Religious Politics and Political Religion: Christian Nationalism in Contemporary Zambia, 2017-2020

This project explored the efforts of Chrsitian nationalist activists and government officials to "actualize" the constitutional declaration that Zambia is a "Christian nation." The central component of the data are field notes from four months of participant-observation in Zambia’s government Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs. In addition to this material are further fieldnotes outlining participant-observation at the 2018 National Day of Prayer, church-sponsored prayer meetings, and notes from interviews with church and government leaders. Finally, there are notes and recordings of a radio call-in show sponsored by the project. This live broadcast featured church leaders and political commentators debating the meaning of the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation, as well as comments from the national audience who phoned into the show.There can be no doubt that we live in a world where religion has taken on a great deal of political importance. The rise of Hindu nationalism in India, debates about the Christian character of the European Union, and the implementation of Sharia law in several Nigerian states all point to the fact that famous social scientific predictions that secularism would follow modernity have not come to pass. These examples, as well as numerous others from across the globe, raise some important questions: What are the political effects of religious nationalism? How do changes in the political status of a religion impact ritual life, belief, and practice? Is it possible for a religious state to protect the rights of all of its citizens, including those that fall outside the religious boundaries it creates? And, perhaps most fundamentally, what role should religion play in public life? This project explores these broad questions through a specific case study: Zambia, the only African country to make a state-sponsored declaration that it is a Christian nation. "The declaration," as it is often called, has recently become a source of concern for international bodies like the UN, as it raises questions about the rights of sexual and religious minorities. The declaration is also a source of debate among Zambian Christians. Although for some, especially Pentecostals, the declaration represents an agreement with God that protects Zambia, other Christians have argued that it hinders the church's capacity for political critique. Empirical data on these debates, including a careful examination of what it means for Zambians from different backgrounds to live in a self-proclaimed Christian nation, will provide a picture of the realities of religious nationalism in a different context to that which we are used to seeing, as academic discussions of this topic have typically focused on the Islamic world or the secular West. The Zambian case therefore provides a fresh perspective on established debates. This is important not only because it expands academic knowledge, but also because it provides the public with stronger evidence for decision-making about the future role of religion in public life. In Zambia, these decisions will be made through a referendum to approve a new constitution, and with it the declaration. The UK is also facing important decisions about the public role of religion, for instance in debates about assisted suicide. Research on the declaration therefore has implications for public debate both in Zambia and at home in the UK. In order to understand Christian nationalism in Zambia, this project employs a mixture of established ethnographic tools and innovative, community-based methodologies. Given the role of media in shaping the public's idea of the nation, I pay particular attention to the way that political actors, church leaders, and ordinary Zambians engage with newspapers, television, and radio, as well as new media like blogs and online news sites. I will explore these issues through focus group discussions of news broadcasts, as well as a series of call-in radio shows that will allow the Zambian public to drive the direction and content of my research. This project will also engage with the discussions of Christian nationalism emerging from the religious sphere through ethnographic research in two churches. Finally, data will be collected through interviews with Zambian citizens whose rights are most obviously threatened by the declaration, namely members of religious and sexual minority communities. Following initial fieldwork in Zambia, I will collaborate with scholars working in other post-colonial countries in which Christianity plays a prominent role in state politics to develop a comparative picture of Christian nationalism in the Global South. This project will pave the way for a larger comparative study of religion and political economy.