the monitor

Abrahamic religions and the history of regulating morality

In the previous piece, celebrating the amazing decision by the Court of Appeal, to decriminalize same sex intimacy, we started addressing institutionalised oppression and discrimination.

Often, in our culture, oppression is perpetuated by religious puritans for whom life is either or, without the slightest regard for the actual complexities in which we exist, and the spectrums of identities, and specifically sexual identity.

The earliest religion in Botswana, as old as the first people in area which has become the country, is a form of what is broadly referred to as “African Traditional Religion” (ATR). ATR recognises the vast diversity of traditional practices by African people, which includes various ethnic religions. It is anchored in plurality, recognising that the richness in our diversity stems from this pluralistic makeup. By definition, ATR is essentially the indigenous and autochthonous religions of the African people, which deals with cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society and so on. It is a way of life which related to culture and society, which affect the worldwide view of the African people.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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