Religion in Zimbabwe

Religion in Zimbabwe

Religion in Zimbabwe is a very contentious issue. Mainly because we are a religious people from the days of our forefathers and that makes us different from all other cultures. Contentious issue because we have been fought by forcise of evil and deceit to the extend of getting so confused that it is now normal to see a family no longer on talking terms among themselves because of issues of religion.

I will trace back from the early days of precolonial history of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean people mainly of the Shona race were under ancestral spirits, and the centre of governance were the spirit mediums. These were the people who installed chiefs and that by its positioning meant that the chief’s power was derived from their obedience to the order of the spirit mediums.We talk of Chaminuka, Mutota, Murenga, Nehanda, Gwangwadza, Gondondo and many more that we may mention etc. as the centres of power. These were the centre forces of the African religion.

Midzimu determined where to build your houses, which forests to go hunting and which not to hunt in. Midzimu communicated a code of conduct for each particular dunhu/administrative area. They chose the ‘sabath day’ (Chisi) among their people. They had the power to summon the rains and the rains would come. They would prophesy and prepare their people aginst draught, invasions etc. The spirit mediums advised on what to do and where to go in times of war etc. Also the process of choosing the chief/mambo, where three men from a chiefstainship clan would be selected by midzimu, brouht forward, given bute/snuff to hold tight into their closed palms and three times thrown deep into river pond and see which of them would come out with the snuff dry.

Therefore, this was the centre of authority where all chiefstainship authority was derived from. And thios is also where punishments came from. If one was found to be in acts of misconduct and a punishment was meted, all would see exactly that happen.The Zimbabwean people believed and worshiped that. This worked for the shona people and they maintained that always as their religion.

Chaminuka of Dumbwiza(Chitungwiza), told of the coming of the whites, which is well documented. He told of these people’s cunning and evil ways against the national people’s governance and religion. He advised against allowing them any space at all. And he also warned of their mighty power which would defeat the native chiefs and their chiefdom. This all happened. So the shona people remained steadfast. Nehanda commanded the first Chimurenga war. He directed how the fighters should behave and warned against touching any of the whiteman’s things. On the breaking of whjich rules was a defeat for the fighters and subsequently came a demise of the ancestral spirit worship. That was the fall of the Shona rulership and with it the beginning of the fall of the shona culture.

When the whiteman came, they made sure they destroyed that religion first. This again is most dicumented. The whiteman quickly searched and understood where the shona kingdom power derived from. They then went on the hunt for all the prominent spirit mediums and slaughtered them. In a conclusive brutal stop to a shona resistance. They knew that the shona had a religion. They knew that you could not defeat the shona if you let loose their religion and religious practises. And their hunt for the kill went on into the second Chimurenga era, and many spirit mediums too were murdered. They were murdered for the very simple reason of practising an own religion which their only source of solace and source of power.

The spirit mediums blessed the second Chimurenga. Many religious songs were sung to go with that. The war went on and even a simple Mujibha and Chimbwido would tell you it was a sacred war. It was a religious war. And the religion won. If it were not for the religion and if it were not for the worship, the whiteman would have won. But our Zimbabwean religion won the war!

The Great Betrayal! We did not have religious leaders. We did not get religious leaders into the rank and file of ruleship. We got too too excited to recognise and maintain our religion. The liberation war leaders came back on Independence, grabbed power, grabbed influence away, grabbed women, money and all resources of their choice, and they stuck away with their families. They stuck away, far far away from the religion, from the religious leadership and religious influence, and they shunned all that. Also they stuck away and shunned even the religious advice that won them the war and the power and the priviledged.

Education. That too we grabbed. Not that there is anything wrong with being educated but what type of education. The very educational curriculum that destroys us, that destroyed us that which shuns us as a people is what we grabbed and celebrated and glorified. Thsi brought a devout clinging to the bible. The Christian bible which teaches us that there is a Jesus who curses our religion and a Jesus who says serve the whiteman, remain poor so that you will be rewarded in heaven And so we grabbed the Christian religion and that one many follow, especially the current generation, the young and tomorrow generation.

Leadership. That too we grabbed and in that we brought the same same people who were shunned by our religion. And those we celebrated and glorified and in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation we trusted and promoted at the expense of our own. At the expense of our own religion. Our own religion that brought us independence.

Culture. Theirs too we grabbed. And our own we ignored and discarded. All this happened with the blessings of our very powerful and most learned leaders. The very leaders who are still in power today, and have brought our religious Zimbabwe down to its waist.

The War Values. These we abandoned. But these remain the key to a change to our fortune. The war values as dictated by our religion. Through our religious leaders. And so we remain a lost people, a people who shunned an own religion in favour of a foregn religion. The very foregners who became our tormenter, the very foregners who are our tormenters and very foregners who are jeering our ‘new democratic’ leaders. Zimbabwe, a religious people a confused culture,all because of a shunning of a true African religion.

