The delusion: Malawi a secular state?
The article on Nyasa Times, “Malawi not secular state…” http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi-not-secular-state-says-catholic-cleric/ caught my attention and compelled me to make a contribution. As a pro-life advocate in the just ended “Citizen March for Life” – I am in agreement with Fr. Saindi’s arguments that the current portrayal of Malawi as a secular state is false, in other words a delusion.
It is convenient only to the nature in which modern democracies are structured and their touted separation of Church and Politics philosophy. But we know that much as this may be touted as a fact in Malawi, in many other African countries and indeed elsewhere, this fact is not true – in other words it is false.
The Perspective
My assumption is that every rational human being understands the differences among concepts of fact, reality and truth. I am not a philosopher, but I appreciate the fact that sometimes facts are confused for truth only for this perception to change again. This clear example can be found in Text-Book Editions, where with every new edition some information considered true in previous versions gets to be reviewed and sometimes become obsolete and rejected! How many planets or galaxies did you get to learn in school? How much of what you used to know to be “true” has changed over the years?
Dare citing a First Edition Textbook to your professor in the course that has a 16th Edition and see if you would pass a grade! And yet, the contents of the first Edition would have produced graduates proclaiming factual (true) of the very content of the Edition that is now discarded! Facts are not always true and yet popularized as REAL in the social construction of prevailing ideas. This is to say also, that there are so many truths out there that although not factual, they are real! Just because the facts are not manifest does not mean they are not real.
Take as an example The Concept of God. How many have seen Him? And yet the workings of the cosmos has made a majority, including myself, a believer in creationism or intelligent design, believe in this reality to be true.
The Burden of Proof
Show me a NATION in this whole worldwide that is founded on non-Godliness or Secularism and I am going to resign my stand! Perhaps I need to be educated on the meaning of secular. Either nation states are religious, both religious and secular, or none of these. My experience however is that all nations of the earth are primarily FOUNDED religious (creationism) and tilting the Darwinist on the pendulum (secular or evolution).
States insignia of many a nation still tilt towards religion – examples being National Anthems; beginning ceremonies with a prayer and finishing with a prayer; swearing in ceremonies using Holy Symbols and even the personal names we bear – all these go a long way to confirm that the touted separation between church and state is academic after all; it is an illusion, if not a delusion.
So What Should We Make of Citizen March For Life?
If we agree God exist even though we have never seen Him then faith in the WORD believed to be from God need be matched with action (works). I mean it was in order for them to march proclaiming what it is they believe God teaches, so that they can exonerate themselves from a proverbial foolish watchman who having seen a robber coming chose not to raise an alarm or blow a trumpet until the robbery was accomplished and the guilt was pronounced on him.
We are living in difficult challenging times and we need people that can put on the wholistic armour and stand the vile of the deceiver (it could mean imperialism or foreign domination). This is not the time to hide behind some political correctness and be neutral about a value; there is simply no sitting on the fence, in some non-allied movement (NAM) fashion, popularized by Third World countries who did not want to antagonize their relationships with either the West or East Asia in the Era of Cold War.
Remember the famous mantra “Dziko losagwera munkhani za eni?” In the issues of sanctity of life and marriage, it is either you are cold or hot – a lukewarmer attitude or standpoint is not a choice. The marchers had a commission and mission to fulfill by going out there to bring the message of remembrance to the world about the meaning of life, and fundamental principles, and the desecration thereof. They are watchmen who having seen the sword of destruction coming did the right thing to blow the trumpet to warn the people (call them law makers or human rights activists of doom); so that if their lives are taken, I mean eternally, it will have been taken after receiving the warning; the master would then exonerate watchmen of any guilt and will not be held accountable – this is faith at work.
My Take on What They Marched For
I for one, I strongly refuse to accept the tags, “safe versus unsafe abortion”. There is no such thing as safe abortion! Issues of abortion and marriage are existential and usually cut across the person’s physical, emotional/psychological, spiritual and social lives. If one wants to argue safety by the mere fact that the woman’s physical life has been preserved when undertaking an abortion, where does this leave emotional and spiritual safety in the aftermath of abortion? How do we ascertain it?
