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NewsDay

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Rain, like food, is for all of us

Columnists
PRAYER is no substitute for work. Religion is not for cry-babies who never make an effort, or for leaders who use the Church, and indeed God, to cover up for them.

PRAYER is no substitute for work. Religion is not for cry-babies who never make an effort, or for leaders who use the Church, and indeed God, to cover up for them. If you have not done your duty, do not ask God to do it for you.

Prayer is for workers. Prayer is a motivating force. It empowers you to accept responsibility. It enables you to take care, to give all you have got, to serve the people rather than to exploit them.

There is little rain this year. We pray for rain to come and fill our rivers and dams, to soak the earth and fill up the underground reservoirs.

Water is life. Water is a gift. We thank God for it. Do we also make the best possible use of it? Or do we waste it?

There have always been droughts resulting in poor harvests and famine. People knew how to deal with such troubles. They stored “Zunde Ramambo” grain for a drought year. The Creator gave us brains and hands, so we can grow the food we cry for.

Unfortunately, there is no longer a “Zunde Ramambo”. So we are fed by foreign countries and their NGOs. If the food falls into the hands of politicians, it becomes “politicised”. Non-party members are left to starve — which is a crime against humanity. Planet Earth has plenty of water. But does it reach us? How is it distributed? Is it clean and healthy? These are questions we ourselves have to answer. Don’t blame the Owner of the Universe.

The times of rainfall seem not to be the same anymore. The right order has been confused. Rising temperatures are melting the ice at the poles, sea levels rise, coastal populations are threatened, lakes are losing water, deserts spread and forests die. Underground reservoirs no longer give us sufficient supplies and boreholes may soon run dry.

People rush for cover from heavy rainfall on Thursday. Picture: Hilary Samuwi

“Climate change” is a general warming of temperatures. “Greenhouse gases” (carbon dioxide) are blamed. Our energy consumption has become excessive.

“Concentrated in the atmosphere, these gases do not allow the warmth of the sun’s rays reflected by the Earth to be dispersed in space. The problem is aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system. Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforestation for agricultural purposes.” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si, The Earth Our Common Home, Number 23).

In other words, do not blame Divinity, but let us blame ourselves for having upset the delicate balance of nature. Excessive use of energy (motor cars, industry, coal-fired power stations, etc) is overheating the atmosphere. Droughts and excessive rainfall, hurricanes and tornadoes are the consequence. We humans are responsible while our leaders like to pass the buck.

In this case they find the Church and church people quite useful. Let them sort this out. Make them pray and forget about us in government. Otherwise they might even think it is our fault.

“The Church must not meddle in politics.” But if politics meddles in the Church, that is something else. “Aren’t we in overall control and have unlimited power?”

“While the State and the Church are independent and autonomous in their spheres, both are at the service of the people.” (Catholic Bishops in a statement on April 17, 1980, on the eve of our Independence). Some “men of God” serve primarily the interests of the State. “Test the spirits and see if they are from God.” (1 John 4: 1) The church of truth does not pander to Pilate and Herod, and tyrants of all ages.

There is freedom of conscience, and the State is not to interfere in people’s religion (Constitution of Zimbabwe, No 60). If leaders wish to pray for rain, for a good harvest, for food for all, let them do so. The Church is doing that anyway. Let them join.

But we expect them to be sincere. What is the point of praying for rain so that we may have good crops and can feed everybody if that food is “politicised” and handed out only to party friends? What is the point of praying to God “who sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike,” and then starve the poor and wreck their shelters?

Maybe it is better not to pray if you are not truthful.

Or do pray, but only when you are ready to make a U-turn in your life, face the truth and grant mercy to your opponents.