Zimbabweans are turning en masse to God in search of solace and divine answers in the face of a political and economic fallout that has no apparent resolution in sight.
Christianity, which played a key role in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle that ushered independence from British colonial rule in 1980, is increasingly providing a platform for popular revolt in the beleaguered country. Many churches are, once again, beginning to embrace the liberation theology that inspired people to take up arms against the colonial regime.
The country, which is tottering under a record hyperinflation of more than 1,700 percent, also has an unemployment rate of over 80 percent. 4 out 5 people are unemployed and basic goods are in short supply. Over 2 million people are in need of food aid.
"There’s a warfare going on, and we have to turn to God for protection," said Michelle Dumare, who regularly attends New Covenant Life Ministries, a high profile Pentecostal church in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. "I am currently living by the grace of God of course. With the prices of basic commodities sky rocketing all the time, one has to believe in God for provision each and every day."
President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)-led government is not letting up, and is applying heavy-handed tactics to anyone who dares to express dissent.
But like many Zimbabweans, Michelle ardently goes to church every Sunday to pray for the salvation of the country. She also attends morning, afternoon and evening prayer meetings where the main subject of prayer is the disintegration of the nation-state.
As pressure mounts on Mugabe to quit or reform, many Christians are certainly hoping that their prayers are reaching God.
"Our nation Zimbabwe has been in the press lately with reports of violence and trouble. There has been some tension and frustration lately, but God is still God," reads a statement on prominent Zimbabwean Pastor Tudor Bismark’s Web site, Tudor Bismark Ministries. "We really need your prayers, our nation is in travail — people are struggling and reaching desperation point. Prices of commodities and services are changing as much as four times a day."
"It’s a time for the Christians to intercede for the nation. There’s need for more prayer. Zimbabweans need to humble themselves before God and repent, and ask for forgiveness on behalf of the whole nation. A miracle will happen in the country, if only we pray," said Godsway Shumba, a Zimbabwean Pentecostal Christian.
And Maybe God is listening indeed?
Over the weekend, the Roman Catholic Church, which supported the country’s liberation war, flashed red lights at Mugabe’s regime. The Church has the majority of Christians in the country — Mugabe himself proclaims to be Catholic.
In a Sunday Easter message, Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church, bemoaned the state of affairs in the country.
"Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis, and for this reason the bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared commitment for the common good as the only way forward," he said.
Roman Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe warned President Robert Mugabe’s government of the potential of a popular revolt in the face of ongoing economic meltdown and political repression.
In a letter distributed to all parishes throughout the country, the bishops warned of a mass uprising unless there’s imminent change in the governing of the country.
According to media reports, the letter titled "God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed," was the most critical pastoral message towards Mugabe’s leadership style since Zimbabwe won independence in 1980. The letter was posted on church noticeboards and read from the pulpit throughout the country, including rural areas — traditionally Mugabe’s stronghold.
"As the suffering population becomes more insistent, generating more and more pressure through boycotts, strikes, demonstrations and uprisings, the state responds with ever harsher oppression through arrests, detentions, banning orders, beatings and torture," read part of the pastoral message from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference.
The letter said young Zimbabweans "see their leaders habitually engaging in acts and words which are hateful, disrespectful, racist, corrupt, lawless, unjust, greedy, dishonest and violent in order to cling to the privileges of power and wealth."
"It is the same conflict between those who possess power and wealth in abundance, and those who do not; between those who are determined to maintain their privileges of power and wealth at any cost, even at the cost of bloodshed, and those who demand their democratic rights and a share in the fruits of independence; between those who continue to benefit from the present system of inequality and injustice, because it favors them and enables them to maintain an exceptionally high standard of living, and those who go to bed hungry at night and wake up in the morning to another day without work and without income; between those who only know the language of violence and intimidation, and those who feel they have nothing more to lose because their constitutional rights have been abrogated and their votes rigged," said the letter.
The bishops backed calls for a new constitution "that will guide a democratic leadership chosen in free and fair elections."
Recently, the head of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC)General Secretary Setri Nyomi expressed "grave concern" over the economic, political and humanitarian crisis unraveling in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s government brushed aside the criticism. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said on South Africa public radio that he "respected the opinion" of the bishops because Zimbabwe was a democracy and they were "free to say what they like."