By Dr Charles Ngoma
“…DECLARE the Republic a Christian nation while upholding the right of every person to enjoy that person’s freedom of conscience or religion” thus begins the pre-amble to the 1996 Zambia Constitution.
I have spoken to many people who are in favour of this declaration and have learnt several reasons. The most interesting reason had to do with what happened in the last few years before Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s government was replaced. It was the ‘Heaven on earth’ eastern mysticism that had engulfed State House that worried so many Zambian Christians. They feared that if such ‘free experimentation’ with spiritual powers at the heart of government, was allowed, who knows what the tenant at plot 1 may one day do to our beloved country?
Can a nation be Christian without such a declaration? There is no nation on earth that has declared through its constitution, albeit the preamble, that it is a Christian nation!
However, there are many that consider themselves Christian, chief among them is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, whose head of State is ‘Defender of the Faith.’ I learned that this title was once given to one Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, by the Pope!
The United States, land of the brave and free, declares that ‘all men are created equal before God’ but for 3 centuries continued to deny that equality to many of its citizens! In the minds of the founding fathers, the Christian God may have been meant, but that does not amount to a declaration that the USA is a Christian country. It does not matter whether the green buck is emblazoned with ‘In God we trust.’ Which god?
Islamic republics dotted about the world also claim to rely on ‘God’s law’ according the Islamic faith. What actually constitutes Sharia law is debatable. I believe that when one states something, and in an important document such as the constitution, their meaning must be very clear to everyone.
Putting aside the various definitions of ‘Christianity’ no one can disagree as to what the effect or results of Christianity should be. A friend of mine once told a story of a postman delivering mail to a house in Britain, where a vicious looking dog lived. Seeing the dog, the Post man tried to deliver the post as quietly and as quickly as he could. As he tip-toed towards the house, the owner of the house saw him. Sensing the Postman’s dread, the owner shouted to him, ‘Don’t worry, he is a good Christian!’ That sums it up I think. Christianity is expected to be harmless.
Whatever you call it, I am happy to be part of a nation that fulfils these four principles:
1. Recognises that all men are created equal before God.
Here is the fundamental basis for the rule of law. If we all accepted this, there would be no corrupting of officials in order to gain an upper hand over someone else. I we all recognised this, we would not be too proud to think that we are better than another, but would be humbled to accept that what we have is a gift from God and its purpose is to supplement what lacks in another member of the society. The first recorded question that man ever asked God is, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ It is that question that Jesus answered when He said, ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ In an imperfect world, this is a hard saying. We all want others to do to us better than we would do to them. I want to drive the best car in the hood. I want the best for myself. Once the comparative adjective is used, someone else will fare worse. The best we can do without supernatural help cannot match up to the standard that calls upon us to ‘love others as we love ourselves!’ This would mean that ‘myself’ would be the poorest person, ‘myself’ would be the hungriest, the most poorly dressed, most poorly housed! The duty of a Christian state would be to level the playing (or fighting) field so that no one has undue and unfair advantage over another!
2. Maintains the sanctity of life.
Human life should not be taken unadvisedly and thoughtlessly. It does not matter how ‘despicable’ one is in another’s eyes, as long as they are human, they should be valued and respected. Laws that allow for the taking of one’s life before and after birth are wrong and un-Christian. Ah, but some will say, what about in the Bible? Weren’t people executed for their sins in the Bible? The answer to that is simple. Israel was a Theocracy and only the One who created life has the right and authority to take it. The executioner was endowed with the wisdom and knowledge of justice, so that there was no miscarriage of justice. However, even in those severe situations, there was the exercise of mercy and the stay of execution!
3. Provides for the poor.
This is a hot potato. There are many self appointed advocates for the poor. I find the Roman Catholic priests like Father Bwalya in Kitwe contradicting themselves here. On one hand, the Church extols those who have vowed the vow of poverty and has beatified their founder; while on the other hand, they blame the state for ‘rising levels of poverty.’ Captain Solo was quoted as saying that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor. If that were the case, we would all be fighting a good thing by trying to get rid of poverty, a means to inheriting the kingdom of God! No, friends, it is the ‘poor IN SPIRIT’ who are blessed, not the poor in material wealth!
