by Andrew Zhakata, Zimbabwe, February 1997
THEME = CHURCHES
No more. The rate at which Churches are being founded, suggests the emergence of a new kind of entrepreneur on the Zimbabwean scene - businessmen who not only quote the Bible, but who live by amassing wealth from the "faithful" who blindly follow their call.
Zimbawe is flooded by such business people who are typical of those who have succeeded in the "rags to riches" experience: courtesy of donations from their followers.
Government is worried by what's happening. But the authorities find themselves hamstrung by the dictates of freedom of worship and assembly, enshrined in the Constitution. However, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is a Catholic, recently lambasted left, right and centre, the newly formed Churches, saying their leaders were on a mission to get money from unsuspecting members of the public.
Home Affairs Minister, Dumiso Dabengwa, and Lands and Water Development Minister, Kumbirai Kangai, expressed similar sentiments, criticising those religious organisations which get more out of the people than they put back into the communities.
Putting a finger as to the number of Churches and religious cults in Zimbabwe is almost impossible, as new ones are being formed all the time. Moreover, many of the new Churches particularly the Zion or Apostolic Sects, adopt the name of founder leaders, while they continue to split.
A snap survey shows there are at least 150 Churches and Christian organisations, for Zimbabwe's 11.5 million people. This excludes Islamic organisations.
However, while the Apostolic Sects generally draw their following from the low-income groups and are therefore generally poor, it is the drumbeating and guitar-strumming recently-formed evangelical organisations, that have attracted the attention of religious scholars and psychologists.
Not only do some of them use high-pressure tactics to squeeze money out of their members, but the tendency to flaunt wealth while despising the poor as indolent, makes them highly suspect.
However, they break up easily, with some of the founder leaders going their own way to form new Churches - rather like the money clubs or pyramid schemes which took Zimbabwe by storm last year.
In the past, Churches have broken apart on doctrinal grounds, differences in the interpretation of the Bible or because of liturgical differences within the fellowship. Now, many of the newer Churches have come apart for economic reasons - how is the money collected from church-members to be shared among its leaders?
"Sometimes Churches split because some people notice that it's only the leader and his inner circle of friends and relatives who benefit from donations made to the Church", says Mr. Nisbert Taringa of the University of Zimbabwe's Department of Religious Studies. "Also, personality clashes and tribal or ethnic factors are some of the reasons that lead to Churches splitting up, and new ones being formed".
Father Oskar Wermter, the Social Communication's Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference in Harare, says that when the main-line Churches such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran came as missionary Churches to Africa, they brought with them their legacy of having split up in the past.
The Christian Church has been splitting and multiplying into different denominations, ever since the Russian and Greek Orthodox broke away from Rome in the 10th century. "Unfortunately, this is a bad example given by the missionary Churches, but now there is now the ecumenical movement which is working towards the unity of Churches, and the Catholic Church supports that unity", says Father Wermter.
A meeting of 40 African independent Churches in South Africa, recently concluded that the theological justification for their formation, was the incompatibility of vision between the colonial system supported by the missionary Churches, and the African's more humane vision of society.
Father Wermter said while some evangelical churches were serious in their work, some of them are sects being run by "clowns seeking a good life for themselves". But how do such clowns manage to brain wash seemingly intelligent and educated people into parting with their hard-earned cash?
The reason appear to be more economic and psychological than spiritual, especially in the so-called "prosperity cults" whose main theme seems to be, that if one follows Jesus Christ, he or she will be rewarded with success in life.
The prosperity cults, with their more exciting ways of worship, are attractive to the black urban middle class which rose with Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. These are the people who have "made it" in life, having good jobs, driving nice company vehicles and staying in the low-density suburbs. "At the same time, they are very insecure", says Fr.Wermter. "But, they have enormous financial worries because they could lose their jobs, and their houses have not been paid for".
For such people, the prosperity cults are re- assuring psychologically, and the people just mentioned, are ready to part with their money, because the enterprising evangelist tells them that the more money one gives to the Church, the more the Lord will give in return.
Robert Bundy of the Department of Psychology at the University of Zimbabwe, says that there are so many social and economic pressures besetting many Zimbabweans including the AIDS pandemic, that people easily fall victim to weird cults that promise to soothe their grief.
There are also other social pressures, including divorce, loss of jobs, the breakdown of the extended family system and failure to secure a marriage partner. All these can drive people into the hands of cash-hunting "faith dealers".
Zimbabweans, be on your guard against these "spiritual con- men!"
END