Maravi

Intolerance and hate

Intolerance and hate
Written by Editor

Intolerance must surely rank as one of the worst forms of immorality in human affairs. We see the horror of this in people who go out of their way to organise violence against someone who is opposed to them, who does not support them, who holds a different view from theirs and challenges their positions.

Our own journalists have been victims of violence for simply questioning Rupiah Banda’s way of running the affairs of their country; for simply belonging to a newspaper that is not scared to question what it sees as wrong utterances and actions from Rupiah.

Truly, intolerance is the bane of our leaders. To agree with what they say and do is divine, but to disagree with or question what they say or do is a crime.

Mansa Diocese Vicar-General Father Mambwe Mpasa is right when he says that an intolerant government is a danger to itself and to the people: “In Bemba we say amano uli weka tayashingauke koshi (individual wisdom cannot match collective wisdom). It is important to listen to divergent views. This is not only healthy for leaders but for their followers as well. Leaders are people’s servants and should at all times listen to their employers, in this case the citizens. If you have leaders who are intolerant then it is a recipe for failure. One day they will just find themselves stranded and crashing because they will have no direction. The reason is that they had not accommodated divergent views from the beginning.”

The exercise of power, as we have repeatedly pointed out, must be the constant practice of self-limitation and modesty. And we can only hope that our leaders start listening to the advice of our clergy. We say this because religious institutions have continued to be the conscience of our society and a moral custodian. There are no better teachers in tolerance and humility than the religious ones. In fact, the whole Christian doctrine is anchored on tolerance, humility and forgiveness. We are every day reminded by our religious leaders that we are here on earth as pilgrims, on our journey towards heaven. Having come from the hands of God the Creator, we have to return to His presence. And all our wisdom consists in identifying and following the path that leads to heaven. But how many deceptions! Wide is the way that leads to perdition, and many enter into it. Narrow is the path that leads to heaven, and few take it (Matthew 7:13-14)! God, Jesus Christ, and the Church cry out to us: “You have in front of you the way of life and the way of death; choose therefore life” (Deut 30:19).

Human life is a continuous battle on earth. Therefore, religious leaders advise us to fight like good soldiers of Christ. None will be crowned except the one who fights in the lawful manner: “I have fought the good fight; for the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice” (2 Tim 4:7-8)

Clearly, life is a battle, and in this battle there are those who fight like ordinary soldiers, they are the captains represented by the priests, and there is a forward sentry represented by the religious. There are also the deserters who, tired and lacking in confidence, flee the arena; they are the shirkers who, under a thousand pretexts, hide themselves; and finally there are those who idly stand watching, applauding or sneering. There are also the traitors who take the enemies’ side. Life is a battle, and the day of universal judgment will be the culmination. Far behind the conqueror will come, covered with shame, the traitors, the deserters.

We are also taught that the capital sins are seven: pride, greed, gluttony, lust, envy, anger, laziness. They are called “capital sins” not because they are the most serious sins but because they have a certain influence on all other sins as their cause or root. They are the impulsive and occasional cause of other sins. They are an impulse for the ignorance which they put in the mind; for the concupiscence they kindle in the heart, for the malice they bring into the will. Capital sins corrupt the mind, overturn the sentiments, and subjugate the will.

The first capital sin is pride, that is, an inordinate desire for praise. The disorder consists in wanting false praise from people and in the excessive esteem for ourselves. And this occurs in many ways: when one despises one’s equals and inferiors, when one craves too much to surpass one’s equals, when one goes to the extent of despising one’s superiors, when one trusts much in one’s own strengthens, when one leaves out good works for the sake of human respect or for fear of humiliation.

The second capital sin is greed. It is a disordered desire for temporal goods or for fortune. It consists not in actual possession but in excessive love for possessions. By its nature greed is a venial sin. This is so because it is a disordered love for a lawful thing: money. What matters is only the excess, and this excess can however lead to grave sins against justice and against charity. And so here is a Ecclesiasticus which says: “There is nothing worse than avarice.” (Eccles 5:10).

Intolerance, as Fr Mpasa has correctly observed, is dangerous. And intolerance demonstrates a serious lack of humility. We say this because the humble person will draw all behind him; the intolerant person will alienate all: he desired praise from all, and in consequence is now gathering contempt from all. It is always true that he who humbles himself will be exalted and he who exalts himself will be humbled (Matthew 23:12). With humility, one progresses in one’s proper office; with pride one remains empty. The proud one is an unreasonable person, and therefore is buried under the weight of one’s own ego. The meek person wins over hearts; the angry person repels all.

We are told that the name Christian means like Christ, follower of Christ. Now, Jesus Christ was humble, most pure, meek and tolerant: how can His disciple and imitator be proud, dishonest, greedy and intolerant?

Alexander the Great once said to a soldier who also had the same name but was sluggish, mean and cowardly: “Either change your name or change your behaviour.”

How many people call themselves Christians in this country who have no more than the name and the baptism of Jesus Christ, while they live like pagans! What shame, what remorse.

In saying all this, we are not in any way trying to be judges of others. But we find it extremely difficult to see how a man of the intolerance, of the hatred of Rupiah can go round calling himself a Christian. What type of Christian is Rupiah? His intolerance reigns high, his hatred distinguishes him. In saying this we are not being malicious because all that one needs to do is flash back at Rupiah’s press conferences and see his hatred for us, his intolerance towards us that he doesn’t even attempt to hide. We just hope one day he will pay some attention to the teachings of our religious leaders, since political common sense seems to have failed him, and try to practice what they preach to him. This intolerance is very dangerous for Rupiah and for the nation as a whole. And if he doesn’t change his ways, Rupiah is bound to come to grief.

Labels: GOVERNANCE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:42 PM