| | The last issue which ROAPE devoted entirely to religion reflected what its editors saw then as the principal area of concern, particularly Christian fundamentalism often sponsored by US evangelical churches. Global events since the devastation of the 'twin towers' in New York on 9 September 2001, the election and re-election to the American presidency of a 'born again' Christian, terrorist atrocities in Kenya and Tanzania and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, have altered the picture so radically that a revisit to the topic is now timely, if not overdue. In so doing it is appropriate also to update the terminology. 'Fundamentalism' has increasingly come to be seen as a problematic label, with a shift from its meaning of a dogmatism of belief that did not depart from literal interpretation of sacred texts. Concern today is not with religious belief per se, but faith as the basis for political activities and organisation, even if the rigidity of those beliefs adds intolerance to violent politics.
This will be the focus of the current issue. In it we will tend to use the now more standard 'Islamism' and talk about Islamist movements rather than 'Islamic fundamentalism'; likewise, rather than Christian fundamentalism we will talk about ideologies such as evangelism or Pentecostalism and in organisational terms concentrate on the familiar 'Christian right'. There is also a contextual shift internal to Africa (and elsewhere globally) in the apparent burgeoning of religious bodies, of converts to new faiths and in the centrality of religious concerns, especially in politics - in turn reflected in the number of books, articles and conferences on these themes. |
