The Benefits of War: The Case of South Sudan

War has always been financially beneficial to some people and those who incur such benefits always prefer to remain anonymous. This is especially so in South Sudan where the current war time leaders are reaping the benefits of war, even as their people are dying. This is has detailed in this fascinating report. The motivation for the war is more than what meets the eye.

Making Saints and Making Ancestors

While the indigenous religious traditions of Africa appear far removed from Roman Catholicism, an important similarity between them is how they memorialize certain dead people. For Roman Catholicism and many indigenous traditions of Africa, not all the dead are worthy of special memory. Special memory is received for those whose lives have been proven worthy to receive such recognition. In Roman Catholicism such special memory is reserved for the saints while in many indigenous African traditions such memory is reserved for the ancestors. Ancestors, like saints, are not people whose lives have been found to be blameless but rather those whose lives are worthy of emulation in spite of their shortcomings. And just as in the case of the saints, people do not just become ancestors when they die - they are made ancestors. The processes of making ancestors and making saints are vastly different but the fact remains that both saints and ancestors are creations of their communities. Both saints and ancestors are seen to mediate between the physical and spiritual worlds. However, a major difference between ancestors and saints is that while most saints appear to be childless people, childless ancestors are an anomaly in many African societies. Today, one more childless person, Mother Teresa of Kolkata, was made a saint. The people called Roman Catholics made it so. If she were from an African society, she might have been made an ancestor also. In this case, she would become both a saint and an ancestor.

Migration and the Abrahamic Religions

There has been a recent rise in reflections on migration in the Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This has especially been made urgent by the recent rise in migrant deaths as desperate people from Africa and the Middle East attempt to reach Europe. But are these reflections on migration necessary? The short answer to this question is that they are not quite necessary. They are however made necessary because most followers of these religions often do not reflect on the genesis of their religions. The genesis of these religions show that they are religions that require migration and so making any theology of migration in these religions tautological. In fact, these religions see migration as necessary and sometimes create the conditions that require migration. They require both physical and spiritual migration, that is, they require people to move from one place to another both physically and spiritually.

Judaism began with the migration of Abram and continues in the life of Israel as a whole. Christianity began with the migration of Christians beyond Jerusalem and it requires that Christians move from one place to another to spread the gospel. Islam had its genesis from Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina and back again and followers are tasked to migrate to spread the message of Islam. Spiritually, those who become part of these religions are required to change their inner dispositions and hopes. The surface structure of these religions is therefore migratory, making a theology of migration in these religions only an exercise in the retrieval of memory. Followers of these religions only need to be reminded that migration is at the very center of their faiths. In fact, they need to be reminded that their religions require migration. They should be encouraging migration rather than seeing it as an alien phenomenon.

That these religions require migration and also create conditions that make it necessary for migration to happen should make adherents of these religions to embrace migration rather than treat it with fear and loathing, as they now do.

The Trump Evangelicals

Evangelicals are a diverse lot and scholars expend much effort in trying to mark the distinctions. Some of them support Donald Trump and others do not. One more way to mark the distinction among Evangelicals is to note the difference between those who support Donald Trump and those who do not. Those who support Donald Trump shall henceforth be known as the Trump Evangelicals. These are the Evangelicals who embrace white supremacy, conspiracy theories, the bullying of women and the disabled, rejection of a multi-ethnic state and science, and promote violence so that their candidate can shoot people but still retain their support. These are the Trump Evangelicals.

What Are Evangelical Pastors Learning From Donald Trump?

Donald J. Trump has recently been meeting with many Evangelical groups, including Evangelical pastors, for reasons which are not clear to me. What exactly do these Evangelical leaders plan to learn from Donald Trump in private meetings which they cannot learn from his public life so far? Why is it that these Evangelical leaders invite Donald Trump to address them but not Hillary Clinton? It says so much about Evangelical leaders that they are prepared to cozy up to a man who refuses invitations to speak to many minority groups in the United States, groups that are also made up of many active Christians. It will not be long before the damage which Trump is now doing to the Republican Party crosses over to Evangelicalism in America.

