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Minister Lazarus Dokora

Gwinyai Mutongi Correspondent
The livid reactions that have preceded the introduction of the official National Schools Pledge on May 3, 2016 affords a worrying and frightening glimpse into possible religious intolerance and extremism in Zimbabwe, whose sour after-taste spurred this article. Not less than two litigation cases against the Pledge by Christians were filed at the High Court with a deluge of other stinging criticism going viral on WhatsApp and shared on other social media platforms.

Before analysing the unwarranted criticisms, especially by the so-called Christian groups, which may yet be revealed to contain a layer of opposition and imperialist politics, it would be helpful to outline what the National School Pledge says.

The Pledge says:

“Almighty God, In whose Hands Our Future lies:

I salute the national Flag

United in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equality

Respecting the brave fathers and mothers

Who lost lives in the Chimurenga/Umvukela and National Liberation Struggles

We are proud inheritors of the richness of our natural resources

We are proud creators and participants in our vibrant traditions and cultures

We commit to honesty and dignity of hard work.”

To any religiously sober person, the Pledge evokes the true patriotic spirit of being a Zimbabwean and is simply as innocuous as others productively recited in the US, South Africa, Nigeria and other countries.

It is a wonder where opponents of the Pledge are gleaning all the evil they claim is inherent in the Pledge and why they are calling for its boycott.

The Christian litigants and their social media ilk claim that the Pledge fouls their religion as it allegedly promotes ancestral worship.

They also claim that the Pledge violates the Constitution and some biblical teachings on oaths, vows and swearing.

In one scathing statement, the critics claim that; “Christians need to raise their bar in terms of standing up because there is an agenda to bring Islam into institutions of learning and there is a strategic document already to implement — you might want to know that the Minister himself is Islam.”

This is an expression of fear, fear of Islam, globally known as Islamophobia.

It is a mark of religious intolerance that feeds into religious and political extremism.

Worldwide, religious intolerance breeds wars and barbaric terrorist attacks.

The most callous and inhumane killings witnessed so far in Nigeria, Kenya, France, Syria and many other countries in the world targeted by terrorists were linked to religious extremism and intolerance. With nowhere in the Pledge where Islam is hinted and let alone mentioned, it is surprising that the Christian proselytes talk about the so-called imminent introduction of Islam into institutions of learning.

It is clear that some intolerant religious mavericks are taking advantage of the introduction of the National Pledge to throw brickbats at Islam and also besmirch the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora, for his supposed religious beliefs.

What these rabble rousers are oblivious of is that Zimbabwe is a multi-faith nation that does not belong to Christians only but is also home to believers in traditional religion, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and several other religions equally sharing the religious plane.

What should be drilled in their thick heads is that they do not have title deeds to the religious space in the country and should not seek to unnecessarily stoke religious conflicts in our peaceful nation.

On its worst scale, Islamophobia is being used by western nations to justify and fuel the so-called fight against terrorism in several Arab nations, whose indefinite tenure and indiscriminate death toll is disturbing and genocidal.

Like their western mentors, some local Christian lobbyists are using cheap scare tactics to instil fear in followers as a way to stir them into fighting Islam.

In Zimbabwe, we hear atrocious and unsubstantiated claims that Minister Dokora has been bribed by Moslems, who have an alleged grand scheme to build several schools in the country in a bid to push out Christianity.

Others talk of plans to replace the Lord’s Prayer with the National School Pledge, while other equally irresponsible Christians claim that Government wants to ban Scripture Unions in schools.

All this is false.

However, it is not surprising that behind the anti-Islam crusade are prominent opposition political activists, whose bread has always been buttered by denigrating any nationalistic initiatives championed by Government.

It is therefore no wonder that long-forgotten vessels of neo-imperialism such as Brian Tamuka Kagoro have risen from their political ashes to use Twitter to unashamedly slate the National School Pledge.

The decades-old link between imperialism and Christianity could once again be rearing its ugly head.

We could again be witnessing Christianity being used by imperialists as a Trojan horse to block and trash other non-Western beliefs and practices, and like they did with ancestral worship in Zimbabwe during colonialism and after, push other religions to near extinction.

If all the Moslems, Hindu and traditionalists have silently endured the indoctrination of Christian practices such as the reciting of the Lord’s prayer at all schools, use of the Bible for public oaths in courts or Parliament, studying of the Bible under the Religious and Moral Education (RME) or Divinity subject and learning at purely Christian schools and colleges, what is wrong with the Moslem establishing their own schools.

It is the height of hypocrisy and rabid intolerance for Christians to now cry foul when other religions are supposedly seeking to establish their own learning centres or practice their own beliefs.

Christians should restrain themselves and allow other religions to flourish without malice.

Zimbabwe is constitutionally a multi-faith nation and that should be respected by all and sundry.