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stop xenophobia now
“Liberate us from ourselves”: An exploration of the Christian doctrine of humanity in light of the Xenophobic attacks in the Republic of South Africa. May 2015. While anthropologists and sociologists are arguing or deliberating on whether the recent attacks should be termed, “xenophobia” or “afrophobia”, the war rages on. At least thumbs up for these professionals for at least articulating the issue that has hit the current affairs programs on almost every African satellite channel. My question lies in the deep and dark silence of the Christian community. The church has remained silent while its sons and daughters are being butchered, burnt and hacked at with machetes. This piece is a response from a theological perspective. It is imperative to highlight that this paper’s thoughts reflect the thoughts of Rev. Rudorwashe Ronald Shumba. Attacks of this nature are not a new phenomenon on the African continent as we have witnessed extremes of xenophobia in the past. The Rwandan genocide is one such case, another being the Gukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe…even South Africa itself is not spared with the history of xenophobia. This raises a serious question, ‘is it in the nature of Africans to be violent?”Although this history is unbearable it helps us to reflect on the nature of these attacks in South Africa. The term xenophobia suggests that the violence emanates from a strong distaste of people of other ethnic origin other than you that results in fear and ultimately leading to violence. However when God created the human race, God created us in God’s own image (imago Dei) (Genesis1:26ff), this shows us that although we may seemingly look different we are the same. We might speak different languages, come from different countries, have different skin tones but there is something inside of us that was created in the imago Dei. Although some might seemingly be portrayed as the superior cultures or of superior ethnic decent, we are the same when God sees us. If we are the same in God’s eyes then why do we kill each other? My simple answer is that, it is because we do not see ourselves as God sees us. If only we could see the intrinsic value that is in every person we would not hurt each other. There is no way that we would view another brother as less human than we are and deserving to die by our own hands. This means killing another man can be equated to killing the self. A human being cannot be swatted on a wall like a fly because every human being has intrinsic value. The blood of a human cannot be just spilled like that of a chicken. Africa has succeeded to liberate its territory from imperial powers but has failed drastically to liberate herself from herself. When God created Africa it had no demarcations, there was no Congo, Somalia, Eritrea, or Angola but there was Africa for the Africans. It is high time Africans begin to liberate themselves from selfhatred, because hating another African is like hating yourself. We need to liberate ourselves from ourselves. Africa should begin to appreciate the diversity that it has, being the richest among the continents of ethnic diversity. Arise Africa and celebrate unity in diversity in the name of Jesus. stop xenophobia now |
ecumenical Power crossover night
31 Dec 2015- 1 Jan 2020
watch this space
"i foresee great things"
This time i am digging my WELL and its staying so,Devil, buzz off in the mighty name of Jesus
Le
31 Dec 2015- 1 Jan 2020
watch this space
"i foresee great things"
This time i am digging my WELL and its staying so,Devil, buzz off in the mighty name of Jesus
Le
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