Of Religious Freedom and Music Festivals

A friend once told me that Pastors, before they become pastors, are made to study all the main religions of the world. This is meant to firstly equip them with a well rounded knowledge around all things spiritual, but also meant to have them appreciate the reasoning behind other world religions. Once taken seriously, this course would ultimately result in our clergy coming to the knowledge that Christianity is just a version among the cacophony of other religions clamoring for relevance and dominance. It is not even the oldest religion out there, you will have to look at Zoroastrianism or maybe even Hinduism, Christianity does not even make it into the top three oldest religions of the world. 

You therefore understand my being baffled after I read that the Ministry of Religious Affairs, in their rather desperate and at times comical quest for relevance have barred and opposed attempts to hold traditional prayers to our ancestors at the Kariba Dam. They find this intended activity out of keeping with Christian tenets in a so-called Christian country.

If you have just gotten off the bus, Kariba Dam (as with the rest of the country) has been reeling under the impact of a poor 2017/2018 rainy season that has seen its waters recede to some of the lowest levels in recent memory. The Dam houses the Kariba North Bank power generation plant and as such the low waters have harmed the country's ability to meet the demand for power by both commercial and domestic users. What has followed is a much dreaded power rationing regime, sometimes lasting more than nine hours as the country tries to make do with reduced electricity generating capacity while at the same time hoping for a better rainy season this time around.

In explaining her decision, the Minister, Pastor Sumaili called the prayers as ungodly rituals which should not be allowed in a Christian nation. She must obviously have read the part of the constitution that declares Zambia a Christian nation (whatever that means and which by the way I think is quite retrogressive) and curiously forgot that the same constitution bestows upon citizens the right to freedom of conscience, belief or religion. I wonder what informs our Minister's views on African Traditional Religion (ATR). One hopes its not Nigerian movies.

Proud Africans practicing their religion

I have my general problems with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and this is just an example of how irrelevant the ministry is. Surely the constitution allows everyone to worship who they want to and for whatever cause. If the Minister cares, she will realize that ATR is the oldest form of worship in Africa and in Zambia. Years of brainwashing by western based religious practices and the type of overbearing power like the one being exerted by the Minister have prevailed in bullying ATR out of the mainstream. This however does not make it any less relevant.  My point is the Minister cannot and should not elevate the Christian God over Gods of other religions. Everyone must be free to call upon divine intervention in a way that addresses their religious practices, within the broader mandate of the law of course.

If Pastor Sumaili had even dared just do a bit of research, she would have understood that ATR is an integral part of our spiritual tapestry. In fact in Africa, many who call themselves Christian, also dabble in various practices around ATR both in their spare time and when more mainstream religious rituals seem not to be working. Indeed our many traditional ceremonies around rainfall, harvest and fertility, are nothing but rituals aimed at thanking or appeasing ancestral spirits as the case might be. There is nothing wrong with that, it is the way of our people, and has been the way of our people for millennia predating the arrival of Christianity or Islam. It needs to be respected and should not be relegated in favour of mid-eastern religions no matter how stylistic and mainstream. For really what is religion, but a set of rituals meant to reinforce or act out certain beliefs?

But then it seems to be a very Zambian thing to embrace all things foreign and look down on your own heritage. Which is partly the reason why Stanbic have their faces covered with egg over Brandy's late withdrawal from headlining the Stanbic Music festival. I can count at least 10 Zambian and African musicians who would have performed not only better, but also at the fraction of the amounts being spent on many of the washed out Americans who's best years are clearly in the distant past that Stanbic continues to court. Why do we look down on our own Matthew Tembo, the likes of Salif Keita, Yossou Ndour, Habib Koite and so on? Clearly am biased towards Afro Jazz, but you get my point.

It seems a wise thing to say in hindsight, but one only needs to check out Brandy's Wikipedia entry to realise that she has had a troubled past few years. Added to that is the fact that Brandy has not performed before a live audience in a very long time. Her best years are clearly behind her. From some of what she has been through, it is clear Brandy is struggling and has been for some time. A humble suggestion to whichever committee picks these musicians, maybe start from Google, you will be shocked how much you can learn.