Maravi

Building a nation on hypocrisy

Building a nation on hypocrisy
By Editor
Sat 21 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection has made very interesting observations on Zambian politics that cannot be ignored, that call for deep meditation.

They have observed that the kind of politics exhibited over the last three quarters in Zambia does not truly serve the citizens who must be the custodians of politics. And they have further observed that Zambian politics are still unstable and manifest immaturity to an extent of attempting to shut down all opposing views.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection also observes that “Zambian politics seem to be validating the old adage that ‘politics is a dirty game’ in addition, the Church has been told it has no role in politics but only to praise-sing government”.

They say this has been manifested in the recent non-governmental organisations Act, the banning of demonstrations over the acquittal of Frederick Chiluba, criticism of the Church’s valid concerns about lack of democracy and good governance in Zambia, and the limiting of freedom of the press.

They say Zambian politics remains that of name-calling, name-dirtying, lies, and just a dirty game to get into positions of power and that we are yet to see mature and honest politics that have people’s needs and aspirations at heart. And they are surprised that “churches that sing praises to government are highly commended by government.

Such hypocrisy,” they observe, “is not building our nation but dividing it. How can the Church remain in the pulpits when they reach to people that are poor, hungry, suffering because of bad policies, lack of good healthcare, do not know where public resources go?

The Church would be failing to preach the word of God if they remained in the pulpit and remained blind to the harsh realities that people go through in their day to day lives. It would be sad to see churches persecuted for telling the truth or trying to work hard to improve the lives of people they preach to. It is a sham to embrace democracy and good governance in rhetoric”.

These are the serious observations made by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection. We fully share these observations, we agree with them.

Truly, we should not allow Zambian politics to be relegated to trivialities chosen precisely because they salve the consciences of the rich and politically powerful, and conceal the plight of the poor and powerless.

It should never be that the anger of the poor should be the finger of accusation pointed at all of us because we fail to respond to the cries of the people for food, shelter, medicine, for the dignity of the individual. None can be at peace while others wallow in poverty and insecurity.

The task of those in our country’s politics should be to give millions of Zambians an essential piece of dignity in their lives – the dignity that comes from having a solid roof over your head, running water and other services in an established community.

As to the role of the Church, priests, in politics, we believe that the Church, the priest have both the right and duty to participate fully in building a just and peaceful society with all the means at their disposal. A church is not fully rooted among its people if it does not try to establish justice.

How, for example, can any spiritual guide of a human collective ignore its material problems, its human problems, its vital problems? Can it be that those material, human problems are independent of the historical process? Are they independent of social phenomenon? We have experienced all that. We always go back to the time of primitive slavery. That’s also the time when Christianity emerged.

Christians had gone from a stage in which they were persecuted to others in which they were the persecutors. And the Inquisition was a period of obscurantism , when men were burned. Now, Christianity could be a real rather than utopian doctrine, not a spiritual consolation for those who suffer.

With good politics, with the commitment of everybody, including the Church and its priests, there would be a revival of early Christianity, with its fairer, more humane, more moral values.


There is great coincidence between Christianity’s objectives and the ones honest and fair-minded politicians seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selflessness, and loving thy neighbour and what we might call the content of an honest politician’s life and behaviour.

Responding to different motivations, they advocate attitudes and behaviour that are quite similar. We are living at a time when politics has entered a near-religious sphere with regard to man and his behaviour. We also believe that we have come to a time when the Church and its priests can enter the political sphere with regard to man and his material needs.

Honest politicians, those who mean well and are true to the aspirations of the great masses of our people, cannot fail to be strategic allies, permanent allies of the Church and its priests.

We have a deep conviction that there need not be any contradiction between the practices of honest, fair, humane and just politicians and the people’s religious beliefs and the work of their church and its priests. Why must the ideas and practices of social justice clash with religious beliefs and practices? Why must they clash with Christianity?

