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Apologia Report 14:16
April 30, 2009
Subject: The fastest-growing Christian fringe movement in Africa?
In this issue:
HUMAN RIGHTS - Peter Singer's unique take on the UN human rights council
LOST - the spiritual focus of the wildly successful television show
THE REDEEMED CHURCH OF GOD - African Pentecostal missionary wave reaches America's shore
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HUMAN RIGHTS
On April 15 the UK's Guardian newspaper featured a response by pro-euthanasia ethicist Peter Singer (whose 1975 book Animal Liberation [1] was a touchstone for the animal-rights movement) to "the UN human rights council [which] adopted a resolution condemning 'defamation of religion' as a human rights violation. According to the text of the resolution, 'Defamation of religion is a serious affront to human dignity' that leads to 'a restriction on the freedom of [religions'] adherents.' ...
"Germany opposed the resolution. Speaking on behalf of the European Union, a German spokesperson rejected the concept of 'defamation of religion' as not valid in a human rights context, because human rights belonged to individuals, not to institutions or religions.
"Many non-government organisations, both secular and religious, also opposed the resolution. Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said that that body saw the resolution as weakening 'the rights of individuals to express their views'. ...
"Coincidentally, in the same week that Germany and the World Jewish Congress rejected the idea that defamation of religion is an affront to human dignity, and upheld the right to freedom of expression, Germany's highest court issued its ruling on a case brought by a Jewish organization, and two Jewish individuals. The court ruled against the right of the United States-based animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] to exhibit posters that juxtapose photographs of victims of the Holocaust with photographs of animals in factory farms and at slaughterhouses. ...
"Irrespective of the merits of Peta's campaign, however, those who stood up for free speech at the UN human rights council should be able to see that the fact that some forms of speech cause offense is not sufficient reason to censor them. If Peta is not allowed to state its case against our abuse of animals in the way that they judge best, because doing so might offend some people, then criticism of religion could also be prohibited on the same grounds.
"If, on the other hand, a religion's adherents have no right to protection against criticism of their religion, then, even in Germany, Holocaust victims and their descendants (I am one) should not be protected against advertising campaigns that, though not intended to incite hatred or violence, may cause them offence."
Singer is also known for his influential essay, "Famine, Affluence,
and Morality" (1972) <www.tinyurl.com/3nc66e>
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LOST (THE ABC TELEVISION SERIES)
"'Lost' among TV shows that faith finds its way into" by Maureen Ryan -- the Wednesday-night show "has freely examined spiritual questions for five seasons" - something rare over the last two decades of network television. In fact, Lost is so successful that Ryan calls it "one of the most passionately followed shows in the history of television."
Ryan describes a few of the details that give it a spiritual edge. These include "a character who had been dead but who had risen again received special orders from the unseen, powerful force that has been manipulating events" and "a fallen angel."
She adds that "the good news is, even if certain events seem fated to occur (and re-occur), even if some are fated to destroy themselves, personal redemption is possible, 'Lost' appears to be saying [though it is more often self-based rather than Savior-based redemption. - RV]. Even within epic time loops in which history seems to be repeating itself, individuals have some free will, and how that free will is exercised matters."
Enjoy it while you can. "A recent ABC press release indicated that the show's April 29 outing marks 'Lost's' 100th episode. And next season will be the series' last." Chicago Tribune, Apr 15 '09 <www.tinyurl.com/chzcsc>
Also see Robert Velarde's article, "The Gospel According to Lost: A Survey of Relevant Theological Themes," addressing: 1) faith and reason; 2) mysticism, fate and chance; 3) ethics; and 4) redemption. <www.tinyurl.com/cvypws>
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THE REDEEMED CHURCH OF GOD
If you haven't heard of this group yet, you will. Andrew Rice writes in his New York Times Magazine cover story of April 12 "Mission From Africa," that "In the course of just a few decades [i.e., since 1952], the Redeemed Christian Church of God, founded in a Lagos shantytown, has won millions of adherents in Nigeria while building a vast missionary network that stretches into more than 100 nations. 'The rate of growth,' Ajayi-Adeniran says, 'is becoming exponential.' As the man coordinating the Redeemed Church's expansion in North America, the pastor spends his days shuttling from his home base, a storefront church in the Bronx, to the denomination's continental headquarters, a 550-acre compound in Texas....
