the same time, Africa must confront its own challenges—corruption, governance failures, and internal inequalities. True liberation is not only political or economic, but also moral and spiritual.
A Call to Action
The call is simple, but not easy:
Seek truth
Acknowledge wrongs
Apologize
Repent
Restore
Reform
Without these steps, talk of peace risks becoming performance.
Africa does not need a pacifier. It needs justice.
Conclusion
This is not a rejection of faith, nor a dismissal of Christianity’s positive contributions. It is a call to return to its core principles—truth, justice, compassion, and humility.
As Africa engages with global partners, including during high-profile visits such as that of the Pope, the conversation must move beyond symbolism.
Peace is possible—but only where justice lives.
Rev. Alfred Fuka Tofibam
BTH, Cameroon Baptist Seminary, Ndu
MDiv, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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