Lesotho’s constitution provides for religious freedom. Basotho are predominantly Christian, with diverse denominations. There are smaller religious affiliations, Muslims, Hindus, Baha’i, and indigenous religions. Banchof’s the World Faith Dialogue, states that 90% of the population comprises 45% (one million) Catholic and 45% Protestants. The largest Protestant denomination is the Anglican Church of Lesotho – with 370 000 members, followed by the LECSA (Lesotho Evangelical Church of Southern Africa) and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) with 300 000 and 150 000, respectfully.

Despite Basotho being believers, many practise traditional rites. For example, burials, traditional cleansing, and ‘pha-balimo’ strictly follow customs, bohali continues to be part of weddings rites. Pha-balimo is where a family sets aside a sacrificial portion of food to share with ancestors. This practice is common in most Basotho ceremonies.

Apart from spirituality and scriptures, churches play essential roles in public services and Basotho lives. In the education sector, over 90% of schools are church-owned. The Christian Health Association of Lesotho (CHAL) has eight hospitals and 71 healthcare centres nationwide.

Also, there are several Faith Inspired Organisations (FIO). FIOs work with the government and other organisations to address education, health, social justice, and civic engagements issues. They are involved in national pandemics such as HIV/AIDS and TB, the current Covid 19, the triple challenge of hunger, poverty and unemployment.

The missionaries extended their control over Basotho society through the school system. The Catholics used schools to push for denominational separation. In sports events, they put Catholic pupils separately under priests’ strict supervision.

This article seeks to explore the role of the church in developments in Lesotho. I will show that the method missionaries used to implement their Eurocentric religion was detrimental to Basotho. This method adversely compromised our culture, customs and values leading to Basotho being at war with themselves.

The first missionaries (of the Parish Evangelical Missionary Society, PEMS) arrived in Lesotho in 1833. Two more generations followed before the first crop of Basotho evangelists were ready for ordination. In the meantime, other missionaries, from different denominations, followed.

Jacottet stands out amongst all missionaries. His intellectual contributions to Lesotho are worth commenting on separately. He contributed tremendously to linguistics, traditional literature and education.
Early missionaries played significant roles in the formative stages of Lesotho. Apart from their ministry, they advised and facilitated Moshoeshoe’s agreements with the settlers and the British. They converted Sesotho into a written language with its dictionary. They founded school and biblical education, the printing press, including the first mission periodical, Leselinyana and translating the Bible into vernacular.

The mandate of missionaries was to indigenise Christianity in Lesotho. They eradicated Basotho traditions. The policies depersonalised Basotho thereby losing their self-being and nationhood. Disconnecting Basotho from their culture destroys their being and creates another personality. They created what Wilson Blueprint Black Power calls two characters in one body.

The first missionaries sought to convert the nation. However, they first wanted to convert the individual. At the same time, Moshoeshoe allowed his wives to be converted. But Moshoeshoe was never baptised himself. When the missionaries demanded his baptismal, he asked them to all baptise him together.

Rev Sekoati OMI, observed that Eurocentric religion was considered ‘superior’ to Basotho culture and customs. Indigenising the Eurocentric religion rendered Basotho traditions a misfit. This creation mentally enslaved Basotho to a culture that is entirely foreign to them. Enslavement of the mind yields dependence. Letting the missionaries to determine our culture allows them to choose our personalities and our consciousness. The European subjugated Lesotho as a nation.

Jacottet reflected that Basotho were not as primitive, simple-natured and easily-read people as the Europeans naïvely imagined. Casalis acknowledges that Basotho believed in the existence of a supreme being they called ‘Molimo’. They believed in the immortality of the soul and resurrection of the body. They requested the ancestors to intercede on their behalf and buried their dead in a particular manner. Ancestors could intercede for the living. The Supreme Being can punish offenders for violating his laws and customs. Casalis recognised the resemblance and connections between the doctrine of Christianity and Basotho’s ancient thoughts. Yet, the missionaries sought to substitute Basotho religion with a superior Christianity.

