Separation of Church & State Not Possible in Africa, Faith Leaders Say

African religious leaders exclaimed before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus Tuesday evening that it is not possible to separate church from state in Africa. U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus

|PIC1|“In the African tradition, religion is a very integral part of our culture. So it is not easy to simply place things in compartments; ‘this is the religious part [and] this is the secular part,’” said South Africa’s Professor Maake Jonathan S. Masango.

“Some scholars have said that Africans are incurably religious. You cannot separate him from his religion; he carries it in his heart, he carries it in his walkman, he carries it even to his examination room.”

As part of The Interfaith Summit on Africa hosted by Church World Service (CWS), more than 45 high-level African faith leaders convened in Washington for dialogue on how U.S. government policies can best meet the major challenges facing the continent. The congressional briefing was held ahead of a three-day conference that includes workshops and presentations by well-known pastors, heads of NGOs (non-governmental organisations), and U.N. and U.S. officials.

Masango, who represents the United Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, continued to explain the intricate history of the importance of faith in African history and culture.

“In traditional African society, the village traditional ruler is also the chief priest of the community and leads the village in religious ceremony,” said the professor. “For us, it is difficult to talk about a separation between the secular man and the religious person.

“Religion is used to bring the community together; religion becomes the judicial system of the people; and religion becomes the basis instilling discipline in the community. That was the structure even before modern civilisation came in...and so for us, [we think it is] quite a disservice to the growth and development of the community when we hear about these very strict separations.”

|PIC2|Mohammed Mahdi Shehu, national secretary of the Bridge Builders Association of Nigeria, voiced his support of the South African professor’s response to a question posed by a member of the Human Rights Caucus.

“In Africa, there is a direct nexus between government and religion and that cannot be wished away,” proclaimed Shehu. “Anybody wishing that away should go and read the history of religion and read the history of Africa and read the history of humanity.”

During the delegation’s address to the caucus, the Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director and CEO of Church World Service, highlighted that Africa is the most underdeveloped continent in the world and African religious leaders should not be “sidelined” in discussion about African issues but rather be “recognised as persons who have a substantive contribution to make in the discourse on human rights and oppression of people as they seek to live their lives in what, in our perspective, God intends for us.”

McCullough summarised the concerns to be addressed during the Interfaith Summit including poverty, water, natural resource, displaced persons, food security, and the role of women in society.

“There is a recognition that the needs are so fundamental, so basic, it doesn’t require 37 billion dollars,” said McCullough, referring to the recent donation of Warren Buffett, the world’s second-richest man, to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Using 5 million dollars and using it much more effectively will achieve a far greater good than simply throwing money at a problem.

“So from the perspective of this community, it is of utmost importance to try to find the ways and means for policymakers such as those in the United States to have a direct engagement with the people to really be able to hear from the people what they understand to be their most basic needs, and to hear their ideas about how the crisis and the situation they confront can be resolved.”

|TOP|Other high-level African Christian leaders present were His Holiness Abune Paulos, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; the Most Rev. Njongonkulu W.H. Ndungane, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa; and Rt. Rev. Dr. Nyansako-ni-Nku, president of the All Africa Conference of Churches which is made up of 135 churches with a population of about 130 million Christians.

“Today, you are all to listen to us because we live in the problem,” said Paulos, following the delegation address to the Caucus. “So everything that we say is something useful for your own decisions.”

Masango, who also believes church and state cannot be separated, concluded, “Actually, it is not very possible in a traditional African society” to separate church and state.

“And we have realised, unfortunately, when we have traveled to the West where this has been fully applied, that it has led more to the decline of modern person and we don’t think it is something good for us to imitate,” he said to the applause and laughter of the African religious leaders and U.S. Human Rights Caucus members.






Michelle Vu
Christian Today Correspondent