A Vision for the Nation

On the hand, the churches in Zambia have strongly called on the retention of the Christian nation declaration in the constitution. Prominent among these has been the Northmead Assembly of God.

By Manja Kamwi, Information Officer MS Zambia

Passionately defending the declaration, church’s Senior Pastor, Bishop Joshua Banda defends the declaration saying it was an issue of identity, a guiding principle and an idea of paying homage to God.

He emphasised that the Christian declaration was bedrock of Zambian people’s unity and advancement.

“Our identity as a people has to do with the things we do. The declaration was an enactment of the things we have already been doing, therefore should not be misinterpreted” he says.

He points back at the peace Zambia has enjoyed as being a fruit of the Christian values the nation is founded on.

Though law experts, like professor Anyangwe from the University of Zambia argues that the Christian Nation Declaration is part and parcel of the constitution and may be justiciable, Bishop Banda continues stating that the declaration is not justiciable, meaning it was not an issue one could be sued about. This, he states, is because it just sets a vision for the nation.

“There has been an erroneous misunderstanding on part of some circles of society pointing to issues such as the declaration being discriminatory, seeking to get the church’s role to the state and, marriage of the church and state,” he says.

He explains that discrimination would have no place as besides the Christian declaration, the constitution allows other religious practices as it further mentions ‘while up holding the freedom to conscious and religion’.

Declaration does not injure

“We currently have a number of mosques and we see our colleagues go there for prayers, a clear sign that the declaration does not injure the other religious practices. Choosing a Christian value has nothing to do with discrimination because Christianity is tolerant of other religions” he says.

On the argument that the declaration seeks to abdicate the role of the church to the state and further see the marriage of church and state, the Bishop says the two have always been separate even with the declaration. He points that at no time had the church left its role to the state.

No need for change

The Bishop further questions the need for change of the declaration.

“A law should be changed if it has brought about harm to the society it is meant to serve. What harm has the Christian declaration brought to this country for anyone to propose its amendment? What mischief has it brought? The majority of the people have spoken that Zambia remains a Christian nation, then where has the wisdom come from for anyone to go against the voice of the people?” he questions.

Commenting on sentiments that the morals in society have declined and the nation is led by non Christian leaders, Bishop Banda says there was no statistical evidence to show that morals have decreased. He argues that corruption levels have always been high, but people just haven’t been free to talk about them.

“The moral conscious of society has improved, as can be seen from the reactions of the public to that time ZNBC screened an unsuitable movie shackles,” he says.

He further points out that, if there was a time when people have abstained from illicit sex, it was the current period, as the message is being spread to the youth in the many churches. He, however, states that it was important for people to understand that HIV/AIDS levels were not an indication of a nation’s morals.

He explains that it would be an extreme expectation to assume that the declaration entails Christian leaders only, as it does not spell out any form of cord of conduct or qualification for leadership contesters, as that is the function of the constitution.

On the reasons why the church in Zambia has been against a secular state (not declared Christian), Bishop Banda says the nation would lose a number of morals held at national level. He cites censorship of harmful material and the lack of national identity as some of the bad sides.

“All moral unprintable would find their way to our young ones. We would lose issues such as of modest marriages between man and woman, because secularism prefers non Christian approaches,” the Bishop says.

He dispels assertions by those against it, that the declaration wont even reduce the high poverty levels and other economical problems. He says the declaration is not meant to solve the people’s problems but it simply gives foundation for a nation to base its beliefs.

Bishop Banda says his church has since started collecting signatures for a petition against removing the Christian nation declaration.

“Over 13900 have been collected and it is amazing even people who are open to say they don’t go church, have come to sign the petition,” he says.

Zambia was declared a Christian nation during the regime of Dr Frederick Chiluba.