What is he hiding behind?

Dear Editor,
It would be hard – if not damn impossible – to convince me that Job Shipulo Amupanda is actually ignorant of Namibian history. After telling us that God is not limited to the Bible – as if any one ever said He was – he declares himself a believer in a god in whom his ancestors also believed.
For Amupanda, religion becomes a question of race and skin colour; Jesus is dismissed as a “white messiah”, and, Shipululo was apparently so unfortunate that he has never met a Christian who could stand up for his faith.
But don’t worry. I will take the risk, knowing fully well that Amupanda is not a fool. He does not even say “there is no God”; he simply rejects the Christian God and labels the Christian Church in Namibia as being too “preoccupied with blaming black people for the ‘sins’”. He also says the Church has become irrelevant, and therein he contradicts himself. We all know that people who present contradictory arguments normally do so because they are desperately trying to hide something.
Shipululo says the Namibian Church tells black people not to worry about their pain and suffering because they will be showered with wealth when Jesus comes “one day”. But is that true or is Shipuluko falling short on truth AGAIN?
Why do we have Reverend Michael Scot Street in Windhoek? Who was Rev. Theophilus Hamutumbangela? Why were Anglican bishops Winter and Wood deported from Namibia? Why were several Catholic priests deported from Namibia? Why did the Church open a case in a South African High court demanding the outlawing of floggings by traditional leaders in Namibia? Why did late bishop Leonard Auala petition the South African government?
Why did the Church build schools, award study bursaries and provide health care at the time when the colonial government denied those services to blacks? Why did the Church spearhead the Basic Income Grant (BIG)? And, in the case of South Africa, how did Archbishop Desmond Tutu win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Can any sober person consider those activities as a sign that the Church does not care about the black people’s pain and suffering?
Steven Mvula
Namibia
(Letter shortened – Ed.)