Magic Statistics

Supporters of deposed Anglican Bishop Nolbert Kunonga (at right) continue to disrupt worship services in Harare, Zimbabwe.  Many services were cancelled during the past week by disturbances between  supporters of former Bp Kunonga and supporters of recently appointed acting bishop Sebastian Bakare.

At one church, Kunonga himself reportedly got in on the pugilistic action.

In Greendale, Rector Thomas Madeyi was arrested for allegedly disturbing a church service that was conducted by Kunonga at St Luke's, Greendale, Church.

However, Madeyi was on Tuesday released after a prosecutor at the Harare Magistrates Courts said there was no case to answer for the rector.
. . .
But information gathered by the Zimbabwe Independent this week revealed that Kunonga's supporters sparked the row that led to Madeyi's arrest.

"Kunonga and crew caused our rector to be arrested and thrown into the cells at Rhodesville police station," said a source.

The source alleged that Kunonga was the one who fought Madeyi in order to wrestle vestry keys from him.

Another parishioner says Kunonga obstructed the service before it got started.

"As our front servers prepared for mass and as we waited for Bishop Bakare and our rector to emerge from the vestry, Kunonga unashamedly and in full view of the congregation, stood up, walked to the altar, grabbed the wine, cups and wafers, threw them on the ground, grabbed a chair, placed it right in front of the altar and sat cross-legged, defiantly gazing at the stunned congregation," he said.

The ex-bishop sounds like the very model of a sound church leader.

Earlier today, a judge ordered Kunonga supporters and Bakare supporters to meet for worship at different times.

High Court Judge Rita Makarau said supporters of axed bishop Nolbert Kunonga could hold their services in churches between 7 and 10 Sunday morning.

Those loyal to newly-appointed bishop Sebastian Bakare could use the churches after 11 am, a spokesman for Bakare said.

A spokesman for Bakare supporters says his people can worship tomorrow “without fear, without interruption”.  Given the track record of Kunonga and his thugs, I wouldn’t count on that.

Previous related posts:

• Police called to worship services at two Harare Anglican churches
• Bishop Kunonga: Church must support Mugabe policies
• Bishop Kunonga blocked food shipments to Zimbabwe
• Bishop cancels Sunday services for his anniversary

A 1996 letter by the Prince of Wales has become public in which he told a Muslim head of state that he supports "proper fundamentalism" as “in the best interest of the future of our world”.   The letter was written to Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003.

Charles told Mahathir, who later claimed that Jews "rule the world by proxy", he understood the "frustrations" Muslims experience "as a result of apparent Western misunderstanding and misrepresentation. I have, for a long time, despaired of the ignorant and thoroughly evil 'role' of the tabloid media in deliberately misrepresenting Islam and reducing everything to the level of the absurd."
. . .
Charles said he saw the appeal of "proper fundamentalism" in "a world, in my part of it at any rate, which is increasingly without meaning, without roots, without a spiritual dimension and which worships the God of Technology." He finished his letter with the rallying cry: "There is much to be done…!"

The letter has been published in Dr Mahatir’s collection of letters to world leaders.

One hopes that the heir to the throne has re-considered his rose-coloured view of Islam in the wake of the 9/11 and 7/7 Muslim terrorist attacks.

I agree that technology is an idol and not to be worshipped, but the same goes for the Allah of Islam.  Prince Charles should take his mother’s faith more seriously.

Previous related posts:

• Queen Elizabeth extols “uniqueness” of Christianity
• Queen Elizabeth “enemy of Islam”