Alice Lenshina: Difference between revisions

At first the Lumpa Church was close to the main Black organization fighting for independence, the Northern Rhodesia [[African National Congress]] (ANC). However, when Kenneth Kaunda left the ANC in 1958 and formed the more militant [[United National Independence Party]] (UNIP) there arose a competition for members between the new church and the new party. Villages were split as Lumpa leaders ordered their members to establish separate villages by moving out of villages where they lived alongside UNIP's members. The conflict between UNIP and the Lumpa Church reached a climax in July to October in 1964, just before Northern Rhodesia's independence. On July 24, 1964 a gunbattle broke out between UNIP and Lumpa Church members. The resulting riots were only quelled by the intervention of State troops, and the proclamation of a state of emergency by the new pre-independence Prime Minister, Kenneth Kaunda. About a thousand people died in the clashes between Lumpa Church adherents, UNIP's members and the security forces. Approximately 15,000 Lumpa Church members fled and took refuge in Congo; some of them never returned to Zambia. The Lumpa Church was banned on 3 August 1964 and Lenshina surrendered to police a few days later.<ref>[http://www.britishempire.co.uk/article/alicelenshinalumpa.htm Alice Lenshina and her Lumpa Church, John Hannah]</ref>

Alice Lenshina herself played no significant role in the Lumpa Church's political activities. She regretted the fact that the political actions weakened the religious impact of her message, which stressed the sanctity of marriage, opposed both polygamy and traditional African folk magic and promoted the upliftment of common people, especially women.