Even with this knowledge, a European Jacottet’s colleague noted that even though they lived amongst Basotho, and were in contact with them, they lived separate and far from them. In short, the two lived worlds apart, yet they committed to change the lives of Basotho.

Synopses of biographies of missionaries who arrived in Lesotho and their societies’ histories do not show any European knowledge of Basotho customs and culture before their arrival. But, as Sekoati lays it, the missionaries saw everything about Basotho as evil and ancient. They equated Christianity as civilisation. They saw the European religion as superior.

Contrary to acknowledgements, on numerous occasions throughout his book, Casalis refers to Basotho as caffres, which he defines as men without beliefs, (the word, caffre or kaffir is derogatory, insulting and offensive). Scholars argue that religion is a product of one’s culture. Christianity, like any religion, is itself a product of culture. It evolved in line with the European Western traditional culture. Nonetheless, the missionary sought to deprive Basotho of pursuing the religion emanating from their culture. Here, the missionaries chose the culture Basotho must follow. Determining culture for Basotho takes away their power. They become dependent on others.

Under Emperor Constantine, the Roman Empire sought to and institutionalised Christianity in his Empire beginning around 320s AD. He sought to spread his influence and dominate other nations. As a result, the Emperor summoned his clerics and scholars to translate the Bible to his native language. He used Christianity as a tool for conquering the world, as the Romans knew. We see the evidence of religion’s power on things like the calendar and the western governments and Christian holidays.

A white anthropologist visited Lesotho to gather anthropological data on Basotho. There are no records of this study. Sekoati’s master study criticises the missionaries arguing they outrightly rejected our indigenous religions without sufficient investigation. Obliterating Basotho culture and values leads to their intellectual enslavement. Put differently, destroying Basotho would render them dependent on others. They were being enslaved by those who brought these new traditions and ways of believing.

The missionaries demanded that Moshoeshoe and Basotho abolish initiation – lebollo, polygamy and payment of bridal price or dowry – bohali customary practices. They refused to baptise women in polygamous marriages, forcing them to divorce their husbands before converting.
On the other hand, Casalis and much later, Couzens, point out that lebollo was critical to nation-building. Basotho lads are initiated into manhood.

They were taught Basotho traditions, laws and customs, the art of warfare, hunting, self-defence, the responsibility of manhood and family life.
This is whilst Casalis, himself, saw many resemblances between the Hebrew and Basotho initiation rites. The two nations attached a state of stigmatisation and dishonour for being uncircumcised. As with the Jews, lebollo is core to Basotho. At least to me, it is not clear how this culture is contrary to Christianity.

At some point, Moshoeshoe acceded to the pressure and suspended lebollo. The suspension of lebollo was short-lived, though. Moshoeshoe reversed the suspension of lebollo after the missionaries betrayed him by instructing Basotho parishioners to disobey the call for all men to join a war expedition against Batlokoa. Jacottet acknowledged the church’s blunder.

This is not the last interferences of the church in Lesotho politics. Khaketla’s book, Lesotho 1970 an African Coup Under the Microscope, and Sekoati, much later, detailed church-sponsored political meddling in Lesotho. The Catholic Church formed and propelled a political party into government. They effectively used the church machinery, pulpit, schools, print media, the clergy and other resources to ensure success.

Teachers and employees were threatened with expulsion and ex-communication. It was a sin not to vote, but the parishioners must vote with a ‘conscience’. The bishop prescribed this ‘conscience’. The outcomes of this ‘unholy’ partnership could not be more catastrophic.
Banchof claims that the main Protestant church aligned itself with a major party. Sekoati disagrees arguing that even if they tried, the protestant churches were too divided dealing with their issues. They did not have the resources to sustain such campaign machinery.

I have shown that one policy of the missionaries was indigenisation of Christianity. It is critical to underscore that these missionaries were either French or Swiss-French. France practised the colonial policy of assimilation, where the citizen of its colonies became French and lost their cultures, including languages.
A product of assimilation policy is the French 2018 Russia FIFA world cup winning team. Twelve French players boasted African ancestry. They came from nine nations in Africa. The native countries were deprived of their talent.

