The other day, a deafening uproar erupted when a strong rumour from the gossip mill wound its way on social media suggesting that a strip club was about to be opened at Lewanika Mall in Lusaka. Of course, some self-righteous individuals couldn’t waste time burning their precious calories by scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro to pontificate about morals: “How can Lusaka City Council give a green light to such a satanic practice? This is immorality of the worst kind! We’re a God fearing people; a Christian nation for that matter!”
Many of us would be shocked to learn that most of our citizens are actually regulars at strip clubs whenever they’re in Johannesburg for business. We are not by any means endorsing the idea of a strip club, but rather concerned about our hypocriticy on many issues.
What’s the proper definition of “a christian nation,” anyway? Is there really anything christian about the behaviour or conduct…..especially on the part of some of our politicians or the clergy? In Islamic states, they’ve a clear definition of who they are and indeed they stand for. For instance, actions such as cursing, fornication, murder and not honouring ones parents is haram (forbidden.) In the same breath, certain foods and drinks such as pork and alcohol are not permissible.
Sadly, immorality seem to be the order of the day in our christian nation and in certain instances priests and pastors are culprits. Some clergymen seem to have no qualms ‘feasting’ on other people’s wives while teenagers have no trouble ‘enjoying’ the forbidden fruit before marriage. Isn’t quite embarrassing that the spread of HIV/AIDS in our so called christian nation remains high compared to Islamic States? And when it comes to our politicians, the level of hypocrisy is shocking; one would attend church service on a Sunday and proceed to steal from our people on a Monday!
May we now digress and tackle another controversial topic – gay rights. Many of us consider gay people as worst sinners that don’t deserve to walk the face of the earth; we can’t even share a cup of tea with them. Ironically, we are more than happy to accept donations for our HIV/AIDS related projects from individuals who are openly gay such as Sir Elton John. Isn’t this a contradiction? If we are so clean and righteous as we want the world to know, why do we still accept his ‘dirty’ donations? A muslim would never do any business with a company that produces anything they consider to be haram such as alcohol! A few years ago for instance, a Cricketer in South Africa refused to don on a jersey emblazoned with a South African Breweries logo as his faith forbids him from doing do so.
May we now come to vulnerable people in society. If indeed we are a christian nation as we want to proclaim, do we obey what the Bible teaches about the same? James 1 vs. 27 is very clear: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Again, the Muslims are far ahead of us on this one. Alms giving (zakat) is one of the pillars of Islam. Muslims are expected to give 2.5% of their wealth to charity. Every Friday afternoon, street kids, the blind and generally the poor would swarm businesses owned by Muslims to receive the mandatory help from them. Apart from the Catholics, who by the way didn’t endorse the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation, how many churches run hospitals, orphanages or indeed provide support to vulnerable people in society apart from depriving the very poor people of the little they have through tithes and offerings? How many rich folks or even pastors are willing to share with those that are in need? Very few indeed, and yet you still want to insist we are a christian nation. My foot!
Prince Bill M. Kaping’a
Political/Social Analyst