opinion
By Alfred Sebahene
IT is sad once again that innocent lives have been lost.
This time in Moshi,
sadly in the name of God working through what a self-claimed Prelate,
Boniface Mwamposa's direction that his faithful step on a holy anointing
oil after
his sermon.
For one reason or
the other it has now become very difficult to ascertain whether
Mwamposa's doctrine did bear some fruit or not, however, my condolences
to all who lost their beloved.
That said however, I
must say, holy anointing oil sounded a great idea if you compare with
it with other appallingly growing performs like those of some prophets,
who force congregants to eat grass as a means of bringing them closer to
God or eat snakes.
Drink petroleum,
take shower using coca cola and other soft drinks or remove their
clothes as part of their religious worship. This is sad indeed. The
people who gathered in Moshi, the way I see it, did not deserve the
significance of the anointing oil, which, as Christians would say, lies
in its pointing them to Jesus' finished work at the cross.
The so called
prophet Mwamposa's oil became the source of a terrible if not abysmal
stampede creating an agonising loss, which will live in peoples' mind
for ages to come. Some are already saying most faith or religious
gatherings today tend to be brainwashing, and make people walk dead.
They may be right.
In my view, the stampede, as a result of Mwamposa call for healing and
prosperity is something we should not ignore. It must concern us because
it is about the Church and the nation. But why should the general
public be concerned when the confidence that people have in the Church
is breached?
Well, the former UN
Secretary General, Kofi Annan had an interesting proposal. This is what
he said about two decades ago when he was speaking at the World
Conference on Religion and Peace.
He said: "Church
organisations and their religious communities are, without question, the
largest and best-organised civil institutions in the world today,
claiming the allegiance of billions of believers and bridging the
divides of race, class and nationality."
Likewise, Annan
affirmed that these institutions are uniquely equipped to meet the
challenges of our time: Resolving conflicts, caring for the sick and
needy, and promoting peaceful co-existence among all peoples.
And Göran Hydén, a
noted Africanist and distinguished Professor of Political Science at the
University of Florida emphatically adds: "Due to their work at
grassroots level the church has gained a large measure of influence."
I raised the same
issues some months ago. Back in July 2019, I wrote on this column
warning that commercialisation of religion is becoming dangerous to our
shared national life.
I clearly indicated
that the inappropriate use of faith and religion is already hurting not
only Africa and the world, but my country Tanzania too. I cautioned of
the devastating symptomatic events which are clearly manifesting
themselves in our country.
The Mwamposa's
prophetic ministry in Moshi last week, which took lives of fellow
citizens living behind the scar and overshadowing the beauty of the
church and our nation, if I may use a similar connotation, a fulfillment
of my prophesy which signifies and speaks of my concern today.
By then, as it is
even today, I wrote while I was very much worried about the way
constitutionallyenshrined freedom of religion in some countries, on our
continent, and indeed here at home, has continued to be severely
attacked, in actual fact, more than ever before.
Well, it is pity
that most comments given regarding the problem are many, conflicting and
diverse, most of them categorised as blames. This calls for a national
reflection. Let us agree that we have a problem, which needs our
attention otherwise it will cost us again, and soon.
I know talking
about faith matters can be a complex matter. Indeed difficult due to the
fact that even descriptions of a church can and will always be a talk
about an organisation encompassing a broad range of opinion on doctrine
and practice and therefore a sensitive issue.
However, there are
times when we should not, as a nation, keep quiet and allow reckless and
uncontrolled religious and other gatherings to continue.
In fact, as my
reader would know, just across our national borders with our neighbours,
most of them are now already struggling with addressing satanic
churches well identified by their criminal syndicates. We do not want
this to cross the border and begin to eat the fabric of our society. We
should therefore be vigilant.
Because some
Churches are already crossing the line and are in the verge of her
peoples' dignity as human beings not protected and the actions by
leaders of some churches we see today on social media, instead of
healing, as some would claim, are actually causing physical and
psychological harm to people.
They simply
endanger their health. And there is another serious matter when it comes
to what I call targets and victims of the overshadowed beauty of faith,
religion or church.
Unfortunately, it
has now become so clear that false religions and religious mafia is not
only violating the rights of our people across the continent but its
disproportionate impact has clearly landed on any who belong to groups
that are exposed to its risks.
I stand to be
corrected, but I wish to say many who suffer most are women, children,
and the elderly and disabled people, most particularly those who are
poor. The biggest question here is why is this so? Well, I think reasons
are many.
But what I have
noted, and from my social science background, most false religions are
perpetuating oppressive denial of women's human right.
Instead of
promoting opportunities and equality for women, protecting rights and
promoting opportunities for disabled people, the elderly and children,
provide opportunities for social protection, false faith and religions
in the name of God are also strategically robbing these victims of their
financial resources.
No wonder why, at
these gatherings, people are forced to make monetary donations to
various unknown religious bodies which may not be registered as
non-profit organisations. I am also aware of other important arguments
regarding the Moshi tragedy.
I know there are
issues raised in the public square like; Who should have protected the
crowd? Do we need to equip our responsible institutions on matters of
safety and security?
There are also
concerns as to whether citizens and these institutions understand that
crowd control is and should always be a public security practice and
that crowd management strategies should be well known so that people can
be ready for the expected and unexpected crowd occurrences?
Well, space does
not allow for this discussion. It is a matter for another day. But for
today let my reader stick to this; Moshi tragedy, commercialisation of
religion or faith and the abuse of people's belief systems should be
looked at with fresh eyes. These can be serious sources of
destabilisation of our shared national life.
Obviously this
should be done with much care and precaution because any attempt to
temper with our constitutionally-enshrined freedom of religion could be
even much worse.
Cheers!
Dr Alfred
Sebahene, PhD Social Ethics and Anti-Corruption Specialist Consultant St
John's University of Tanzania, Dodoma, Tanzania
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