However, Banchof found that many Basotho continued to practise Christianity and traditional rituals. According to Wilson, this duality of beliefs by Basotho leads to multiple personalities. A person with this condition displays personalities depending on the context or environment.
This is contrary to the view of Casalis and Jacottet about Basotho. In the preceding paragraphs, I have already highlighted that Basotho inherited a religion regarding their culture, customs, and values as inferior.

They allowed others to determine their experiences, history and consciousness. According to Wilson, in doing so Basotho gave their power to the missionaries. Other people decided what was suitable for Basotho.
Lesotho offers an education system whose principal is to develop the Christian character where the teachers’ role was evangelists first, and pedagogy came second. The system aimed at acquainting children with the Bible and instilling the scripture into children. They gave less attention to practical subjects like mathematics, geography and the sciences. Others would go into government and take up offices as civil servants and as police officers.

In the meantime, teacher training colleges, whose purposes were to perpetuate the denominational doctrines mushroomed alongside the Christian church denominations in Lesotho. The main churches at the time built three denominational teachers’ colleges. These churches were the Roman Catholic Church, the Lesotho Evangelical Church and the Anglican Church.

Banchof found that Basotho trusted religious leaders and their organisations. This trust places them in strategic positions where they could influence the attitudes of Basotho on sensitive developmental issues. For example, the Christian Council of Lesotho played a crucial role in establishing the national reforms dialogue.

This article shows that the missionaries made tremendous contributions in many sectors of the country. Their contributions spilt beyond the borders of Lesotho. These sectors include the administration and international relationships, in education, both school and higher education sectors, language and linguistics, health and wellness – with local and international organisations. Today they continue to make an enormous contribution in sensitive national issues such as the constitutional reforms.

The missionaries came to Lesotho with preconceived policies irrespective of Basotho traditions. These policies undermined Basotho projecting Europeans and their religion as superior. They alienated Basotho culture and customs. Dislocating Basotho from their traditions yielded catastrophic consequences. It produced chaos, with people losing their cultural identity, the very foundation of their being. Even though Basotho are predominately Christian, they continued to practice their traditional rites. Some Basotho culture and customs survived ruthless efforts by the church to uproot them, even with the threat of ex-communication.

The article reveals that missionaries brought an education system that put too much emphasis on Christian spirituality. This system neglected aspects of personal and national development. The doctrine of the denomination was deemed more important than the country’s needs.
Wilson suggests that individuals who mix traditional culture and customs with Christianity display a medical condition called multiple personalities disorder. This person as possessed by evil spirits and is at war with him- or herself and the community. The symptoms that the individual displays include self-destructive behaviours such as substance abuse and lack of peace.

There are other consequences at the community and national level. Even though the impact may be minimal at local community levels, the denominational religion caused fatal outcomes at the national level. The article shows that the church’s involvement in political developments of a nation is a sensitive business that should be handled with maximum caution.

Instead, the missionaries needed to consolidate Basotho culture and religion by integrating them with Christianity. Today Basotho are a lost nation that has lost their sense of community, goals and purposes.
In conclusion, the church made significant contributions to Lesotho, spiritually and socially. Many of these landmarks are recognisable today. However, their contributions came at a cost. Missionaries projected themselves as superior. Basotho lost the power to determine their lives. The loss resulted in individuals with multiple personality disorders manifesting in self-destructive tendencies.

Basotho strongly believed in Molimo with ancestors interceding on their behalf. Basotho traditional practices entrench their religion. The missionaries acknowledged the similarities with Christianity. Yet, the church elected to neglect this knowledge. All conquered nations had religion imposed on them.

The church involved themselves in the political development of Lesotho to the detriment of Basotho. They compromised Lesotho’s politics by manipulating them to their desired end, depriving Basotho of their nationhood. Instead, a Mosotho became the enemy of a Mosotho. The self-destruction here is at a national level.

Banchof found that most research studies on religion in Lesotho focused on the history of the church. There is little contemporary research. The church knows little on what appeals to its parishioners. At the same time, this article questions the indigenisation policy. Basotho and the church must consolidate the two religions.
Basotho must come to terms with their values and consciousness and the way they would like to take Lesotho forward.

Dr Tholang Maqutu