Southern Africa has a long history of intra-regional migration, dating back to the mid-19th century. An increasing number of people migrated to escape poverty, seek livelihoods or escape from political upheavals and civil strife, such as the Mozambican and Angolan civil wars. The patterns and scale of these population movements across the globe are constantly in flux. In spite of South Africa being a signatory to all African Union and Southern African Development Community protocols, little has been achieved with regard to the integration of migrants into mainstream welfare services. This qualitative study aimed to explore and describe the perceptions of church leaders on the integration of migrant youth in Musina into South Africa. The new economics theory of migration was used to understand migrant youth’s conditions from their host countries, which predisposed them to migrate and end up having challenges of being integrated into South Africa. A descriptive case-study design was used to purposively select two church leaders who are the key informants for migrant youth in their churches. Semi-structured interviews were followed, and data were analysed thematically through Nvivo software. Findings show that many problems migrant youth face start with problems around documentation, which leads to their inaccessibility to government services, poor living conditions and starvation. Findings also show that migrant youth face challenges of rejection and discrimination by local citizens. Therefore, stakeholders in Musina should be empowered to collaborate their services for the integration of immigrants into the mainstream activities of South Africa.
{"title":"Perceptions of church leaders on the integration of migrant youth into South Africa: The case of refugees in the refugee camps managed by churches at Musina","authors":"S. F. Rapholo","doi":"10.4102/tv.v44i1.34","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/tv.v44i1.34","url":null,"abstract":"Southern Africa has a long history of intra-regional migration, dating back to the mid-19th century. An increasing number of people migrated to escape poverty, seek livelihoods or escape from political upheavals and civil strife, such as the Mozambican and Angolan civil wars. The patterns and scale of these population movements across the globe are constantly in flux. In spite of South Africa being a signatory to all African Union and Southern African Development Community protocols, little has been achieved with regard to the integration of migrants into mainstream welfare services. This qualitative study aimed to explore and describe the perceptions of church leaders on the integration of migrant youth in Musina into South Africa. The new economics theory of migration was used to understand migrant youth’s conditions from their host countries, which predisposed them to migrate and end up having challenges of being integrated into South Africa. A descriptive case-study design was used to purposively select two church leaders who are the key informants for migrant youth in their churches. Semi-structured interviews were followed, and data were analysed thematically through Nvivo software. Findings show that many problems migrant youth face start with problems around documentation, which leads to their inaccessibility to government services, poor living conditions and starvation. Findings also show that migrant youth face challenges of rejection and discrimination by local citizens. Therefore, stakeholders in Musina should be empowered to collaborate their services for the integration of immigrants into the mainstream activities of South Africa.","PeriodicalId":34066,"journal":{"name":"Theologia Viatorum","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41376233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the activities of Christian religious communities and the birth of a commercialised Christian religion. It begins by creating an atmosphere that the Nigerians find themselves in, and explaining as to why they rely more on religious vendors for solutions to their physical and spiritual problems. Thus, the real causalities are the people with no contentment. The commercialisation of religion in Nigeria has been characterised by increased poverty and social vices such as armed robbery, bad leadership and bad citizenship. Findings reveal that adherents of the various churches that have commercialised their blessings comprise both the poor and the rich of the society. The poor are seeking God for instant blessing, while the rich are seeking God for the sustainability of their wealth and protection. True religion is now lost in Nigeria. Some pastors treat the church as an investment, expecting to get something in return personally when the institution prospers financially. This is evident in the rise in sugar-coated preaching in most Nigerian churches. It was discovered that commercialisation of churches is mainly for financial gains, and it is an offshoot of the proliferation of churches in Nigeria.