Let me try and explain this by using the Biblical Greek words that are translated ‘poor’ in English. Now, that is of utmost importance for us to understand. There is no ‘blessedness’ in poverty. Jesus never said that the poor will inherit the earth! God never ever said that poverty is good for anyone. Indeed, the Jewish people recognised that poverty is an evil intrusion in the life of a person. God wants all men to prosper. The two words that are translated poor mean two different kinds of people. First, there is poverty that relates to ‘low income’ by virtue of the lowly means of livelihood. This kind of ‘poor’ is recognised in the Bible but no one should have pity on a person like this as long as this person is able bodied. Why? It is because given time, ingenuity and opportunity; such an one can rise to be the richest person on earth! Indeed, history is replete with ‘from rags to riches’ stories! However, there is another kind of ‘poor’ of whom Jesus said, ‘will always be with you.’ These are the disadvantaged in our society by reason of infirmity. These can never alter their fortunes without the help and assistance of us all. These are the blind folk we see in our streets, being led forth by a child who will never go to school! These are the weak in body who cannot till the land. All of us whether as individuals or corporately through the State and NGOs have a responsibility towards these people. Let me state here that it is not the responsibility of the State to ‘create employment.’ This is the one fallacy from communism that has continued to simmer through western liberal economics! The Capitalist state does not own the means of production so how can it provide 100% employment?
The State must lay down laws and conditions for the creation of wealth and it is wealth so created that provides employment for the people. What do people mean when they say ‘un-employment is going up?’ What do people mean when they say, ‘poverty levels are unprecedented?’ We tend to borrow terms from other people without really defining what we mean! Indeed what do we mean by ‘development?’ I put it to us all that we will be developed when every child born in Zambia has the highest chance of reaching 120 years of age, when every pregnant woman has a 100% chance of giving birth to a healthy baby, when every child born in Zambia will grow into adulthood and have a means of livelihood ! We will be developed when every person in Zambia can balance calorific intake with body metabolic output .
4. Protects human rights and property and encourages personal responsibility.
The Christian state must ensure that there is adequate security for the protection of individual rights and property. Human rights obviously include responsibilities. We cannot talk about rights without the other. As for the protection of property whether public or private we all have responsibility. To see our most educated children running amok and maliciously vandalising public and private property is shameful. Naturally, theft and plunder of national resources should be condemned and culprits found and punished appropriately when found guilty. It is the duty of the State to enact laws and regulations that will be most effective in bringing this about.
If these things are in our country and abound, we will live in peace as a nation. Indeed if this was so, I would be quiet happy to accept that Zambia is a Christian country, and to me it will not matter whether the President was Buddhist, Hindu, Moslem or atheist or whether it is declared or not! My Bible says that I should pray for those who are in authority so that we live in shalom conditions.
Good thoughts for reflection and debate. Despite religious laws, ethnic faultliness (tribalism) is the main cause of political conflicts all over Africa.
To suggest that God recognizes political boundaries is absurd. The so-called declaration was just a gimmick to fool Zambian people, many who are Christians, into believing that they had voted into power the right people. The fact is Zambia has been ruled by a corrupt click the last 19 years, not God. In the meantime companies and a lot of wealth has been stolen while Zambians have closed their eyes in prayer! To add insult to injury, the deluge of wealth will continue for many more years without Zambians benefiting. It is shocking to see a country declaring itself a Christian nation in this time and age, when the religion has lost in lustre in many parts of the world. The people that brought it to Zambia do not themselves use it. We should have declared African religion instead! :-)
Whats that bible verse that says people will honour me with their mouths but in their hearts they are far from me. That verse best describes the declaration. People love to mouth of how holy they are and yet their deeds are contradictory, the same time chiluba was declaring this was the same time he was plundering. You see the same behaviour with the average zambia who on sunday will be singing loudly clutching their bible while during the week the things they do make the devil smile.
I beg to differ Hitler was never given the title ‘defender of the faith’ by the pope. The pope gave that title to King Henry VIII, before King Henry VIII became a protestant.That is before Henry the VIII got himself another wife.The title was given to him because he had done so much great works in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.
For clarity,What Pope Leo X did was in recognition of the King Henry VIII treaties against Martin Luther king’s doctrines that the title Defender of Faith was given to him (Henry VIII).You can Google it for more details.But Hitler being given that ?
Neither the U.S. nor Great Britain, Ireland or Italy are Christian nations. The only Christian nation is the church comprising people that are born again. If there was such a nation, Jesus would be it’s leader or Head.The Jewish nation missed it because they were expecting a political and military Messiah.On several occasions they tried to make Him King.He was not interested, to put it mildly. To think that suddenly God has turned around to espouse the idea of advancing His Kingdom through political or military means is to perpetuate the age old error. “Truly, truly I say to you;unless a man is born again, he can not see the Kingdom of God”(John 3:3).God’s Kingdom is spiritual and not political,without geographical boundaries.Jesus is it’s Head.Only the church fits that description.
Believing in God is a very broad statement and the Bible says it means nothing, for demons believe in God too but that doesn’t make them Christians (James 2:19).Every religion preaches love for fellow man and God, and a whole bunch of good works. That doesn’t make them a Christian or a child of God for that matter.What really separates people from everyone and everything else is whether or not our faith and allegiance is to Jesus Christ. There’s no constitution or Govt document on earth that bears that simple statement; not even in the U.S.They will say something about God but stay mute about Jesus.Jesus, not God, defines your faith.