By: Masimba Murambiwa
A religious person in the diaspora with a keen interest on the matters of African History and African Rennaissance

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11 Responses to Religion in Zimbabwe

  1. Daedal August 24, 2009 at 1:17 am #

    Interesting post. what do you believe in? that the true religion of Zimbabwe, of worshiping spirit mediums is lost thus we’re lost? do you believe to be in control of our land we should go back to believing in spirit mediums; the true African religion. Do you also believe that foreign religion, which I believe you mean the Word of God, promotes us to worship the white man and always remain poor?

    I believe the WORD of God is the only way, always has been the only way. We, as a people have interpretated it in our own way, thus believing it makes us worship the white man and remaining poor. We don’t need to go back believing in spirit mediums to be in control of our land or prosper. We need to be one in thought, which has nothing to do with religion. I do not believe in religion too, because it forces us to conform to a ceratin way that is not our true identity. Religion makes us dress a certain way, act a certain way because someone says so, who, a religious leader, who is human, and thus may have is own understanding of the Word which has nothing to do with the Bible. That’s way there is confusion…..worshiping the white man, being poor, a loss of identity which makes us want to act white, etc.

    If you have a persoanl relationship with God, hence have the Holy Spirit in you, you’ll know how to behave accordingly, no one (human) needs to tell you how. You’ll prosper because God wants us to prosper. God doesn’t want us to worship idols.

    Thank you for the post, it was very enlightening. I would be interested to know your own believes.

    • Veronica July 18, 2018 at 5:32 pm #

      Do you live in Zimbabwe?As a born again christian I would like to know if you know a a fellowship group in Zimbabwe that is non denominational and what is the name…Thank you for responding

  2. Samantha Thomas September 15, 2010 at 3:41 am #

    it doesn’t matter what religion you have, just do good and avoid evil,`*

  3. Kitchen Units  October 14, 2010 at 8:54 am #

    it does not matter what religion you have, just do good things on this world*,”

  4. Kaitlin @ True Religion Boutique November 4, 2010 at 5:47 pm #

    Hello, just doing some research for my True Religion site. Lots of information out there. Not quite what I was looking for, but good site. Have a nice day.

  5. Mzansi December 9, 2010 at 11:51 pm #

    I encourage you to accept Christ as he is the only way to salvation. Worshipping ancestors is superstition; a false notion that does not lead to God. I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you to see and have an understanding of Jesus. It is because of the war that all the problems we are having now are troubling us. Let us repent and ask God for forgiveness. Christianity was not meant for the white man, but for everyone.

  6. Cuthy March 19, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    we should all learn to acknowledge the existence of many different religions some which were there even before Christianity. No religion Is better or superior that the other, we should not be prejudice and judging other religions, as as long as they don’t harm anyone or anything, zvakakonzera hondo nendufu kwakawanda kwazvo. even Jesus died because of this.
    In don’t matter what the author or any1 believe in, whether Jew , Christian, Muslim, Judaism,Hinduism,Buddhism, Scientology,African traditions or non believer. we should learn to live with each other in peace. all humans are like.

  7. illumi August 25, 2011 at 3:24 pm #

    before 1896, there was no God//Jesus etc to our ancestors, what a shame that you claim something that was forced with blood and domination and deny the possibility that vanaambuya nasekuru venyu knew more than you give them credit for and that maybe, just may be they were actually thriving better than you might without (ac)knowledge of your past, however you choose to call it.

  8. Nyika chaza April 23, 2012 at 5:34 pm #

    Nhai vanhu vaishe chinonzi chinamato chakanaka chose chinehwaro hweRUDO so what ever yo believe in is ok provided its aim is not to hart

  9. jo June 15, 2014 at 2:41 pm #

    The Bible doesn’t say Education. That too we grabbed. Not that there is anything wrong with being educated but what type of education. The very educational curriculum that destroys us, that destroyed us that which shuns us as a people is what we grabbed and celebrated and glorified. Thsi brought a devout clinging to the bible.

    ( The Christian bible which teaches us that there is a Jesus who curses our religion and a Jesus who says serve the whiteman, remain poor so that you will be rewarded in heaven)

    I HAVE A QUESTION? WHERE DOES THE BIBLE SAY SERVE THE WHITEMAN? AND STAY POOR??? JESUS WAS NOT A WHITE MAN, HE WAS BORN ISRALITE.
    AND HE SAYS, GIVE AND YOU WILL GET REWARDED!

    And so we grabbed the Christian religion and that one many follow, especially the current generation, the young and tomorrow generation

  10. masibanda October 9, 2018 at 4:21 pm #

    God was known to Africans especially in Zimbabwe, however a long way was being used just like in all the religions we have the A.T.R. used the mediums to communicate with their Gods who where responsible for various ministries. The coming of Christianity eased the communication with the Almighty in that through Jesus Christ and in him alone is the communication possible . This made the long way short, only to those that believe and receive him. It is a choice.The word is him to those who received the word they are the children of God.In Zimbabwe generally the power of prayer can not be under estimated it is yielding results to many.

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