Christianity and Public Culture in Africa

8: From Spiritual Warfare to Spiritual Kinship: Islamophobia and Evangelical Radio in Malawi

167 E I g h T From Spiritual Warfare to Spiritual Kinship Islamophobia and Evangelical Radio in Malawi H A r r i e n g l u n d f O l l O w I N g T h E hotly contested presidential and parliamentary elections of 1999, mosques and churches became the targets of arson attacks in some parts of malawi. during the campaign, leading politicians rarely highlighted religious differences between the incumbent, bakili muluzi, a muslim, and his main rival, gwanda Chakuamba, a Christian.1 Yet, as is discussed in this chapter, for specific historical reasons, popular mistrust of muslims loomed large during and after the elections. When muluzi was declared the winner, some Christians allegedly burned mosques in the northern region, where the majority of muslims were migrants from the Central and Southern regions. in Chinsapo, a township in malawi’s capital, lilongwe, in the Central region, where i have conducted ethnographic research, it was churches that were torched. no more than two churches in a township of some thirty thousand residents had this fate, apparently randomly chosen at night. one of them was the faith for Healing life Church, a Pentecostal church established by a migrant from blantyre, malawi’s commercial capital, in the Southern region.2 A building made of thatch and soil, it burned like a bonfire before any of its members had arrived on the scene. Although members and nonmembers alike were convinced that muslim youths in the same township were responsible, church members ruled out retaliation in kind.time and again, church elders and lay members asserted that they would retaliate only through prayer. fervent prayers took place in church members’ homes and on the site of their 168 hARRI ENglUND torched church, weapons of a warfare that was waged in the name of the Holy Spirit. Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, in Chinsapo township and elsewhere, often single out islam as their key spiritual adversary, closely associating its diabolical nature with Satanism and witchcraft.3 Yet if the bellicose rhetoric of spiritual warfare is examined in its specific historical and ethnographic context, a fresh perspective on the vexing issue of religious polarization can be gained. the members of the faith for Healing life Church refrained from physical violence, and there is no evidence to suggest that the attacks on mosques in the northern region were carried out by Pentecostal Christians. in this regard, the well-motivated concern among the so-called civil-society organizations in malawi about religious and political intolerance could benefit from an appreciation of how some spiritual orientations can actually defuse the specter of violence. Human rights organizations, for example, have issued statements and convened meetings to condemn so-called fundamentalism , whether of muslim or Christian complexion, and to assert the place of religion in the private sphere of citizens’ lives. one event in 2006 had as its guest of honor Justin malewezi, malawi’s former vice president, widely respected for his moderate views. “now and then we notice fundamentalist views on radio and preachings seeping into religious discourse and practice,” malewezi observed. “Such language may pave the way for an outburst of violence, and this would be so destructive and alien to the peaceful malawi we know.”4 interesting in malewezi’s statement is not only his concern over language use but also his understanding of the role radio plays in malawi . As the only mass medium in the country, radio has been central to both political and religious developments.5 malewezi did not specify whether he considered fundamentalism a problem for both Christians and muslims, but it would seem that muslims, whatever their political advantage during muluzi’s regime, are rather less well represented on the airwaves. of the twenty-one broadcasting stations that the malawi Communications regulatory Authority (mACrA) had licensed by 2006, only one, radio islam, focused on muslims, while six stations had a broadly Pentecostal or evangelical profile.6 Yet just as there is no gainsaying close analysis of what spiritual warfare entails in the rhetoric and practice of township Pentecostals, so too are the procedures of evangelical radio stations in malawi rather more complex than what labeling them as fundamentalist would seem to suggest. in 2006, for example, 169 from Spiritual Warfare to Spiritual Kinship transworld radio, a malawian-run evangelical station, discovered that its broadcasts were affected by interference from radio islam.7 upon receiving a complaint from...