1700 Days of Protesting Paul Biya's 33-Year Dictatorship in Cameroon

Paul Biya, the dictator of Cameroon, came to power November 6, 33 years ago. He is currently one of the longest serving dictators anywhere in the world. FlourishingAfrica has been protesting the misrule of Paul Biya in Cameroon since the machinations of the last election that returned him to power. The was over 1700 days ago. Each day we send out a tweet as protest against this continued misrule in the country. His years at the helm of the state in the country has not brought the medical system to a level he could entrust with his own health, that is why he keeps spending more time in Europe for medical purposes. For most Cameroonians, however, this is not an option. Whenever they suffer from a serious ailment, the option left open for them is to pray for a miracle or die. Paul Biya currently remains in power not because he has a vision for the country (in fact, he is becoming senile) but just because he could not envision  himself doing anything else. As one of the longest serving dictators in the continent, he loves maintaining a low international profile that would keep the country off the map rather than call attention to his plunder.

Even as the country  is currently fighting Boko Haram in the north of the country, with many Cameroonian soldiers losing their lives there, Paul Biya has hardly been engaged in the issue. The country apparently does not even have money to engage in the fight as citizens are being asked to donate money towards the fight. All the while, the dictator spends more time out of the country, minding his own business in Europe. There is no good reason why he should continue to remain the head of state in Cameroon, given that he is hardly present there.

Why I Am Voting For Hillary Clinton

I have in the past written about why it is problematic for a Christian to support Donald J. Trump's candidacy for president of the United States of America. I have however not disclosed that I do in fact support Hillary Clinton. In this election many have spoken as if it makes no difference, especially if one is a Christian, whether they support Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. I this brief post, I want to suggest that it makes a great difference who we support.

Christians who support Donald Trump, especially those Evangelicals who throw their weight behind him, should know that they are doing so not only as Americans but also as Christians. From my experience in the church in the United States, I have noticed that most Christians I have met are first Americans before they are Christians. This means that being Christian ranks lower for them than being American. Many would of course deny that this is the case but their actions often prove otherwise. For example, decisions about who to support for president or other elected offices is often based not on Christian beliefs but rather on some other thing - such as the desire to "make American great again." There is nothing particularly Christian about this and there is nothing particularly Christian in supporting Donald Trump. I challenge any Evangelical supporting Donald Trum to explain the Christian basis on which their decision is made.

A similar challenge may be thrown to me - that I should explain the Christian basis on which I support Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is said to be just as detestable as Donald Trump. She is said to be a corrupt liar whose incompetence brought about the events of Bengazi. To evade the normal governmental process she used a private email system when she was Secretary of State, deleting those that may incriminate her. She is said to be in the pocket of big business, giving speeches to Goldman Sachs and refusing to provide the transcripts so that we may see what is in them. On the whole, it is said, people do not trust her. I am not going to defend any of these, even though we must admit that there are many layers to the Bengazi affair about which she has not be found to be directly responsible. As Secretary of State, however, the buck stopped with her.

On the side of Donald Trump, he has given legitimacy to racists, insulted women, the disabled, and people who fought to defend America. He has criminalized whole groups of people like Latino and Muslims and refused to pay people who have worked for him. He has refused to show us his taxes so that we may get a better picture of his business activity, saying that it is none of our business. He has lied over and over, such as when he repeatedly said that he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attack. I am going to leave aside his recent call for Russia to hack the computers of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, which some are describing as treasonous. I am not going to talk about his divorces because they are no longer seen as sinful these days.

On what basis should a Christian then support the one and not the other? There is no Christian principle that may be used here to decide who to vote for.  No principle of love or forgiveness or the fact that we are all fallible will work here. Some have claimed that you need to see it as a binary choice of two bad candidates. That is however not true. One may decide not to choose at all! On the whole, however, Donald Trump has said and done things that are worse than Hillary. In fact, on the whole, Donald Trump is ethically worse than Hillary. In the end, it needs to come down to the kind of formation Christians have received. What kind of people has the church in America formed? Has the church in America formed people who are comfortable with racism, bullying, insult of women and the disabled, etc.? Voting for Donald Trump is voting to accept these things as the lesser evil. I do not see what Hillary has done as even close to all to the heineous things Trump has said and done. She has not humiliated people and divided society as Donald Trump is doing. She has been far open, especially with her taxes, than Donald Trump. More especially, she is appealing to the better angels of our being rather than to our fears. She is calling us to come together rather than driving us apart, as Donald Trump is doing.

I would rather vote for one who inspires a better dream for humankind than for one who inspires racists and bullies. I will be voting for Hillary Clinton.