So what did Mr. Lawal say? Always best to go straight to the source:
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Is there anything wrong with this? Sort of. Let me explain.
Well, let's start with the context. Mr. Lawal is a politician so the things he says and the context in which he says it in our important as he almost certainly represents people of different faiths and others of non-faith.
In a BBC article he said about the event Mr. Lawal said:
"I was appalled by some of the illegal activity I saw online at these events." Which he claimed involved nudity and he feared that children were being exposed.
First, let me be clear, running around in the streets naked (if that's indeed what happened), in most of the civilized world is illegal and most people, religious or not would agree that kind of behavior is unacceptable. So between you and I I doubt there is any disagreement about that.
But here's the problem I see. Why make a comment about "sin"? Why turn something that is a legal matter into a religious matter? Why quote scripture? Why not just stick to near universal ideas of public nudity being something that people agree is wrong?
Maybe Mr. Lawal is
proud of his faith? Hmmmm?
Let's address
pride.
Colloquially pride has more than one meaning, its a continuum. Self-confidence, and self-respect, feeling accomplished are all forms of pride. Telling your child you are proud of them or encouraging pride in themselves or their accomplishments isn't sin. But, like all things a little can be good and an abundance can be bad. While I wouldn't claim to be steeped in eastern philosophy, I think this tracks pretty well with the idea of balance, often visually represented by symbols like this:
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A little pride is good, but it must be balanced with humility?
It's not unusual for people or groups that feel marginalized to express pride in their identity as a way to inoculate themselves for the shame that they have historically endured. Just as humility is the opposite of the kind of pride that Mr. Lawal is referencing, pride, to be proud and unapologetic is the opposite of shame.
And indeed Christians in the US have begun to claim their being marginalized and are increasingly expressing their own pride in their fidelity to God in response given the culture clash between people like Lawal, who, intended or not, judged people for being proud of who they are..
I can't imagine it would be hard for me to find examples of Christian pride here on the web.
That said, I acknowledge that in this time of social media ideas travel faster than brains can evaluate real issues. To make matters worse, there are people who find meaning and purpose in creating turmoil, controversy, anger. To bad we don't have a commandment for that...lol.
Thou shalt not use social media to sow discord, anger, or misinformation.
Lol, I digress....
In the free world we don't have an answer to this problem. The provocateurs live in spaces that freedom provides. So Mr. Lawal isn't judged by who he is, or his history, but by a comment he may now regret, if for no other reason that it has been misinterpreted. I don't know Mr. Lawal or his public record. I think its possible the reaction to his comments are an overreaction, and even if they aren't because of other things he may have said in the past, I acknowledge that in the US there is some over-reaction to situations like this.