Church and Politics in Zambia 1950-1991
Date
2015-04-13
Authors
Chileshe, Musonda Margaret
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Abstract
The study is an investigation on how the Church was involved in the creation of democratisation of politics in Zambia up to the end of UNIP era. The term Church in this study represented the three Church mother bodies; the Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC). Politics refer to the political governing bodies in the history of Zambia that used their power in public life to influence decisions which affected country; the colonial government, United Independence Party’s Government and its Central Committee leadership and Parliament.
The study first focused on the introduction and historical background to the study and reviewed works by different scholars which were relevant to the study. It then went on to discuss the characteristics and activities of the colonial Church in the face of nationalism in the last decade of the colonial era before looking at how the Church-State relations changed after the attainment of independence in 1964. How the Church responded to the social (introduction of the ideology of Humanism), economic (Nationalisation/Zambianisation) and political (the introduction of one-party rule) challenges brought about by black majority rule and to the crisis brought about by the Lumpa uprising have also been taken into account.
Lastly the study argued that the Church put up spirited fights when faced with challenges and brought to light the fact that the Church was a visible player in Zambia’s political history and as a force behind Zambia’s changing social, economic and political landscape from 1950 – 1991.
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Religion and Politics-Zambia , Church and State-Zambia