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Religion in Africa: Power for Life

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Religion in Africa: Power for Life Religion in Africa: Power for Life Jan van Butselaar Religion is central in the lives of Africans. The growth of the Christian Church in Africa is unprecedented. This paper centres on questions like: what does religion mean for Africa? Why do people in Africa have faith? Why is religion so im­ portant? This paper explores these questions in the context of Mozambique. It really takes a lot of courage, even bordering on audacity, to write an article on the topic ‘Religion in Africa’ in a Festschrift for John Pobee. It, of course, creates the suspicion that someone is still full of the attitude that accom­ panied the old missionary spirit, where the foreigner pretends to know better what Africa is about than the very people of that continent... This pater­ nalism, today translated into neo-paternalism (‘we know what you as Afri­ cans should do, to be faithful to your culture’) is one of the inborn sins of Europeans. My only excuse to continue after this is that I learned so much from Africans, amongst whom John Pobee takes a first place, that I dare to write down what I discovered during a short research in Southern Africa, especially in Mozambique. I dare to do that with even more freedom, since I know that John will be the first to correct him whom he once called ‘his white slave’! The image o f Africa In Europe, the word ‘Africa’ brings different images to mind - images often of war and misery, of hunger and disease. For economists, ‘Africa’ is the continent where development aid does not produce the results expected. At the same time, ‘Africa’ is the region where religion plays an important role, where the Christian church is growing at an almost unbelievable speed. Reli­ gion, church - they are relevant to Africa, to Africans. Scholars find it diffi­ cult sometimes to understand and ask: What does religion mean for Africa? Why do people in Africa have faith? Why is religion so important in Africa? These questions have found many different answers in the past.1 Parrin- der, in his classic study Religion in Africa, accentuates the life-affirming See M.R. Spindler, ‘Conversion in Focus: Anthropological Views and Missiologi- cal Projections,’ in Zeitschriftfur Missionswissenschaft and Religionswissenschaft 81 (1997), pp. 275-88.1 was personally involved in some research on this point in Rwanda, see L 'Esprit et le sel: Recherches dans I'histoire de I'Eglise au Rwanda 220 Jan van Butselaar character of religion on the continent. Muzorewa cites the old explanation for the interest in Christian religion in Africa, i.e. the longing for sharing in the Western ‘wisdom,’ but indicates at the same time the role of Christian re­ ligion in political and cultural liberation.* 2 So there seem to be many angles for tackling the question at stake. But it seems clear at the same time that this question is crucial to the understanding of African culture. How should we deal with it today, in relation to the present state of African culture and soci­ ety? During a short stay in Mozambique3 I tried to do some research and to find new information concerning the role of religion in Africa today. That, is, the role of religion, of the Christian faith as understood within the parameters of modem science. The deepest, existential value of faith in Jesus Christ largely exceeds these cadres - but the following is not denying that funda­ mental maxim, but is rather presupposing it. The Africans I interviewed confirmed this; they were mostly Christian and almost all came from the southern part of the continent. My question as to why religion was important to them often caused some astonishment: Was it not crystal clear to all living beings how important religion is? But then, on second thought, they took up the challenge to formulate not so much the content of their faith, but the reason or reasons why they believed in God, in Jesus. The answers showed different motives, but there were, though, some common aspects. A basic one was that all persons interviewed shared the firm conviction: Jesus is relevant for Africa.4 There was no doubt for them about it. And second, it became clear that it was impossible to explain fully why the Christian faith is so attractive to African people. The full answer to that question seems to be a hidden secret that the people of Africa share with the Spirit of God. Mozambique As indicated above, the research on which this article is based was done mostly in Mozambique. The name of the country has a special sound for par un groupe de travail de I'Ecole de Theologie de Butare (Butare: ETB, 1978); J. van Butselaar, ‘Christian Conversion in Rwanda,’ in International Bulletin of Missionary Research 5 (July 1981), pp. 111-13. G. Parrinder, Religion in Africa (= Penguin African Library AP 26) (Harmonds- worth: Penguin, 1969), p. 233ff.; G.H. Muzorewa, An African Theology o f Mis­ sion (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1991), pp. 117, 131. 