EFZ's call to pray for Zambia

EFZ's call to pray for Zambia
By The Post
Sun 01 July 2012, 13:25 CAT

THE Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia has made a call to pray for Zambia because it feels the country has been under attack as observed by a wave of problems that threaten the unity, peace and tranquillity of our people. And the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia further observes that "we can achieve much by exercising maturity and by being objective in our relationship with each other regardless of our divergent political philosophies, beliefs and convictions.

Democracy cannot flourish in an atmosphere of hatred and unresolved conflicts. There is no reason to harden one's heart against advice and there is no gain in harbouring hatred. Righteousness should prevail over evil. Forgiveness is a virtue and humility is power under control. Pride makes us weak and humility strengthens us. If our political leaders shall humble themselves, then God will surely lift them up in due season".

We exhort our politicians and their followers to meditate on what the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia is saying, delve deeply into it; to help disseminate, as an essential thing, truthfully, without any dogmas and with broadmindedness, listening to everyone, without thinking that we are the owners of the absolute truth.

The challenges we are going through as a nation, as a people call for a new awareness. And we must start building that awareness. It is not that we totally lack awareness; but such challenges and complex situations require principles more than ever.

And require a lot of awareness, and that awareness will be built, by adding together the awareness of what is happening and the awareness of what is going to happen. It has to be built by adding together more than just one thought and the best ethical and humane ideas of more than one religion, of all authentic religions, the sum total of the preaching of many political thinkers, of many schools and many religions.

We need religious institutions to continue to be the conscience of society, a moral custodian and a fearless champion of the interest of then weak and downtrodden.

The simple lesson of religions, of all philosophies and of life itself is that, although evil may be in the rampage temporarily, the good must win the laurels in the end.

There are many things we have to learn on how to live together in harmony and in diversity and in how to govern the affairs of our country. People may be born with an appetite for personal freedom, but they are not born with knowledge about the social and political arrangements that make freedom possible over time for themselves and their children.

Such things must be acquired. They must be learned. Human beings possess a variety of sometimes contradictory desires. People want safety yet relish adventure; they aspire to individual freedom yet demand social equality.

Democracy is no different, and it is important to recognise that many of these tensions, even paradoxes, that we are facing today as a nation, as a people, are present in every democratic society. A central paradox exists between conflict and consensus. Democracy is in many ways nothing more than a set of rules for managing conflict.

At the same time, this conflict must be managed within certain limits and result in compromises, consensus or other agreements that all sides accept as legitimate. An overemphasis on one side of the equation can threaten the entire undertaking. If groups perceive democracy as nothing more than a forum in which they can press their demands, the society can shutter from within. If the government exerts excessive pressure to achieve consensus, stifling the voices of the people, the society can be crushed from above.

The answer is that there is no single or easy answer. Democracy is not a machine that runs by itself once the proper principles and procedures are inserted. A democratic society needs the commitment of citizens who accept the inevitability of conflict as well as the necessity for tolerance.

It is for this reason that the culture of democracy is so important to develop. Individuals and groups must be willing, at a minimum, to tolerate each other's differences, recognising that the other side has valid rights and a legitimate point of view. If there is a dispute, the various sides to a dispute can then meet in a spirit of compromise and seek a specific solution that build on the general principle of majority rule and minority rights.

In some instances, a formal vote may be necessary, but often groups can reach an informal consensus or accommodation through debate and compromise. These processes have the added benefit of building the trust necessary to resolve future problems.

Coalition-building is the essence of democratic action. We say this because coalition-building teaches interest groups to negotiate with others, to compromise and to work within the constitutional system. By working to establish coalition, groups with differences learn how to argue peaceably, how to pursue their goals in a democratic manner and ultimately how to live in a world of diversity.

Democracy is not a set of revealed, unchanging truths, but the mechanism by which, through the clash and compromise of ideas, individuals and institutions, the people can, however imperfectly, reach for truth. Democracy is pragmatic. Ideas and solutions to problems are not tested against a rigid political outlook but tried in the real world where they can be argued over and changed, accepted or discarded.

Having democratic institutions and even elections cannot protect us against mistakes, end ethnic strife or guarantee economic prosperity. It does, however, allow for the debate and examination that can identify mistakes, permit groups to meet and resolve differences, and offer opportunities for innovation and investment that are the engines of economic growth.

Democracies make several assumptions about human nature. One is that, given a chance, people are generally capable of governing themselves in a manner that is fair and free. Another is that any society comprises a great diversity of interests and individuals who deserve to have their voices heard and their views respected. As a result, one thing is true of all healthy democracies: they are noisy.
In a democracy, there are many voices. And these include those of the government, its political supporters and opposition, of course.

But they are joined by the voices of the labour movement, trade unions, organised interest groups, community associations, traditional authorities, royal establishments, the news media, scholars and critics, religious leaders and writers, small businesses and large corporations, churches and schools, and so on and so forth.

All of these groups are free to raise their voices and participate in the democratic political process, whether locally or nationally. In this way, democratic politics acts as a filter through which the vocal demands of a diverse populace pass on the way to becoming public policy.

As former US president Jimmy Carter once said, "The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself - always changing, infinity in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity."

These are the issues we should deeply meditate over as we join in the prayers for Zambia called for by the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia.

And whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew or a Hindu, religion is a great force and it can help one have command of one's own morality, one's own behaviour and one's own attitude. And without the church, without religious institutions, our country wouldn't be the peaceful and united nation it is today.