"During the 20th century, the population of Christians in Africa grew from 10 million to around 360 million, and that could double by 2025, by which time demographers project the continent will be home to a quarter of all believers. ...
"American televangelists like T. D. Jakes and Benny Hinn are received like rock stars when they fly into African capitals, where they preach to crowds estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Their African counterparts, meanwhile, are moving in the opposite direction, winning converts in Europe especially. In Kiev, a Nigerian minister [i.e., Sunday Adelaja] leads a predominantly white Pentecostal church that claims a membership of 30,000, including the city's mayor. Four of the 10 largest megachurches in London are run by Africans. Of all the many new sects, however, none are as organized as the Redeemed Christian Church of God. ...
"The Redeemed Church offers a case study of the crosscurrents that are drawing Christianity southward [i.e., the southern hemisphere]. Its leader and guiding force [is] Pastor Enoch Adeboye...." Rice notes that "Redeemed pastors ... mostly still come from the Yoruba tribe."
"Pastor James Fadele, head of the church's operations in North America [has] entrusted the task of increasing the number of Redeemed churches to Daniel Ajayi-Adeniran. ...
"Church leaders are quick to contest any suggestion that they preach the 'prosperity gospel' extolled by American evangelists like Creflo Dollar, which teaches that God will grant material wealth to those he favors, but whatever distinction they're making is small. ('I am not a prosperity preacher,' James Fadele said at one sermon I attended, 'but I am rich!') Redeemed pastors routinely petition God to transform their followers into millionaires, members are encouraged to tithe and the Sunday collection is accompanied by joyous fanfare. At various events I attended, I heard Fadele ask members to raise money to help Adeboye buy a private jet (which duly arrived in March)....
"A major theme of Redeemed teachings, to its Nigerian audience especially, is that becoming saved protects you from the curses, spells and sorcery that Africans, even Christian ones, commonly blame for all manner of misfortunes, from car accidents to impotence. Church
officials in the United States are somewhat averse to talking about this aspect of doctrine. ... [L]ike many elements of Africa's indigenous cosmology, the belief in evil spirits is entirely
consistent with mainstream Pentecostal teaching, which holds that God and the Devil - an actual being - are engaged in continual 'spiritual warfare.' ...
"Redeemed pastors often attribute afflictions like poverty and addiction to demonic possession and preach against 'generational curses,' which can explain everything from inherited illness to family dysfunction.
"In his sermon, Daddy G.O. [General Overseer, Adeboye] was his usual self. He spoke in a honeyed baritone, mixing talk of proofs and equations with colloquial parables, both biblical and African. Periodically, a startled expression would pass across his squarish face, and he would say, 'Thank you, Father,' an indication of that he had received a message from above. The revelations were general and irrefutable. 'Somebody here today, you will never lack again' went one. Another was: 'This very night, the activity of witches in your family will come to an end.' As the clock approached midnight, Adeboye gave the audience a prophecy: 'You will yet make history in this nation - amen!'" Lengthy. <www.tinyurl.com/dl6nzk>
If the growth of Pentecostalism in Africa interests you, in the current issue of Books & Culture, Jehu J. Hanciles reviews the recent book African Pentecostalism: An Introduction, by Ogbu Kalu [2].
Hanciles writes: "The work is a masterpiece of historical and social analysis that reflects detailed knowledge of the vast literature produced on the subject by both African and Western scholars as well as intimate familiarity with the complex and shifting topography of African Christianity. ...
"Kalu explains that the prosperity message flowed into Africa in the 1980s (during a time of widespread economic collapse and political instability) from a number of sources, both in the West and in the non-Western world. ... In truth, a small number of urban-based African Pentecostal ministries betray a surrender to crude displays of capitalist acquisition and mirror an individualistic ethos. But the African understanding of prosperity typically focuses less on material wealth than on inner peace, supernatural deliverance or power over ubiquitous malevolent spirits, fertility, communal harmony, and, above all else, healing." Books & Culture, Mar/Apr '09.
(The same issue of B&C includes reviews of other interesting books regarding the growth of Christianity in Africa as well.)
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Sources, Monographs:
1 - Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer (Harper, 2001, paperback, 352 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/d6wcpb>
2 - African Pentecostalism: An Introduction, by Ogbu Kalu (Oxford Univ Prs, 2008, paperback, 376 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/cc88n4>
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