3 From February to April 1997 I was a guest lecturer at the United Theological Seminary in Rikatla, Mozambique. In the same period I visited South Africa and Swaziland where I also interviewed some persons. 4 That is well documented also in D.B. Stinton, Jesus of Africa: Voices of Contem­ porary African Christology (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2004). Religion in Africa: Power for Life 221 many. After a hard struggle against the cruel Portuguese coloniser, freedom became a reality for the country in 1975/ The liberation movement Frelimo, founded by the charismatic Eduardo Mondlane, a member of the Presbyterian Church in Mozambique* 6 and morally supported by the World Council of Churches, adapted a classic Marxist model for society when freedom had finally come. With that, the country isolated itself not only from large parts of the Western world but also from large areas of Africa. That isolation, al­ ready potentially strong because of the use of Portuguese as the official lan­ guage, became almost total. Marxist structures were introduced in a revolu­ tionary way. The old colonisers were driven out, industry was nationalised, schools and hospitals had to be handed over to the government, agriculture was organised in collective farms, etc.7 These drastic changes had a number of negative results for the development of the country in spite of economic and other support from Eastern Europe and from leftist movements in other parts of the world. It turned Mozambique into one of the poorest countries on the continent. Traditionally, the south of the country has been strongly oriented towards South Africa.8 During the Portuguese regime, the understanding between colonial Mozambique and the apartheid government in South Africa was quite cordial. After independence that situation changed radically. South Africa, together with the Rhodesia of Ian Smith, started to destabilise the young state. Mostly due to their influence a cruel civil war developed in Mo­ zambique between the governing Frelimo party and a newly created oppo­ sition movement called Renamo. It caused such suffering as can hardly be described and destroyed even further the social and political fabric of society. The agreements of Inkomati that were made in the 1980s between Mozam­ bique and South Africa did not change much in that situation. The 1990s brought new developments. Between the warring parties in Mozambique a peace agreement was realised in which churches played an important role. The country became a parliamentary democracy. In South Af­ rica the end of apartheid also meant the end of the cold, and the sometimes not so cold, war with neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, it did not bring T.H. Henriksen, Mozambique: A History (London: Rex Collings, 1978). 6 E. Mondlane, The Struggle for Mozambique (= Penguin African Library AP 28). (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1969); T. Cruz e Silva, ‘The Influence of the Swiss Mission on Eduardo Mondlane (1930-1961)’, in Journal of Religion in Afri­ ca 28(1998), pp. 187-209. C. Biber, Cent ans au Mozambique: Le parcours d ’une minorite (Lausanne: Edi­ tions de Soc, 1987), p. 137. D. Fledges (ed.), Mozambique no auge do colonialismo, 1930-1961, Historia de Mozambique, vol. 3 (Maputo: Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 1993), p. 39. 222 Jan van Butselaar back the former co-operation in economic areas: on that point the situation remained very much as it had been since independence. Traditionally, many young Mozambicans went to work for some years in the mines of South Africa to earn enough money to get married and to start their adult life. After independence the apartheid government in South Africa had severely limited the number of Mozambicans that could come to work in the country. Those who crossed the border illegally had to cope with electric fences and with the animals in Krueger Park. The end of apartheid did not alter this situation significantly. The recent popular opposition in South Africa towards foreign workers and refugees from other parts of Africa has added a new and horrify­ ing feature to this. In spite of the encouraging speed of development in the country, life in Mozambique is difficult for many of its inhabitants. Unemployment is high and salaries are low. A feeling of insecurity reigns in many quarters; the civil war seems to have raised many moral barriers. In the popular areas of a town like Maputo, theft and murder are no exception. Corruption has invaded the structures of society. Where to find power for life, power to live? A local pastor characterised the situation in the country with these three words: inertia, corruption and violence. Inertia for him was the feeling of being worn out by years of war where all ideals got lost.
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