Religion & Society Blog

Really, what is the ideal Christian way of dressing?

June 23, 2011 by Mandla Tshuma
A friend of mine says no matter how powerful a sermon may be,  as long as it is preached by a woman in a pair of trousers, to him it will be hitting on a hard rock. He says it is not only un-Scriptural but also un-African for the women ...

June’s installment of Bible School Business School series

June 15, 2011
by Giovanni del Autore In the third installment of Zimbabwe Independent’s thought-provoking monthly series Bible School Business School (BSBS), Brett Chulu looks at the concept of ‘passing the mantle’. BSBS, which appears once at the beginning of the month, takes insights from the Bible and applies them to business, leadership and ...

Church and AIDS: still stigmatizing?

June 4, 2011 by Giovanni del Autore
A couple weeks ago, The Herald published the reflections of their “Divine Appointments” columnist Tendai Manzvanzvike on the attitude of the Churches towards HIV/AIDS. Most fully, in an article entitled “Church shouldn’t stigmatise”,  Tendai Manzvanzvike gives an interesting quote from a representative from the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Dr O ...

The colonisation of the mind? African traditional religion in Zimbabwe vs ‘exotic religions’.

May 27, 2011 by Giovanni del Autore
Bulawayo 24 has recently run a story on the scramble for lost souls among the Churches. There we learn about some curious ideas of a social commentator Prof. Claude Mararike. He thinks that Africans have their own culture which does not need any conversion and teaching. “People, particularly Africans, should ...

Reflections on Mugabe and the Vatican

May 18, 2011 by Giovanni del Autore
James Kirchick, who has reported from Zimbabwe, in a recent article entitled “Love the Sinner. Why is Robert Mugabe visiting the Vatican?” analyzes the uneasy relationship between the Vatican and Zimbabwe’s President. “Robert Mugabe has long been an admirer of the Catholic Church. Born at a Catholic mission station in ...

The Purpose of the Thematic Committee on Religion in the Constitution-Making Process?

May 17, 2011 by Giovanni del Autore
Last Friday, The Financial Gazette ran a story about the Thematic Committees analysing data collected during the controversial outreach exercise for the constitution-making process. One of the 17 committees is to deal with religion and rights of minorities. Does anyone know what they discuss? ...

Pastoral Letters Versus Party Ideology

April 30, 2011 by Michael Bennett
The most recent letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops in Jan. 2011, is entitled Let us Work for the Common Good. It is not the first time that the bishops have addressed this topic. A previous letter was written in 1998. The recent letter set this writer wondering about a ...

Can the Churches Help Prevent Zimbabwe’s Road to Reform Becoming Another Dead End?

April 28, 2011 by Gladys Ganiel
On 27 April 2011, the International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report titled, ‘Zimbabwe: The Road to Reform or Another Dead End?’ The report offers a sobering evaluation of politics in Zimbabwe since the Global Political Agreement (GPA). It also raises concerns that the next election and a possible referendum ...

Deconstructing the Pastoral Letters – Let Us Work for the Common Good

April 11, 2011 by Joram Tarusarira
In her contribution on the pastoral letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, Gladys Ganiel asks ‘But who listens to the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference? Who reads their letters? Do their ideas filter down to Catholics in the parishes and other people of goodwill? These are very pivotal questions that ...

Christianity, Violence and Elections – On the recent ZCBC’s Pastoral Letter

April 7, 2011 by Gladys Ganiel
‘One cannot be a true Christian and a perpetrator of violence at the same time.’ That unequivocal statement comes on page six of a pastoral letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, ‘Let us Work for the Common Good: Let us Save our Nation (pdf),’ issued on 14 January 2011. There’s ...