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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