There is a paradox here of physical and psychological safety in abortion that need not be dismissed. Safety physically does not equal safety psychologically or spiritually. Abortion has psychosocial scars which tend to be much more enduring than are physical scars. I believe that Pregnancy Termination Guilt stand to haunt individuals in their twilights when faith begins to take a much more important dimension from the juvenile decisions of adolescence and early adulthood.
There is also a term often used as a pretext for legalizing abortion, “unwanted pregnancy”. In the breadth of this discussion and with the exception of rare cases of rape-pregnancies, no pregnancy can be deemed “unwanted or unexpected” but rather “unplanned”. Teenagers or indeed women know the consequences of unprotected sex is pregnancy – it’s just that they have a mythical and egocentric knowledge about sexuality sometimes i.e. one cannot get pregnant by having sexual intercourse once!
In this case termination of pregnancy may come from fear of the consequences from the authority figures and rejection of responsibility by a man – for something which is wanted for procreation of human species but coming at the wrong time. We need to be cognizant of the fact that the high rate of all so called “unwanted” pregnancies worldwide are NOT out of defilement/rape but “non-readiness” due to juvenile passion/lust and incompetent negotiation skills about sex. Now is the solution termination or inculcation of responsibility and facilitating learning from the mistakes? It is better to have the unexpected child than endure the long-lasting emotional and spiritual scars of abortion.
Conclusion
I affirm the right for people of faith to march in order to evangelize that which they believe in! I empathize with those of a different view but this does not stop me from affirming their preservative action! Yes I have shortfalls because there are some things that I want to do in life but I find myself not doing them and there are things I do not want to do and yet I find myself doing them; damned me!
Yet I celebrate in the gift of this self-awareness, this conscience which energizes me towards doing the right thing that is edifying before God. It is high time we concentrated on strengthening the FAMILY (parenting) to bring up responsible children who can know the right way and take responsibility of their actions. Parents have put too much confidence in evolution-based social institutions while taking a back-sit!
What do you expect from a world where semi-naked to naked celebrities have become children’s role models? Where the capitalistic agenda is promoted above the moral agenda? You strengthen the family and help it to sober up!
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Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
Malawian Thinker, I agree with you absolutely that education is on of the way to free the mind. However its important that , “While education makes one knowledgeable, it is not to everybody that it removes foolishness”; “Some people go through education and others education go through them”. A law like that of abortion will open a door to indiscriminate termination. Know that there are so me would be aborted, “first borns, out-of wedlock children”, who are big shots in society just because their parents chose not to abort. Not all children that come out of unplanned pregnancies develop to have a poor self-esteem, just like not all children that come out of planned-two-household headed families grow up with a high self-esteem. Lets give life a chance.
@Ndumanene Silungwe
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
people right now people are carrying out abortions at will with the poor using cassava stems and die while the rich go to private clinics and live so why not level the playing field pass this bill and let those who decide to carry out abortion do it. The church and the mosque should preach to the people that abortion is a sin before GOD those who indulge in it will perish . The battle is for the LORD Amen.
@Ndumanene Silungwe
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
@Ndumanene Silungwe.
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
What a powerful defence!
It is through a corruption of life’s meaning that has made many to demean living.When man is just mass of tissue devoid of life(living soul) he is indeed lost.He treats himself as trash.How then can he learn to value gifts of life (babies).? A secular or Humanistic view of life is rooted is selfishness. If killing(abortion) is bein inhumane then what is humane abt these killings.
I hear thy invoke words like incest, rape ……to perfect their justfication to appeal to believers to accept legalising abortion.Its suprisingly funny how they fail to reconcile the number of rapist in police cells and that of rape or incest victims in hospital wards.
One thing I hate about you religious right-wing hypocrites is that “You don’t care about children.
You care about fetuses”. Once those fetuses begin to breath outside the womb, your concern is gone if they’re born into a poor family that needs help.
