Word: tutu
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...astonishing things about the growth of Christianity in Africa is that it increased dramatically after colonialism ended. "One would have thought," says South Africa's Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, "that Christianity, having come with foreigners, would have been rejected when independence came and the church would have declined." In 1960 Africa was only about 30% Christian. In 1980 it is nearly half Christian...
...explanation, Tutu and others cite various factors, secular and spiritual. Tribal religion lost power as Africans began to cross tribal lines. Islam might have filled this void, but the much anticipated Muslim surge, funded by new Arab oil wealth, has yet to materialize in black Africa. More important, most experts agree, is the record of the Christian missionaries. According to one theory, the past stereotype that missionaries were deeply disliked and distrusted stemmed from colonists, not from Africans. Today missionaries are sometimes seized upon as political scapegoats and expelled by new nationalist leaders. But Africans are still surprised and touched...
Adds Bishop Tutu: "Our struggle for liberation and freedom in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa was led by people trained in Christian churches." Tutu believes the deepest reason for this lies in African character. Says he: "For the African, the spiritual realm is real, and something that is materialistic and atheistic like Marxism, whilst it may have a superficial attraction where there is a lot of oppression and injustice, cannot satisfy the deep longings of the African psyche...
...which will coordinate the program in South Africa, is chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu. Tutu, secretary general of the South African Council of Churches, received an honorary degree from Harvard in June...
...South African blacks have reacted skeptically to Botha's proposals. Says Bishop Desmond Tutu, secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches: "He is talking about applying an inhuman system more humanely. Things are changing, but there has been no fundamental change." Black leaders and even the country's white legal Establishment were shocked last week when a judge in the sleepy Natal town of Pietermaritzburg handed down a death sentence to James Mange, a militant, charged with plotting an attack on a police station. Mange was only the second person convicted of treason in South Africa...