We shouldn’t forget that Christ’s entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings. We would say there is a lot in common between the spirit and essence of his teachings and the ideas and practices of honest, fair, just and humane politicians. This being the case, we see no reason why the Church and its priests cannot form a strategic alliance, but not a tactical one, with such politicians.

We see that Jesus’ spirituality was life in the spirit, within the historical conflict, in a communion of love with the Father and the people. This spirituality was the result of his opening to the Father’s gift and of his liberating commitment to the life aspirations of the oppressed.

For Jesus, the world wasn’t divided between the pure and the impure, as the Pharisees wished; it was divided between those who favoured life and those who supported death. Everything that generates more life – from a gesture of love to political change – is in line with God’s scheme of things, in line with the construction of the kingdom, for life is the greatest gift given to us by God. Whoever is born is born in God to enter the sphere of life.

In that communion with the Father, Jesus found strength for struggling for the scheme of life, challenging the forces of death, represented particularly by the Pharisees, against whom the gospels present two violent manifestos (Matt 23, Luke 11:37-57). And in this sense, all who struggle for life are included in God’s scheme, even if they lack faith.

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee or naked and clothe thee? And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’” (Matt 25:37-40).

It is your fellow man, and especially the one who lacks life and needs justice, in whom God wishes to be served and loved. They are the ones with whom Jesus identified. Therefore, there is no contradiction between the struggle for justice in which the Church and its priests are today involved in our country and the fulfillment of God’s will. One demands the other.

All who work along that line of God’s scheme for life are considered Jesus’ brothers and sisters (Mark 3:31-35). This is the best way to follow Jesus, especially in Zambia’s present situation. We prefer to say that Jesus had a spirituality of the conflict – that is, a vigour in his commitment to the poor and to the Father who granted him immense eternal peace.

We think all our politicians know all this. But it is selfishness that makes them take contradictory positions. They have got a reverend, a pastor like Ronnie Shikapwasha in politics and in government who preaches in the pulpit on Sundays. Shikapwasha is participating in politics and in his church.


But the same Shikapwasha and his friends don’t want other members of the clergy and their churches to do the same. Why? The truth is they are not opposed to the Church and priests’ participation as long as they are on their side and not on the opposite side of the political spectrum. This is why we say if one is honest, truly honest, he cannot fail to see the good role the Church and its priests have been playing in the affairs of our country, especially in advancing peace and justice.

If one is unassuming and has a clear understanding of the worth of people and of himself, one cannot fail to see the need or necessity for the Church and its priests to do and continue doing what it has been doing.
There is need for our politicians to re-visit the basic meaning of the word “democracy”. The word “democracy”, of Greek origin, means power or strength of the people. Democracy is based on the principle of the subordination of the minority to the majority and on the recognition of freedom and equality in terms of civil rights.

We are accustomed to see it only in its formal terms, divorced from social reality. When those in power feel safe and it is in their interests, they are proud of democracy and use it as a surgical tool or as acupuncture needles for exercising political control.

The democratic apparatus is structured to inhibit political activity by the masses and to limit the workers’ participation in decision making. For us, democracy means that governments are closely linked to the people, arise from the people, have the support of the people and devote themselves entirely to working and struggling for the people and the people’s interests.

Democracy implies the defence of all the rights of citizens, including the right to independence, freedom, national dignity and honour. For us, democracy means fraternity and true equality among all our people and equal opportunities for all, for every human being who is born.

And this is why we are opposed to any practices that seem to divert from this and push us in the direction of a de facto one party state. We have been through that experience before and we don’t want to go back to it in any way because that is a recipe for tyranny, a disaster.

What we need to see is a government that devotes itself entirely – heart and soul – to reducing the suffering of our people. The existence of large numbers of hungry and under-nourished people in our country is an affront to all of us.

A stable, permanent solution must be found for this serious problem. This is what the Church and its priests are struggling for. And institutions or individuals who are involved in such struggles deserve the respect and support of all.

Labels: JCTR, POLITICS

posted by MrK @ 12:27 PM