By the Grace of ...... (controversy rating - MAX)

I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY OFFENCE CAUSED BY THIS BLOG WHICH DEBATES RELIGIOUS BELIEF.  YOU MAY WISH TO STOP READING NOW. 

There is an issue which dramatically divides Zambians and many Europeans, and that is Christianity. It is a sensitive subject, because people here believe very strongly. There are a great variety of churches even in this small town, and they are mostly full on a Sunday. Many people spend several hours each week at services, and pay quite significant amounts to support their church. In fact church buildings and ministers of religion seem to be a success story here - both often bursting at their seams, and the only fat child I have seen in Mfuwe is the daughter of a pastor. 

I of course believe in the enlightenment, Hume and Locke, and from there to Darwin and in modern times to AC Grayling and Richard Dawkins. I think that religion held back the development of science and freedom in Europe. So is Christianity helping or hindering Zambia and Zambians today?

Usually, I try to be diplomatic - when in Rome etc, but today the issues were impossible to ignore. A 30 year old woman with 3 children was brought into the clinic feeling weak and dizzy. She was extremely pale, and our lab measured her Haemoglobin as being 4.3. (normal is from 11 to 16). Haemoglobin is important stuff as it is the chemical that carries oxygen around the body. I have never previously seen anyone with a level under 6. She had been bleeding for a few weeks, and was dangerously ill. I explained that she needed to be sent to the hospital urgently to have the bleeding stopped, and for blood transfusion. Anaesthetics are very dangerous for patients with severe anaemia, so if she does not have a transfusion, her chances are poor. 

I was then told that she was a Jehovah’s Witness, and would not consent to a blood transfusion. I explained (nicely I hope) that this refusal would be likely to result in her children becoming orphans. The response was that they would trust in God, and that with God’s help she would survive. 

I did not say so, but this comment strikes me as crazy, given that everyone here must be only too well aware of many many Christians who have manifestly not been saved by the Almighty from the scourges of HIV, car crashes, crocodiles etc. When I ask the clinic staff how they square this fact with their beliefs they say that those people died because “their time had come”.

The overall philosophy seems to be that one has little direct control over one’s destiny, which is mostly a matter of fate. Maybe prayer helps, and maybe it helps people to accept what happens in life. To someone with my background, this is shockingly fatalistic, and I cannot help blaming the apathy I observe among the clinic staff on their religious faith. 

My interest in this issue gained me an invitation to the New Apostolic Church in Mfuwe last Sunday morning. About a hundred people crowded into a small hall, with about 40 more outside. The service was conducted by the elder along with several deacons, and an unaccompanied choir of about 15 with bass tenor alto and  soprano parts sang a whole succession of hymns beautifully - without the benefit of any sheet music. The service lasted a couple of hours and was in a mixture of Njanja and English. At the appropriate moment all newcomers including me had to stand up and announce themselves. At the end of the service the whole congregation formed a line in order to shake hands with everyone in turn. 

There seems no doubt that people find their religion a great support and a comfort. It is also true that there seems to be very little violence in society generally here, (wife beating excepted) and that people are polite and very friendly. Otherwise moral failings seem generally about as common in Zambia as elsewhere, although a sense of duty and responsibility among  those in authority, ie teachers, nurses etc. seems particularly lacking. The churches have clearly been an obstacle to progress over issues such as the use of condoms, HIV testing, and contraception. 

In the absence of a controlled experiment, we will never know whether Christianity does more good than bad. We may perhaps! see how the present situation pans out over the next 20 years or so. Meanwhile we can speculate and debate.