ZAMBIA IS A SATANIC NATION RULED BY SATANISTS PERIOD. CHRISTIAN NATION MY ARSE!!
ZAMBIA IS A SATANIC NATION, I REPEAT! THE COUNTRY IS RULED BY CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL.THERE IS NOTHING CHRISTIAN ABOUT THE WAY ZAMBIA IS RUN. A DEMON IN THE NAME OF CHILUBA DECLARED ZAMBIA A CHRISTIAN NATION TO FOOL THE DOCILE BELIEVERS! AND WHILST THEY CLOSED THEIR EYES TO PRAY HIM AND HIS FELLOW SATANISTS HAVE SOLD THE COUNTRY AND ITS WEALTH TO THE DEVIL AND ZAMBIANS WALLOW IN ABJECT POVERTY. EVEN THE DEVIL BELIEVES IN GOD AND JESUS BUT THAT DOES NOT MAKE HIM A CHRISTIAN.
We are a “pretend nation”
Kokoliko bushiku bwacha!! Good Morning Zambia!!
The Kingdom of God is in the hearts of men and women who have been born again not by the will of man, but by the will of God. Mr Chiluba was mistaken and the many ‘wanna be near the President’ Bishops must have been responsible. A nation is not declared Christian as though Christianity is a philosophy or ideology, it is a personal relationship with a Person.
Just delare it a Christian nation and let indoshi complain, the want Zambia circular to bring in the most horrendous ills that plague the western world. We are an ancient people that know their God. So what we are not perfect, only Jesus Christ was so live with it. That declaration will protect us from inhuman things like bestiality and men using fellow men’s spinchter muscles as deposits for proteins.
To be a christian (‘christ like’) means to follow in christ’s steps. Its a personal responsility. so lebeling COUNTRY as a christian is a big joke. It shows lack of understanding of the word ‘christian’ and the responsibilities that come with it. so bwana Ngoma, tho i havent read your too long article, remember that a country, or kingdom cannever be christian. neither is it a responisility of your pope to to give out that title. its purely personal.
Mulekeni King Fred,heaven and earth are in our domain and we shall all be charged &judged right her e on earth before we finally meet our creator.Chiluba must assume the responsibity of taking care of orphans and street kids because he is their architect through his long fingers
Christianity is in ones heart. We have pastors who behave contrary to demands of Christianity, yet when they hold the pulpit they look like they are angels.Do you know that people who have never heard of Christ but do the will of god will inherit the Heavenly Kingdom while those who know Christ and mention his name but fornicate will join Satan in Limbo? This what the declaration means in Zambia, just to pull wool over our eyes.
Good balanced article.
Faith or christianity is the relation one has/shares with God, it doesn’t have to be declared or drecreed to the nation or a people by somene. I strongly feel the declaration by Don Chichi was not done in good faith, he had schemes/intentions/ambitions to hoodwink us, that was all!
Now consider this, we usually don’t get to know the religion our aspirirng leaders pursue, if we happen to vote into plot 1 a muslim, I can bet you a 100% that he will have the powers to declare Zambia a Muslim State! Watch this declaration nonsense closely.
mwabepaneni mukwai
There is nothing in this declaration. One ought to ask himself/herself what benefits this declaration will bring to Zambia. If they are talking about God favoring Zambia because of the declaration, that is very shallow theology. We know that God has no favorites and we know that true religion resides in people’s hearts and not in a piece of paper! God does not need to be reminded by the constitution that he should bestow favor on the nation. In fact, before Chiluba and those pastors declared the nation Christian, things have even gone from bad to worse. There is rampant corruption, the poor are finding themselves in congested prisons while the elite are pardoned by the judiciary and the list goes on and on. We are just cheating ourselves. The declaration has no meaning.
anyone seen the video clip on (YT) where a bunch of muzungu men are washing womens feet in a Zedian makeshift church ‘a practice exercised usually by foot fetishists’ has the church gone to the dogs… what do you say?
Human rights and equality means all humans, not just those that are deemed “acceptable” by society. Zambia can never call itself a Christian nation while the conditions in the prisons remain what they are, and where someone can get three years for stealing two chickens. That is not justice by any means, but especially when being sent to jail threatens your life. Even those that have the charges against them dropped have to pay exorbiant amounts of money to be freed, are at risk for violence while they are there, and may miss vital medicines (like ARVs) while in the cells. Also, respecting human rights means never allowing vigilante justice or domestic violence. I don’t care if you go to church everyday, if you don’t guarantee full legal protection to all people, you’re not a…
Christian.
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