The voice of the Church in Zim today

For more than 20 years Zimbabwe's main challenges have been economic
and political, and especially the abuse of power by those in political
leadership positions.

The social, economic and political challenges we have today are only
the tip of the iceberg. We have a very deep spiritual and moral crisis
in Zimbabwe which explains why our nation has become so corrupt
thriving on political patronage. Christians understand human rights as
a God given gift. Every person has a right to live a meaningful and
purposeful life….Here lies the basis of our challenge – it is both
spiritual and moral.

There is indeed need to remind our people that there will be no peace
in Zimbabwe until we all come to a full realisation that no political
solution can be found unless it creates a system with a human face.

The mission of the church in such a context is to announce the good
news in any given situation: freedom, food to the starving, medication,
shelter and, protection to the vulnerable.

The human rights of the majority of people in Zimbabwe are violated.
This majority lacks everything except the air they breathe while the
minority who benefit from political patronage have easy access to all
the resources and material needs. 

In Zimbabwe today the police are feared by the public because of their
ruthlessness and brutality as we in the Anglican Diocese of Harare
continue to experience whereby we are driven out from our church
buildings during services and are thus denied freedom of worship as our
human right. All this with full backing from the political leadership
some of whom are Anglicans but put their allegiance to their political
party above that  to their church and their Christian faith.

The voice of the church in Zimbabwe has not been loud enough to condemn
the evil system…here I salute Archbishop Pius Ncube who had the courage
to speak out.

The church runs 80% of the schools in the nation. But lately children
have not been going to school or teachers have refused to teach them
because of poor wages paid by the government – and again the church has
remained silent.

The church has traditionally had a strong commitment to health but has
not condemned the total collapse of the health sector. Is the role of
the church to support the government regardless of bad governance and
economic mismanagement? Certainly not! 

The church has a prophetic ministry to offer, and this is not usually
popular with those in power. The voice of the church should be heard
calling for justice ;calling for freedom of speech and social harmony;
calling for genuine peace in the midst of political polarisation; being
a voice that condemns Christians who apply double standards – one for
Sunday service and another for the rest of the week

We may conclude by saying that the church has not listened to God enough to pass on the message to his people.

Read the story of Moses in the Old Testament at the site of the burning
bush as a case in point We bury God's voice because it is
uncomfortable.. We have adopted survival skills. We even obey orders
from a leadership we know to be working against the will of God. But
God wants us to love one another, care for each other, and respect
human life.

During the March and June elections some of our people in rural areas
suffered serious atrocities. In this instance the voice condemning such
atrocities came from civic organisations for example Lawyers for Human
Rights whose members suffered arrests, and closure of their offices..

The people in Zimbabwe need  individuals who stand up and condemn what
they see as an unjust political system that limits people's freedom;
people like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King  Jr., Per Anger,
Dietrich Boenhoeffer,  Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. We need
individuals with eyes open to see the suffering.

Unless the both the church and individuals speak out with loud voices, dictatorship will be with us for a long time to come.

As we discuss human rights, let us focus on each person as a child of
God whose dignity is God given, a dignity not derived from any human
quality, not from a particular race, age, sex or social status, but a
human dignity that is God given and comes from God alone.

BY BISHOP SEBASTIAN BAKARE