Guardian

With modernity and changing society, one would expect some of the ethos associated with our social, religious and cultural institutions to also change, alas these institutions have not only upheld them, but are equally promoting them. For example, the Jewish customs, where men and women sit separately from each other are still practiced in some churches today. However, this common practice is also found in the mosques. Clerics from both faith spoke to CHRIS IREKAMBA and OLUWAKEMI AJANI on the rationale behind the practice and why they still adhere to it.

Sitting Arrangement Is To Maintain Full And Undiluted Concentration’

(Alhaji SHERIFF YUSSUF, National President of Nasrul-Lahi-Fatih  Society of Nigeria (NASFAT)

SITTING arrangement from the inception of Islam has been like that. Reason is that when you are in a place of worship, you are standing or sitting in the presence of your creator and full concentration is required. So, the order is that men and women should sit separately.

You know, as human beings, we are subject to distraction, especially for men, by the time you start seeing women very close to you, by your side, in your front, you start admiring them, and before you know it, your concentration is lost, you will not be able to sustain that intense communication between you and God. That is why men are in front while the women are at the back. If you put the women in front and allow the men to sit at the back, men will still look at the women and that will distract them. The sitting arrangement does not signify that men are superior to women. It’s just to make sure that men being who they are, will not be distracted by looking at women when they are praying. Sitting arrangement in mosque is as old as Islam. When we are in the mosque to worship, we are there to show total submission to Almighty Allah. It is not a sign that women are inferior to men or they are not to be seen. We are both equal before Allah. The essence is that you are in total communication with your creator and you don’t need an intermediary. If there is full concentration and no distraction then it’s more likely that your prayer will be answered. But if you are asking God to do something for you and you are eyeing a woman or thinking of the money people are owing you or are supposed to give you or one contract you are chasing, then your attention is broken. That is what we want to avoid.  Women are as equal as men in standing before Almighty Allah.

‘Those Practicing These Things Are Still In Bondage’

(Apostle ANSELM MADUBUKO, General Overseer, Revival Assembly, Ogba, Lagos)

THE ancient practice still exists today, all in the name of religion. So, it’s still religion. Religion is the problem. There is nothing wrong with women preaching. Where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty and we should walk in that liberty and not in bondage. It is not proper to say because one is a woman she won’t mount the pulpit or sit in some places and all of that. In Christ there’s no male or female, we are all one. Those practising these things are still in bondage.

‘Most Times Women Menstruate’

(Senior Evangelist YUNUSA IDOWUParish Pastor, Celestial Church of Christ, Ogo Oluwa Parish)

THE reason women and men sit differently in Celestial Church of Christ is as a result of the setting. If you look at Celestial Church generally you will know that it is not anyhow Church. Women and men sit apart, especially during church services because most times women menstruate, and as such, they are not allowed to enter the church until they have finished it. I also believe that is how the Muslims operate too.

‘God Has Not Taught Us Not To Sit Together’

(DR. SUNDAY OLA MAKINDE, Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria)

IT is a common practice in our church, but I don’t know why. Each time I go to my home church in Ibadan, my wife always sit where other women are sitting. I have been asking why, but answers are not forthcoming. That is how we met it, but in Tinubu Square or in other churches in Lagos, you sit with your wife. In fact, I don’t know how it came about. Separate sitting arrangement is a tradition, it is not a rule, and God has not taught us not to sit together. It’s a man-made tradition. There is nothing wrong for you to sit with your wife. In Port Harcourt, people sit with their wives, I don’t know why some people keep that tradition. You don’t talk about it, because they have been practicing it for long time and I think, one should leave them alone.  We have not told anybody not to sit down anywhere; people just decide to sit separately.

