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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Jehovah's Witnesses in Colonial Mozambique
Author:Pinto, Pedro
Year:2005
Periodical:Le Fait Missionnaire: Social Sciences and Missions
Issue:17
Period:December
Pages:61-123
Language:English
Geographic terms:Mozambique
Portugal
Subjects:Jehovah's Witnesses
colonial period
colonialism
History and Exploration
Religion and Witchcraft
External link:https://doi.org/10.1163/221185205X00130
Abstract:This article examines the history of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower (independent) movements in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique up until 1974. It investigates why the Portuguese authorities spent a considerable amount of time and resources to investigate these movements, despite the fact that their number of followers was insignificant. The oldest reference concerning the presence of followers and adepts of those beliefs in Mozambique goes back to the 1920s, and illustrates the importance of migration for the spread of new ideas. During the Salazar regime, communism was identified as the main enemy. In this context, the colonial administration started to look with great caution at the activities of religious groups, and in particular movements such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, that were seen as liable to turn antinational. Moreover, Jehovah's Witnesses' pacifist ideas, conscientious objection, refusal to salute the flag and sing the national anthem were considered as subversive by the military and ultra-integrationist sectors of the colonial regime. However, the policy of the colonial government towards the Jehova's Witnesses was ambiguous, and repression and flexibility coexisted side by side. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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