Or how about poor children who are in school. let’s not even talk about free food for kids. What is wrong with you people??? There is no better investment that we can make as a nation than in the early childhood health of our children. While those young children roam around town without shoes, not even talking of food or even a place to call home, the busy men who call themselves holy men of God will be sleeping in their super comfortable beds and driving posh cars, the kids whose life they fought for don’t even go to school and they don’t even care. Legalising abortion doesnt mean all the pregnant women will suddenly line up at the hospital to abort and then the Malawian population will go down overnight, that is shallow thinking, wake up! By the way, most of these conservative people are rich, they dont know anything about poverty and suffering.
The problem is not about religious people, the problem is both the society we are living in, in terms of crime and insecurity which result into some people falling victim of sexual crimes and secondly the problem is immature decisions and irresponsibility that have people that are not ready to take care of children having them. Invest in education and make people empowered and in security and make people protected!!! Abortion legislation is treating a symptom not the ROOT! Address the root cause of a problem.
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
Investment in education, security and empowerment comes with development. We can’t develop with the current mindset of Malawians and Africans in general. You would be surprised and disappointed that today, girls as young as 14 are being married off to old men by their proudly-African-cultural-custodian kinsmen. If we have to “adress the ROOT cause not the symptom” then we have to focus on how we can develop as a people first rather than going around policing what people do in theit bedrooms and with their lives. Otherwise, I bet you we are going nowhere, decades later we will still be the least developed nation in the world. Too bad, but its just the facts of reality, and one thing that is difficult to control is the fact that with each younger generation, the world becomes a more liberal place, and we can’t stay here forever keeping our rules.
What does it mean to be secular? In his book A Secular Age, Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor identified three different forms of secularism.
First, secularism can mean the complete removal of God and religion from the public sphere. France has this version of secularism. Children attending government-funded schools in France are prohibited from wearing overt religious symbols – as are public officials. This version of secularism is sometimes described as a strict separation of church and state, or in France as laïcité. This form of secularism does not necessarily mean a decrease in religious belief by the population. Instead, religion is simply removed to the private sphere. The state can be secular while its population is religious.
The second form of secularism concerns the level of religiosity of the population. In this version, there is a measurable reduction in religious belief and practice. This may occur even where the state still supports religion. This has already taken place in much of Western Europe. For example, in the United Kingdom a significant proportion of the population identify with having no religion, despite the Church of England still being the established church. In this version, the people are atheistic while the state may be religious.
In the third version of secularism, religious belief is just one option for both the state and its people. Religion is not removed from the public sphere; rather it is just once voice among many, including those with no religion. As a result, a state may have a relatively high level of interaction with religion and still be considered secular so long as the state does not endorse one religion to the exclusion of other points of view. Countries that conform to this form of secularism may also be described as religiously plural.
Ultimately, whether or not you consider Malawi secular will depend on the definition of secularism you use. The best fit for Malawi is arguably Taylor’s third form of secularism. Malawi’s population is predominantly religious. This rules out Taylor’s second form of secularism. Malawi is a secular country but it is not one where the majority of the population has turned their backs on religion. Nor is Malawi a country where the state does not interact with religion. Secularism in Malawi means giving people a choice between belief and un-belief. It means religious leaders may lobby for their point of view but so too may leaders of atheist, humanist, and rationalist organizations. Accommodating Islamic or Christian (or any other religion’s) practices does not transform Malawi into a Muslim or Christian country. Malawi is still secular, but it has a form of secularism where religion is allowed in the public sphere. As long as religion remains one voice among many and one option among many, Malawi will remain a secular country. For those who advocate a strict separation of church and state, as in Taylor’s first form of secularism, this is likely to be an uncomfortable conclusion. For those who support this position the only way in which a country can truly live up to the ideals of secularism is if religion is completely separated from the state and as a consequence removed almost completely from the public sphere. Those who take this position are not wrong; this is one possible meaning of secularism. However, it is not the only meaning. The definition of secularism you choose will ultimately determine your answer to the question: Is Malawi a secular country?
