IN THE MAKING OF THE CHURCH
4. The Missions’ Relations with People of Other Religious Persuasions
4.3. The Missions’ Relations with Christians of other Denominations According to Lennard, the British colonialists in Tanganyika divided the missions into
two groups: the Roman Catholic and the Non-Roman Catholic.273 Even though Clayton, had noted that the situation in Zanzibar where the British were also dominating was more like Tanganyika,274 there was no Christian Council representing the non-Roman Catholic missions in Zanzibar. According to Kihala, although such
266 ASL/ADZ/XLV Resolution of the Diocese of the Sacred Synod of the Diocese of Zanzibar in Acts of the Synods of the Diocese of Zanzibar, 1884-1903, p. 21.
267 Rajab, Nyerere Against Islam in Zanzibar.
268 For a change to this perception, see the discussion on chapter four and five in this study.
269 Ramadhani, same interview.
270 I have looked at all the succeeding Acts of Synods including those from the Diocese of Central Tanganyika but could not find any change to this emphasis towards Muslims. For the ACC-6 Resolutions, Cf. Bonds of Affections: Proceedings of the ACC-6, Badagry, Nigeria, 1984, pp. 84-85.
271 Joseph Wandera, Christian-Muslim Co-existence in the Light of Sacred texts and Present Contexts with special reference to Mihadhara in Nairobi Kenya, Unpublished Article, (No Date), p. 6.
272 Cf. rubric Number II in Sala II , Ndanda: BPNP, 1948, Second edition, p. 2.
273 T. J. Lennard, How Tanganyika is Governed, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kampala: The Eagle Press, 1955, p. 51.
274 Anthony Clayton, The Zanzibar Revolution and Its Aftermath, London: C. Hurst & Company, 1981, pp. 6-16.
51
categorisation served as a way of identifying the different religious groups in the country, it stood as the source of deep disagreement permanently destroying the missions‘ relations to the state and to each other.275 The report of the bishop of Masasi illustrated Kihala‘s concern:
This Diocese is fortunate in being practically free from Protestant missions but Rome [i.e., the Roman Catholic Church] is becoming increasingly aggressive. While personal relationships continue excellent one is little apprehensive about the proselytizing which goes on. Our mission stations are so intermingled that mixed marriages are common and in this way, as also by regrettably easy terms on which they baptise, we are losing certain number of our people. There has recently been influx of Salvatorian Fathers turned out of China, and this access of new staff … gives them a strong pull … [However the government‘s] compulsory registration of sub-primary schools makes it illegal for them to plant theirs a few hundred yards from ours.276
Even though these Salvatorians came from America and not China, and their relations with Anglicans in Masasi were a special case in the whole of Tanganyika and Zanzibar277 it created a concern:
[…] – they tell the people that they own the true church and that other churches are false … they took bribe and enticed our men to join them
… sometimes they tell lies … that when Tanganyika is becoming independent, the Anglican Church will be abolished … because all English people will be removed from the land, so come and join us.278
Some missionaries regretted this kind of relationship because the missionaries claimed in unison that Christianity was the one force which could unite the divided Africans and, instead, Christianity often seemed a source of new divisions.279 According to Shauri, such divisions had effects on social services such as schools and hospitals which not until the second half of the 1950s were, in practice, often a system closed to those who, for one reason or another, failed to fit into the missions‘ defined plan and condition of service.280 Shauri added that before the 1950s a sick person or a
275 Kihala, same interview.
276 RHL/UMCA-USPG/SF/Universities Mission to Central Africa, Annual Reviews 1948-1963, p. 43.
277 CMSA/MLMSS6040/65/3/Noel Bothell Letters.
278 RHL/UMCA-USPG/SF 5,6,8 and 9/A Letter from the Venerable J. Kombelo, Archdeacon of Masasi, in some notes by the Apostolic delegates on the letter from the Bishop of Masasi, 1962 .
279 RHL/UMCA-USPG/SF/The Hope of Africa: A Review of the Work of the Universities Mission to Central Africa, 1953-1954, 1954, p. 57.
280 Shauri, same interview.
52
person enquiring for education had to take his or her religious conviction into serious consideration, before deciding which denominational school or hospital he or she was going to get the particular service.281 But, this was specifically the case in the relationships between the Roman Catholic and the non-Roman Catholic missions. The relation between the non-Roman Catholics with Anglicans was easier:
[…] – it is pleasant to be able to record our happy relationships with the Lutherans – whose immense programme expansion of intercommunion, united services, or even talks about reunion, but it is always possible to make friendly arrangements about areas of work and other matters of mutual concern.282
These strange and differing dichotomies in the social life, according to Shauri, introduced more divisions and confusion to the people of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.283 These people had suffered from the slave trade prior to their encounter with the missionaries and the colonialists. Therefore, it was not expected that thousands of people would again continue to become victims of the new segregationist systems.
However, Kingsnorth argued that these were expected reactions for in the past the Anglican missions (the UMCA especially) had been rather closely identified with the British government and this had been a factor in conversion but with the expected independence, other denominations sought to seize the opportunity.284 The bishop of Ripon noted possible solutions to it but with some uncertainties:
I saw the Bishop of Masasi here just before Easter and had a talk with him, and I will certainly try to see the Apostolic Delegate when I go back to Rome in September. It is, of course, a very difficult thing to intervene in the affairs of another communion, but I will do what I can to bring this matter to the notice of the authorities.285
It was a coincidence that in the same year that the bishop of Ripon would take the case of Masasi to Rome, Neil Russell, the resident bishop of Zanzibar, and other delegates from Tanganyika would attend a conference held by All African Conference
281 Shauri, same interview.
282 The Hope of Africa, p. 57.
283 Shauri, same interview.
284 RHL/UMCA-USPG/SF 5, 6, 8, 9/Some notes by the Apostolic delegates on the letter from the Bishop of Masasi, 28 September 1962.
285 Some notes by the Apostolic delegates on the letter from the Bishop of Masasi.
53
of Churches in Kampala which would discuss in depth the need of church unity in Africa.286 The united liturgy was among the major outcomes of this conference.287
5. The Change from Mission to Church and the Government’s Involvement in