Engagement of Religious Communities as Partners in Implementing Government Policies for National Development in Kapiri-Mposhi Urban, Zambia

Abstract

: The purpose of this article is to investigate the engagement of religious communities as partners in implementing Government policies in Kapiri-Mposhi Urban in Zambia. The study utilised the Juergensmeyer (2008) Theory to probe the interaction between religious agencies and government officials in policy implementations. Juergensmeyer is concerned about why religion is taking on a growing prominence in political matters in a growing despair of the state of society. To explore this, the study drew upon a sample of 22 informants purposively selected from the target population that included political party leaders in Kapiri-Mposhi Urban, Seventh Day Adventist Church leaders, the Clergy from the Roman Catholic Church, and representatives from the Jehovah’s Witness, United Church of Zambia, Pentecostal church, officials from Church Mother Bodies, Civic leaders and lay people. Open-ended and Semi-structured interview methods were applied to obtain the required primary data. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed thematically for respondents’ perceptions of the engagement of Religious Communities as partners in implementing Government policies.Themes of Partnership, Fixed and Stable Church-government Relationship, Engagement and Reliable unconditional church-state Allies emerged from the findings as describing the relationship that existed between religious communities and government agencies in the implementation of policies. The study recommended that the engagement of religious communities with the government should reflect inclusivism among religious traditions so as to avoid Inter-Religious Conflicts taking place elsewhere within Africa.