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| Columns |
| Twist to the tale |
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by
Edward Chisambo, 05 December 2003
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14:13:45
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Religion is such a binding force that tends to sway public opinion through strong belief and a little effort from the preachers. And when a religious institution tells its flock to behave in a particular manner, you can be sure that the sheep will heed the call with total obedience.
Wangwiro, a long time staunch member of the Women’s Guild, was not surprised that there was a possibility of pastoral letters, which were flying around with the frequency of manna from heaven, inducing a tunnel kind of thinking in congregations.
The epistles, modelled on letters by St. Paul, that frequently attacked ills perpetrated by politicians in the New Testament, have become a fashionable way of communication between churches and their sheep.
She had no doubts about the spells that churches are able to cast on followers as she vividly remembered how the church had stopped people singing hymns and praying at a funeral because the deceased defaulted on paying one-tenth of his earnings to the church before he died.
A church elder had, without any signs of sympathy, arrived among mourners and members of the church keeping vigil in the middle of the night and told them to stop the ceremony because the one who had passed away was classified among sinners.
Immediately, there was heavy silence at the funeral house punctuated only by frustrated loud sniffs and wails from close relations of the deceased. That was how powerful the church could be. It could even condemn to hell those who died and were perceived sinners. A powerful and effective perception index.
All this aside, Wangwiro was suspicious of the recent pastoral letter from the Nkhoma Synod of the CCAP. It hit at the inabilities of government to run the country. It spoke of poor economic policies, poverty, violation of human rights and what have you. Surely, the clergy were worried about the welfare of their flock.
But to Wangwiro’s ears these cries in the wilderness endorsed by both the Livingstonia and Blantyre synods sounded very familiar. In 1992-93, the churches cried for change and rallied behind opposition movements Aford and UDF, to be exact. UDF is now in power and the churches have changed tune, baying for the party’s blood. Quite interesting!
The seed that the churches were systematically planting in their faithful’s minds was that good governance lies in the hands of those not in government. Examples of this thinking are many. For instance, they are struggling hard to form an opposition coalition to oust the UDF in next year’s general elections.
The Women’s Guild veteran had other ideas. She thought the solution did not lie in changing regimes. It was more to do with the morality, accountability and openness of those who run affairs of government; not necessarily those in opposition now.
After all, she reasoned, the opposition was full of people who had been in governments that were condemned by the same religious organisations before. In the MCP, one of the parties in the present church-driven alliance, the president and his deputy have a service period to the party that adds up to more than a hundred years combined. The NDA is led by a former UDF strongman. As a result, with only these people to choose from, the flock does not have much choice in the elections next year.
At least, Nkhoma Synod saw sense in keeping the MCP in power in 1994. Maybe this change of heart, asking for change of guard, portends good for their dedicated followers. This time they want the government to go, that time they did not. |
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