IT is no secret the major reason missionaries have been starting schools all over the country for over a century is to amass recruits for their churches.
When children are taught a certain religious doctrine from early childhood (ECD) to university, the tendency is that they stick to that denomination for the rest of their lives.
The Catholics would tell you: ‘Once a Catholic always a Catholic’, and they would also tell you that this is because they ‘catch them young’.
When you go to these schools, it is not just the nursery rhymes, language, art, history, science, mathematics, but also the particular religious doctrine systematically taught. You attend all the services and learn all the special rites.
As long as you are at the institution, you live the life of a Catholic, an Adventist or a Baptist. Wherever it is, the children master the doctrine of the church that owns the school.
There are no exceptions; you cannot say: ‘Ah, I don’t want my child to be taught your faith, he/she should not attend your services’.
They will tell you: ‘If that is the case, then you do not bring your child here’. The church authorities do not compromise on doctrine.
No one questions that these schools teach particular religious doctrines.
The churches have never asked the Government why it does not challenge or censor the religious teachings they impart to the children; without even asking the children if it consents, without asking the parents if they consent, without asking the Nation if they consent that the children of the land be taught particular religious doctrines.
The churches take it that it is normal that the moment children register at their schools, they be taught whatever the Church decides to teach them as Church doctrine.
To them it is their right, Church schools are their province, they should teach whatever they want.
Conversely, it is their position that the Government has no province, it should not add anything extra to the school curriculum.
If it should ever think of teaching civic education, then the churches and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) instructed by their parent countries should decide the content and thrust.
Although the Government has responsibility for all the Nation’s children regardless of whatever schools they go to — private, Church, Government — the churches cannot comprehend that the Government can have Nation-related issues it needs to teach its children.
The churches cannot or will not comprehend that the Government has responsibility for these children, that even where the biological parents fail, the state still takes care of these children, it has ultimate responsibility for the children of the land.
So the churches can have an agenda, an agenda particular to their mission as religious organisations, but the Government of Zimbabwe has no mission stations or schools, so it cannot have any agenda. Though it is the custodian of the Nation of Zimbabwe, it has no agenda, it cannot have an agenda.
According to the churches, the Government should only talk about the school subjects, anything outside that is meddling.
The churches are free to pursue their particular agendas through our children, but the Government cannot do anything extra with the children, it becomes indoctrination.
The Government should have nothing to do with the moulding of the citizens, while churches decide which way to shape the children of the land.
The Government must see to the welfare of each citizen, the churches insist, but it dare not say anything about building the citizenry.
Thus the State is orphaned of its children, though it is the primary custodian of citizens, especially children who, because of their vulnerability, need the State most.
The church recognises its mission, but not that of the State of Zimbabwe.
When the State introduces the National Schools Pledge, it is moulding. The Nation it is responsible for.
The State is teaching its citizens that it is one family under God.
This truth is also enshrined in Zimbabwe’s Constitution and it unites our people as a Nation, guided by and answerable to God across any secular divisions that might keep people apart or fuel disunity.
Uniting the Nation is not only the duty of the State, but also of every citizen and our Constitution says so quite clearly.
“Respecting the fathers and mothers who lost their lives in the Chimurenga/Umvukela,” says the National Schools Pledge.
The State is the mother, the father of our Nation.
If it does not recognise and celebrate what brought the Nation into being, if it does not commit to awakening the consciousness of its people about what brought the Nation into being, it is being irresponsible because a Nation that does not know its roots is moribund.
It has no future because it does not know where it came from, it cannot protect itself.
And if it should be said that it is a crime for the State to do this noble act, those who pronounce it a crime cannot be friends of Zimbabwe because they are not interested in its welfare.
The churches preach that those who are good go to heaven when they die, surely those who died fighting to free their fellowmen qualify to go to heaven, it is actually what Christ taught that:
“There is no greater love than that one should lay down their life for others.” Christian churches should be comfortable with this invocation of the spirit of the highest love and sacrifice.
For where is it taught in the Bible that it is a crime for a Nation to cherish and celebrate its God-given resources? Which people do not celebrate their cultures and traditions?
Which precept in the Bible contradicts honesty and hard work and which construct of the National Flag contradicts anything in the Bible.
Then, where and how is the National Schools Pledge anti-God or anti-Christ?
Despite everything that is so noble and honourable in the National Schools Pledge, the churches have falsely created grounds to fight everything so special.
The real issue is that according to the churches, the Government of Zimbabwe has no jurisdiction, but the church has.
The churches arrogantly challenge the authority of the State of Zimbabwe with the same impunity with which the British bandit robbers came to us and said: ‘You have no land that is yours, you have no power over anything, not even yourselves, with the power of the gun we have dispossessed you of everything’.
Is anyone surprised that the churches still insist that our people can never be sovereign despite thousands of our people who sacrificed their lives?
No-one can do anything, no-one can change anything except with the approval of the church.
It is now the Church which has power over the state, which governs the state. But the people of Zimbabwe never voted for the church to rule them.
The church never fought for the liberation of our people.