{"title":"The structural advancement of religious communities and the commercialisation of the Christian religion in Nigeria","authors":"Benjamin C. Diara, Mmesoma Onukwufor, F. Uroko","doi":"10.4102/tv.v44i1.31","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/tv.v44i1.31","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the activities of Christian religious communities and the birth of a commercialised Christian religion. It begins by creating an atmosphere that the Nigerians find themselves in, and explaining as to why they rely more on religious vendors for solutions to their physical and spiritual problems. Thus, the real causalities are the people with no contentment. The commercialisation of religion in Nigeria has been characterised by increased poverty and social vices such as armed robbery, bad leadership and bad citizenship. Findings reveal that adherents of the various churches that have commercialised their blessings comprise both the poor and the rich of the society. The poor are seeking God for instant blessing, while the rich are seeking God for the sustainability of their wealth and protection. True religion is now lost in Nigeria. Some pastors treat the church as an investment, expecting to get something in return personally when the institution prospers financially. This is evident in the rise in sugar-coated preaching in most Nigerian churches. It was discovered that commercialisation of churches is mainly for financial gains, and it is an offshoot of the proliferation of churches in Nigeria.","PeriodicalId":34066,"journal":{"name":"Theologia Viatorum","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45416302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sub-Saharan countries are among the vulnerable countries that encounter the impact of anthropogenic climate change. This article aimed to analyse the climate change threats that sub-Saharan countries are facing, such as the burning of fossil fuel, deforestation, desertification and floods. Therefore, the authors recommend conserving and restoring nature on an ethical basis for the preservation of future generation. Ethical virtues such as justice and equity will be considered in order to eradicate the problem. Thus the collaboration of all people is required.
{"title":"Climate change in sub-Saharan Africa: Nature restoration as an ethical issue","authors":"D. N. Buwani, R. Dolamo","doi":"10.4102/tv.v43i1.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/tv.v43i1.4","url":null,"abstract":"Sub-Saharan countries are among the vulnerable countries that encounter the impact of anthropogenic climate change. This article aimed to analyse the climate change threats that sub-Saharan countries are facing, such as the burning of fossil fuel, deforestation, desertification and floods. Therefore, the authors recommend conserving and restoring nature on an ethical basis for the preservation of future generation. Ethical virtues such as justice and equity will be considered in order to eradicate the problem. Thus the collaboration of all people is required.","PeriodicalId":34066,"journal":{"name":"Theologia Viatorum","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45188970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Male circumcision has long been associated with religious or cultural rituals which bestow culturally valuable status. In some communities, circumcision is believed to provide concomitant access to economic and spiritual resources such as land and the ability to communicate with the ancestors. However, the recent promotion of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) in 2009 as an additional dimension for reducing the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was received with mixed feelings by different people in Zimbabwe. The resistance was more pronounced in those districts where male circumcision was a traditional norm. It is considering this background where this article examines whether VMMC and religio-cultural male circumcision are distant cousins or siamese twins. This is performed by taking a leaf from the Varemba of Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe. Data collection was performed between May and October 2017 using in-depth individual interviews within the context of the hermeneutics paradigm which emphasises the existence of multiple realities across time and culture. Our analysis of data shows that the Varemba of Mwenezi district does not believe in the efficacy of VMMC because it is void of the ritualistic cultural–spiritual dimension that usually accompanies male circumcision. The study recommended that VMMC should contextualise the cultural value to achieve set targets for HIV prevention.
{"title":"Voluntary medical male circumcision versus religio-cultural circumcision and initiation rites: The case of Varemba of Mwenezi district in response to the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in Zimbabwe","authors":"Onias Matumbu, Vengesai Chimininge","doi":"10.4102/tv.v43i1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/tv.v43i1.3","url":null,"abstract":"Male circumcision has long been associated with religious or cultural rituals which bestow culturally valuable status. In some communities, circumcision is believed to provide concomitant access to economic and spiritual resources such as land and the ability to communicate with the ancestors. However, the recent promotion of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) in 2009 as an additional dimension for reducing the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was received with mixed feelings by different people in Zimbabwe. The resistance was more pronounced in those districts where male circumcision was a traditional norm. It is considering this background where this article examines whether VMMC and religio-cultural male circumcision are distant cousins or siamese twins. This is performed by taking a leaf from the Varemba of Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe. Data collection was performed between May and October 2017 using in-depth individual interviews within the context of the hermeneutics paradigm which emphasises the existence of multiple realities across time and culture. Our analysis of data shows that the Varemba of Mwenezi district does not believe in the efficacy of VMMC because it is void of the ritualistic cultural–spiritual dimension that usually accompanies male circumcision. The study recommended that VMMC should contextualise the cultural value to achieve set targets for HIV prevention.","PeriodicalId":34066,"journal":{"name":"Theologia Viatorum","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43423667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
It is a presumed opinion that gender and love mutually condition each other and that this presumption ought to be embraced by cultural norms, religion, human rights and the ethic of freedom. The notion of mutual conditioning presupposes a healthy and principled environment that facilitates the free dynamic interaction between gender and love. It is the purpose of this article to explore the outcomes of the gender revolution and the additional strands of complexities that it contributed to the human condition. Although feminism has created terminologies such as sex and gender, it is believed that these words have outlived their usefulness to make way for the present-day evolution towards a non-gendered idea of humanity. Gender diversity seeks mutuality, and true love accommodates multiplicity; hence, the interacting and intra-acting of gender and love inevitably come face-to-face with cultural, legal, social, religious and moral milieus that hamper or even contradict the concept of mutual conditioning. This article seeks to trace the evolution of gender within diverse cultural constructions created by new liberal living conditions, but which have not yet infiltrated the diverse cultural domains where gender remains an entity without cultural freedom and therefore undermines the process of mutual conditioning of gender and love. The idea of gender as transcending bodily sex forms part of an old theological and philosophical debate; it, however, resurfaces here while revisiting Aristotle’s idea of a non-gendered society or humanity. A degendered society implies a society that is free from dependence on gender, whereas a non-gendered humanity transcends gender divisions and associations, with its aspirations linked to the transcendence or consciousness of human nature. Love, in this sense, transcends all human dissections, and this article ascertains its capacity to mutually condition the diversity of gender and love.
