On Religion

When Kim and I decided to come to Zithulele and realized that there was a strong Christian element there, some friends from the UK suggested that we might be coming home with tambourines. We laughed. We have left now and do not have any comedy musical instruments, but we do have a new bible and a different perspective.

I suppose to sum it up I would say that this year has challenged my pre(mis)-conceptions about devout Christians. The UK is so secular now and it is by far the norm to be scornful and/or suspicious of organised religion. South Africa is more old fashioned and has more pockets of strong faith and, beyond that, a wider reach of more liberal Christianity. Zithulele itself started as a mission clinic of the Dutch Reform Church back in the 1950s and was taken over by government in the 70s.

The two couples who really took the hospital by the reins a few years ago did so out of a sense of ‘calling’. That is, they felt they were carrying out God’s work by coming to Zithulele and making the hospital better. They also started the Jabulani Foundation which I have been working for for the last year-odd.

I don’t dig Christianity on a personal level. I am agnostic until I see enough evidence that He, She or It exists.

I felt that I had to know the nature of religion’s place in the Foundation to put my mind at rest, but I was a bit nervous to broach the subject, so I did it subtly by asking “What is religion’s place in the Foundation?”. I felt awkward but I needed to hear the answer because I didn’t want to, and still would not want to, work for an organization that exists to spread a certain religious doctrine. Ben (Director of the Foundation) answered me, explaining that the founders were driven by a strong Christian belief, but that the Foundation was not there to be a church spreading the word. No probs there then, so I stayed.

I haven’t really been friends with strongly religious people, of any faith, before, so it was new territory for me. From what I have seen here, Christianity really brings people together and makes them put time aside to appreciate things like family and friends and good stuff, as well as thinking about sad things. Good, I think, to have something formal to help you to give some reflection to life. The nicest thing was that no-one tried to force it on me or pushed it in my face. We had some deep conversations with Roger and Karen from time to time, but there was never that awful urging or patronizing pitying that can so often be the case, or the fear at least.

And now it is nearly a year later and I am impressed with them (the long termers at Zithulele) and their unwavering motivation to do very good things. It is extremely hard to do what they are doing. I have touched on it for less than a year and I found it hard and often dispiriting. To do so for the long term takes another kind of motivation and the Christianity thing works for these guys.

Don’t get me wrong, I have seen others here doing similar great things driven by other things. I think it is just good to have some reason, Christianity or no. I did a quick tally of people at the hospital and rated them for awesomeness (Kim included). The robust finding was that religion was not a factor. There are also people there working their arses off with different beliefs.

The bible came from two very close friends and because it did, I appreciate the gesture. We have joked all year about them trying to convert us, largely when we are weak and hungover. I don’t think that is how it works though. I just think that they reckon it is a good read and they wanted to share it. I gave Roger ‘Nudge’, for the same reason (although I never thought that would bring them over to the dark side either).

So I am going to try to be a bit less knee-jerky when it comes to Christians. And for my part, I recommend ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins (he rings my scientific bell, despite being just a touch inflammatory).