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Can religion be harnessed as a political force for good?
ZANU-PF election poster Photo: Graeme Williams
“Africans are notoriously religious,” asserts John Mbiti in his book
African Religions and Philosophy. However, upon conducting a scan of the socio-political landscape of the continent, one is led to ask, if Africans are so religious then why are they so notorious?
Africa is notorious for its poverty, for its ethnic conflicts and civil wars, for its disease-scourged populations and for its constitutional delinquency.
Why does the religious African have to search for heaven in Europe and other lands? Why can’t she be enabled by her religiosity to create her own heaven here in Africa, here in Zimbabwe? Or has religion’s influence in African politics been too limited to have any palpable impact? Can the power of religion be harnessed and employed as a political force for good?