{"id":16859,"date":"2016-08-11T06:40:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T06:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=16859"},"modified":"2016-08-11T06:40:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T06:40:36","slug":"zimbabwe-christian-leaders-join-together-to-speak-out-against-injustice-and-harassment-of-clergy-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/08\/11\/zimbabwe-christian-leaders-join-together-to-speak-out-against-injustice-and-harassment-of-clergy-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"ZIMBABWE &#8211; Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ZIMBABWE &#8211;\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">The Zimbabwe Catholic bishops\u2019 conference joined the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and other groups in issuing a statement calling for an end to harassment of clergy and for a just response to other grievances:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">\u201cWe call upon our government to listen to the cries of citizens whose cries and sufferings are loud and clear. There is need to act justly and mercifully on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged in our nation.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Church leaders voiced concern about apparent disregard for the constitution by the government and police, failure to deal with corruption, and the exclusion of citizens from determining their destiny. \u201cThese grievances must be viewed as the early warning signs which indicate underlying and simmering tensions that will soon explode into civil unrest if not addressed,\u201d they said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">In particular, the group of Church leaders expressed their concern about the harassment, arrests and the intimidation of clergymen \u201cspeaking on behalf of powerless people.\u201d They joined other citizens in protesting against the government and officials\u2019 \u00a0harsh treatment of Baptist pastor Evan Mawarire.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16863\" src=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Pastor-Evan-Mawarire-was-arrested-in-Zimbabwe-1-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"Pastor-Evan-Mawarire-was-arrested-in-Zimbabwe\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" \/><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Last May, Mawarire launched the \u201c#ThisFlag\u201d social media movement to voice frustration about the situation in Zimbabwe through Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Although the pastor\u2019s videos emphasised non-violence, he was arrested and charged with inciting public violence and subversion. Zimbabwe\u2019s President Robert Mugabe verbally attacked Mawarire, claiming he is a false minister backed by foreign countries that want to destabilize the country. Crowds took to the streets to protest and the pastor was released after a court threw out charges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">The Christian leaders\u2019 message condemned the brutality of law enforcement and urged the government to protect citizens\u2019 rights to demonstrate and protest, adding \u201cIn exercising this right, we implore citizens to always remain peaceful in their demonstrations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">\u201cWe call upon the Church, which is the salt and light of this nation, to continue to pray and also to speak out prophetically against any unjust system, until we have a peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe in which every citizen\u2019s God given and constitutional rights are respected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">They prayed that their country would be one that respects all citizens and that fears God in its love for justice, peace and love of one\u2019s neighbour and concluded by saying.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">\u201cMay God grant us Zimbabweans the courage, faith and hope to face our challenges.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ZIMBABWE &#8211;\u00a0Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy &nbsp; The Zimbabwe Catholic bishops\u2019 conference joined the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and other groups in issuing a statement calling for an end to harassment of clergy and for a just response to other grievances: \u201cWe&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ZIMBABWE - Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/08\/11\/zimbabwe-christian-leaders-join-together-to-speak-out-against-injustice-and-harassment-of-clergy-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ZIMBABWE - Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ZIMBABWE &#8211;\u00a0Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy &nbsp; 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