Religion & Society Blog

On Catholics’ solidarity with Zimbabwe’s Anglican community

November 2, 2011 by Oskar Wermter SJ
This report is reprinted from IN TOUCH WITH CHURCH AND FAITH #166, a Jescom publication. If you ask party members and leaders they are all against violence as a political tactic. In the meantime, political intimidation and terror continue. The mere running around of those well-known agitators in large groups, singing militant songs, is ...

Nature gives to the one who is tired with work

October 31, 2011 by Oskar Wermter SJ
reprinted from IN TOUCH WITH CHURCH AND FAITH #166, a Jescom publication. “Makandiwa cashes in” was a recent headline. Religion has become a business. It seems to be as fraudulent as stock exchange speculation where people make money not by production, but by playing with figures. The “prophet” promises prosperity if the gullible pay ...

Tobacco farming and Churches in Zimbabwe

October 24, 2011
republished with corrections and additions from The Herald of August 2011 Tobacco farming has become a hot “potato” in most Churches, as leaders fear it might cause serious factionalism and great loss of much-needed revenue for the upkeep and sustenance of the institutions. Most Church leaders contacted by The Herald refused ...

The Archbishop’s solidarity rally

October 9, 2011 by John Speke
You don’t need an archbishop’s visit to fill the churches of Harare. For the most part, there was nothing unusual about this Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. There was the weekly changing of the shifts at the International Conference Center at the Rainbow Hotel: thousands of faithful from the New ...

Beware Of False Prophets and False Teachers

October 6, 2011 by Sindiso Moyo
    “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied” (Jer. 23:21) The body of Christ is in crisis today with the rise of the so-called prophets and many are there to deceive many. I am sitting at Rainbow Hotel in ...

Opinions differ on reasons for proliferation of Churches in Zimbabwe

September 26, 2011 by Sinikiwe Mlambo
The proliferation of Churches has left many people wondering on whether Christianity in Zimbabwe is being taken by greedy individuals who are in it to make money. Officially, there are now four Methodist Churches in Zimbabwe, two Anglican ones and numerous Apostolic Faith Missions. RelZim.org interviewed people in Harare who ...

How to register and manage a church in Zimbabwe II

September 15, 2011
Last month RelZim.org featured an overview of legal procedures required in order to register a religious community in Zimbabwe. Following the publication, a pastor, whose Church plans to plant a religious community in Bulawayo, approached us and wrote that Ministry of Social Welfare do not register Churches as PVO. We asked an attorney in ...

Scarcity of research on rastafari movement in Zimbabwe

September 14, 2011 by Giovanni del Autore
Rastafari movement is an Africa-centred religion that developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, following the coronation of Haile Selassie I as King of Ethiopia in 1930. Rastafarians believe Haile Selassie is God, and that he will return to Africa members of the black community who are living in exile as the ...

Ecumenical Support Services: Church in Zimbabwe faces leadership crisis

September 8, 2011 by William Matsvimbo
Ecumenical Support Services Zimbabwe director Johah Gokova says there is a serious leadership crisis within the Church in Zimbabwe, as religious leaders have largely remained quite in the face of socio-economic and political problems facing the country. Contributing to debate during a recent discussion on the role of the Church ...

Ezra Chitando: Church increasingly playing political role

August 26, 2011 by William Matsvimbo
Professor Ezra Chitando, a religious studies lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, has said the Church and religion in general are becoming a vehicle to engage government and are increasingly playing a significant role in the country’s political terrain. Speaking at a Southern African Political Economy Series (SAPES) policy dialogue forum on the ...