{"title":"Mutual conditioning of gender and love: Towards a non-gendered idea of humanity","authors":"J. Slater","doi":"10.4102/tv.v43i1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/tv.v43i1.1","url":null,"abstract":"It is a presumed opinion that gender and love mutually condition each other and that this presumption ought to be embraced by cultural norms, religion, human rights and the ethic of freedom. The notion of mutual conditioning presupposes a healthy and principled environment that facilitates the free dynamic interaction between gender and love. It is the purpose of this article to explore the outcomes of the gender revolution and the additional strands of complexities that it contributed to the human condition. Although feminism has created terminologies such as sex and gender, it is believed that these words have outlived their usefulness to make way for the present-day evolution towards a non-gendered idea of humanity. Gender diversity seeks mutuality, and true love accommodates multiplicity; hence, the interacting and intra-acting of gender and love inevitably come face-to-face with cultural, legal, social, religious and moral milieus that hamper or even contradict the concept of mutual conditioning. This article seeks to trace the evolution of gender within diverse cultural constructions created by new liberal living conditions, but which have not yet infiltrated the diverse cultural domains where gender remains an entity without cultural freedom and therefore undermines the process of mutual conditioning of gender and love. The idea of gender as transcending bodily sex forms part of an old theological and philosophical debate; it, however, resurfaces here while revisiting Aristotle’s idea of a non-gendered society or humanity. A degendered society implies a society that is free from dependence on gender, whereas a non-gendered humanity transcends gender divisions and associations, with its aspirations linked to the transcendence or consciousness of human nature. Love, in this sense, transcends all human dissections, and this article ascertains its capacity to mutually condition the diversity of gender and love.","PeriodicalId":34066,"journal":{"name":"Theologia Viatorum","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45338244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Barren and advanced in age, Sarai proposed to Abram to take her maid, Hagar, as a wife so that they might have children through her. To some interpreters, this is sexual exploitation of Hagar. Using a reader-oriented approach, this article re-examines this mode of interpretation as well as assesses the perspectives in which the Hagar narrative appeals to the African reader. We found out that, when studied against its social background, the Abram–Hagar union is better understood as legitimate surrogacy. The research also found out that the text appeals to the African reader in the contexts of the problem of childlessness and modern surrogacy. The childless African reader thus finds solace in this narrative as it is suggestive of surrogacy as a pragmatic solution to his or her problem.
{"title":"Sexual exploitation or legitimate surrogacy: Reading the Hagar narrative (Gn 16:1–4a) in African context","authors":"S. Ademiluka","doi":"10.4102/TV.V43I1.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4102/TV.V43I1.2","url":null,"abstract":"Barren and advanced in age, Sarai proposed to Abram to take her maid, Hagar, as a wife so that they might have children through her. To some interpreters, this is sexual exploitation of Hagar. Using a reader-oriented approach, this article re-examines this mode of interpretation as well as assesses the perspectives in which the Hagar narrative appeals to the African reader. We found out that, when studied against its social background, the Abram–Hagar union is better understood as legitimate surrogacy. The research also found out that the text appeals to the African reader in the contexts of the problem of childlessness and modern surrogacy. The childless African reader thus finds solace in this narrative as it is suggestive of surrogacy as a pragmatic solution to his or her problem.","PeriodicalId":34066,"journal":{"name":"Theologia Viatorum","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42001955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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