Some sit with their wives and nobody has told them to go and sit the other side. It doesn’t apply in all the churches. I have toured all over the churches in Nigeria, men and women sit together, but I think sitting together is good because some people may be widows and when you isolate them, they feel bad. To me, it’s not the problem; your mind is the problem. Why do we have to worry ourselves with sitting arrangement? Whether you sit separately or not, it doesn’t mean you are segregating the women from the men. To me, it doesn’t enhance salvation or is it sinful. If you say Christ had abolished the old order, that is true, but why is Osu caste system still go on in the East? Did Christ not die for them? There are some old traditions that still take place in some local churches, of which sitting arrangement is a non-issue. What I know is family pews in those days and we have abolished that. This is my family sit or pew and therefore, nobody has the right to sit there; we have abolished all that. You can sit anywhere because there’s no longer family pew in Methodist Church. Actually, it’s high time we stop those traditions that are incompatible with Christianity. Just like Achebe’s kinsmen wanted to bury him in the night, but the Vicar of the Church insisted that he must be buried in the day. Arguing that the man died as a Christian and must be buried in a Christian way. We should only christianise traditions that are compatible with Christianity.

‘Preachers Use The Pauline Epistles To Justify Their Discrimination Against Womenfolk’

(REV FRANCIS EJIROGHENE WAIVE, General Overseer, Fresh Anointing Missionary Ministries Inc., Warri Delta State)

THE practice of allowing women to sit separately from men is an ancient Jewish customs, which are still common in the Middle East. It has no spiritual or physical implications. In those days, it served the purpose of observing traditions regarding women in their menstrual period and the discrimination against women, which was a common thing. In Christ there is no male or female - Gal 3:28.  The old order is only in existence in places where men have refused to accept the word of God, thereby exalting their tradition above God’s word - Mark 7:13.

We do not have such practice of segregating women in our church sitting arrangement. This is because we are not into selective and subjective interpretation of the scripture. We base our doctrine and practice on the whole counsel of God’s word. We interpret scripture with the scripture. There is also the need to balance the Old Testament with the New or else, we will not be practicing Christianity, but Judaism.

‘Precept Not Man-made, But Divinely Arranged’

(Pastor Lazarus Muoka, General Overseer, The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries)

FOR the sake of orderliness as we are admonished in 1 Co. 14:40, “Let all things be done decently and in order” men and women are advised to sit according to their genders in the church. The precept is not man-made, but divinely arranged.

‘Men And Women Sit Together’

(Very Rev. MSGR. GABRIEL OSU, Director of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos)

THE Catholic Church does not segregate between sexes in terms of sitting arrangement. Men and women are allowed to sit together in the Church, as it is convenient.

‘Separate Sitting Enables Men And Women To Concentrate Without Distractions’

ªBROTHER GODWIN IFEACHO, Chairman Executive Board, God’s Kingdom Society (GKS)

Women are made to sit separately from the men in places of worship for purpose of decency and orderliness. This arrangement also gives the women freedom to relate with one another. (1 Corinthians 14:40) Bible understanding and experience show that it is better to do so than to allow them to sit together. The Temples built by Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod had a section called The Court Of Women, referred variously as the ‘New Court,’ (2 Chronicles 20:5), or the ‘Outer Court,’ (Ezekiel 46:21). The Court Of Women was the appointed place of worship for women, according to the American Tract Society Dictionary.

There is no doubt that separate sitting enables men and women to concentrate on the service without distractions. The Bible enjoins ‘worshippers to be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools,’ Ecclesiastes 5:1. See Luke 8:3; Matthew 26:6-13; Philippians 4:3.

If we want to serve God we must do as He has enjoined us to and not to please ourselves, for His ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8,9)

‘Not Every Man Can Allow Another Man To Sit Beside His Wife’

(MRS. OGUNDE REMI, Parish Pastor, Cherubim and Seraphim, Oke-Igbala Tedo)

THE reason women and men sit apart in our church is because not every man that can allow another man to sit beside his wife. For instance, we have another temple for men where women are not allowed to sit with them. After the service men and women can talk together. In my church, it is a laid down rule by God — women sit separately and men sit separately. Though I have not read it in the Bible that men and women should sit apart.

‘IT’s The Culture Of Islam’

(Professor ISHAQ AKINTOLA, Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

IT is the culture of Islam, in the mosque, women and men sit separately. That is to avoid unnecessary distractions and things women will be doing, which they would not want men to see. There are also things men will be doing that they won’t want women to see. But, when they sit separately, they can do whatever they like among themselves.