Contrary to the widely held view in religion and media that non-Pentecostal mainline churches had not embraced media technologies in their mission(s), Nelly Mwale, Melvin Simuchimba and Austin Cheyeka in the first article of the journal, argue that, mainline church-related universities in Zambia reflect a trend towards the use of the media in order to sell their educational activities. The second article by Kenny Changwe, Tomaida C. Milingo and Esther Hara Zulu is based on a study that sought to investigate the role indigenous environmental beliefs play in heritage preservation at Mwela rock art site in Kasama District of Zambia. The authors established that the coming of National Heritage Conservation Commission to manage the heritage site had discouraged indigenous environmental beliefs from being recognised and incorporated in preservation practices. The authors recommend that indigenous environmental beliefs be adopted and incorporated in the formal heritage management of Mwela rock art site. In the third article titled ‘Towards a National Policy on Religious Education in Zambia’, Simuchimba proposes adoption and introduction of a national policy on Religious Education (RE) to govern the teaching and learning of the subject so as to develop the subject beyond its current neo-confessional and semi- educational nature. In arguing for a policy, the author puts forward a framework and principles which should underpin both the policy on RE and the nature of RE to be offered in the country. While Simuchimba argues for a policy on RE, John Yanko Mudalitsa S.J., calls for a Zambian Commission on RE to conduct a large-scale research into the quality of Religious Education and prepare a new national plan for the subject. In addition, Mudalitsa appeals to tertiary institutions to start teaching Religious Education. Prof. Austin M. Cheyeka, PhD Chief Editor
Published: 2021-08-30