Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
LAST week, the Forward in Faith Church International Incorporated (FIFCII), better known as ZAOGA, found itself unexpectedly in the headlines in Scotland.
Not all publicity is good and on this occasion, the church founded by Apostle Ezekiel Guti in 1960 found itself in the cross-hairs of self-proclaimed champions of Scottish culture.
There was an uproar from “activists”, the papers claimed, who were disgruntled that the church, already popular in other parts of the British Isles, was expanding deeper into Scotland.
According to Scotland’s Daily Record, FIFCII has secured approval from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), to expand its operations in major cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, having already bought property in Edinburgh designated as their Scottish headquarters.
This mooted expansion, various papers claimed, was unacceptable as its practices clashed with Scottish values.
For example, Edinburg Live claimed that ZAOGA had indulged in what it termed “gay exorcism”, a jarring practice given that Scotland was making moves towards outlawing conversion therapy that interferes with a person’s gender identity or sexual preferences.
“This organisation promotes vicious homophobia and misogyny, and may well be endangering lives with reckless allegations of witchcraft,” said National Secular Society (NSS) human rights leader Alejandro Sanchez. Any suggestion it is acting for the public benefit and worthy of charitable status is absurd. We know from experience OSCR has been either unable or unwilling to take action against religious charities that foster intolerance and extreme views. It is now time for legislators to urgently review “the advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose. It must not be used as a back door for religious groups to promote conversion therapy and the subjugation of women.”
This is not the first time that the ways of Zimbabwean religious denominations and sects have shocked members of British society into a public outcry.
In Barnsley, residents in a housing estate claimed to have been left tired and stressed after being woken at 5.30 am by a white-robed religious sect praying and chanting in woodland behind their homes. So disturbed were the residents of New Lodge Estate by these early-morning pilgrims that they wrote to Yorkshire Housing complaining about the “disturbance” coming from the prayers by the Apostolic Sect who regularly go into the trees to pray and chant early in the morning.
In their defence, the Friday Apostles, a group led by Leonard Radzokota, also known as Madzibaba Isaiah, said that they could only praise their maker in the surrounding bushes, something that is not an uncommon sight in Zimbabwe.
“As we do not have a permanent place to worship in Barnsley, we sometimes carry our early morning prayers in the wilderness. In Africa, all our church members carry out their services in the open space, commonly called wilderness, because by praying in the wilderness we are close to nature and God,” he said.
In 2019, a man only identified as Adam Warren caused a frenzy on Facebook after he photographed members of another apostolic sect that were deep in worship in the woods in London.
While the United Kingdom, and other parts of the Western world like to proclaim themselves as beacons of religious freedom and tolerance, this is usually far from the reality for many Zimbabweans who have migrated to that country. Religious practices that are commonplace back home are regarded as odd in a country that in the last few weeks has been grappling with issues of racial and religious tolerance.
As of this week, more than 1 000 people have been arrested in connection with violent disorder following riots in England and Northern Ireland earlier this month, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
The riots erupted following the spread of misinformation online, which blamed immigrants for the killing of three girls in Southport. Similar riots were witnessed in Northern Ireland where 20 police officers were injured in a spate of violent incidents in early August.
Bricks, petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown at officers as anti-immigration protests brought wider unrest to areas such as Belfast and Derry. Cars were set alight and several business premises were also severely damaged.
In such fraught times many Zimbabweans, who lean on religion as their emotional pillar in a country that welcomes their labour but shuns some of their practices are afraid of standing out unnecessarily.
“In times like these, you don’t want to make yourself a target,” said Brighton Nyakwenda, a member of an Apostolic sect based in Edinburg.
“You don’t want to be an easy target and wearing your Masowe garments will make you stand out, no matter where you worship from.
Vapositori worshipping in Barnsley United Kingdom
You want to blend in as much with the rest of the community and some of our religious practices don’t allow us to do that and that’s why I have put a stop to any form of public worship for now.”
For Zimbabweans in the diaspora, attending church is not only a form of religious fellowship but a chance to stay closer to home when many are struggling with homesickness and long arduous working conditions.
“Since I arrived here in 2019, I have found myself to be more religious than ever because my church is a bit of home that I managed to carry with me when I migrated. When you are in church with other people with the same background, it starts to feel like you are home. When that is taken away, you can struggle and depression can set in,” he said.
Victoria Ncube who relocated to the UK last year said for a lot of Zimbabweans, attending church was a luxury that they could not afford with the limited time that they had.
“People can have time to go to church depending on the job that they do. I am sure that most Zimbabweans are in the healthcare or care support sector and that means most of them work even on weekends and they might not have time to go to church,” she said.
Those who could attend church regularly, Ncube said, found it better to cast off their old robes and join non-denominational British churches that allowed them to blend with the rest of the populace.
“There are black people-led churches around but they are hard to find. They are there but not too many. You will find churches led by your typical ‘Papa’ and some Zimbabweans gravitate towards those,” she said.
“Most churches are Pentecostals that are non-denominational. It’s just reading the word and singing songs that white people sing and those work out perfectly in a multi-denominational setting. Those kind of churches can be found in most big towns. On the other hand, you have your traditional churches like Methodist, SDA, and Anglican but sometimes the experiences in those churches are too orthodox and you walk in and out without hearing a thing. Most people from Zimbabwe don’t like going to the traditional churches they would have gone to back home because it does not have the same feeling that it carries back in Zimbabwe.”
Ends