Well defined, Thank you. And yet as you have concluded, it is truly a wachiona ndani situation? Thus even to make a conclusion that Malawi is a SECULAR STATE begs the question of what is a RELIGIOUS STATE? In which case, a number of the similar definitions as the ones above will emerge – from completely religious, somehow religious, low religious. Can’t you then agree with me that even countries that call themselves CHRISTIAN or ISLAMIC do not meet there touted definitions 100%? In short the third definition gives away Malawi to a highest degree of a RELIGIOUS country, not secular, because the majority of its citizens profess one form of religion or another and publicly do so whether in state or private functions. Wouldn’t you agree then that all this talk is academic/philosophical? A push for a SECULAR social construction?
Well well well! I think the problem at hand is much more deeper…such that a demonstration on a bill will not result to women or girls stopping abortion. The church should ask itself hard questions such as: why is their own flock aborting pregnancies in excess of 70,000 per annum? My take is not against the church for we are indeed religious people. But the church has a much bigger challenge/role more than just the demonstrations!
I agree, I have pointed this out in the conclusion how these are difficult days. As long as the church is seen as part of the solution not a problem that is OK. An eye, ear, mouth, hand, legs must all contribute to making things happen. They are both strong and weak in their individual capacities. Aren’t they?
Well articulated post and comments indeed. But I have a problem which I need the writer of this post to guide me. If you have a situation where armed robbers find a lone woman in the house and after the robbery the woman is raped resulting into pregnancy. This woman has a husband who is in his third year in J’burg. What can be the right solution for the two(wife and husband)? Another scenario can be that a well known mad man in the area rapes your wife while you are away for a 2 months relief. After a week medical results show that the wife has conceived. What should the family do? Should they keep that pregnancy for nine months and keep the family intact while that mad man is still hovering in the area to the knowledge of the whole community? I wished those who are commenting here should first give the source of a particular pregnancy and why it should not be terminated. There are many origins of pregnancies. Not all of them are willingly as examples given above. Please guide the readers what should they do if met with the two scenarios?
My brother, what you have indicated are RARE cases. That is the problem of INSECURITY and those that deal with issues of INSECURITY in a country must take responsibility to secure you and me. You cannot use a laxity of another responsibility holder to legislate a law elsewhere due to their incompetence. There is a much more greater syndicate and sinister agendas about anti-abortion law than meets the eye!! Talk of population engineering of certain groups etc.. Lets address the ROOTS of abortion not SIGNS and SYMPTOMS of it! Crooks will take advantage of the law to undertake abortion for any trivial cases (after all enforcement and monitoring of how a law is being enforced is always a problem); is this what you want?
Thanks so much Devlin. May god bless you. Wakula ndi umbuli ndi dyera mMalawi muno.
Devline, well done. This is one of the best articles and arguments I have read this year. You are just right in every part of it. I for one strongly support the motion. Big up. Sometimes when you listen to arguments put up by ‘briefcase CSOs’ who are pro-abortion, you really wonder what sort of human being they are and what are they promoting, who are they trying to impress. @ Malawi, let us desist from selling our conscience for money. Our ability to think and reason should not just be given out on a silver platter in exchange for a few US dollars. This is sad. In his book, “Known from the things that are”, Ludweig Veigestein, said ” whereof one can not speak distinctly, thereof one must be silent.” my advice to Mr. Trapence.
Great Lovemore, lets keep the debate going. Its an emotive issue obviously and we must remain level headed!
‘Sound and fury, signifying – nothing.’ Quite simply, if the separation of church and state is declared in the constitution, or if legislation has been passed so declaring this separation, Malawi is a secular state. As no such declaration or legislation exists, Malawi is not a secular state.
Complex world we are living in… isn’t it?
I agree. Malawi is not a secular state, rather it is a Republic and leaders govern based on wishes of the public. the faith community that matched is part of the public. We should never have laws that sanction murder in the name of abortion. As father Saindi said. we all alive here enjoying life and we have no business putting laws to terminate/not terminate pregnancy. Nanunso ma CSO dyera-ndalama za HIV zathat ndiye mwati mugulitse dziko ndi zimenezi
Great write up. Vuto ndiloti a Malawi ambiri sawerenga cause sakonda kuwerenga!
We encourage each other to absorb ourselves in searching for knowledge. I agree with you that the lack of reading culture has made us be carried alone by the non-search arguments of others. Let all ideas come out, be examined and those that make more meaning carry the day.