LIBERATION OR DOMESTICATION? : AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF
RELIGION DURING APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA
By
Emily E. Welty
Submitted to the
Faculty of the School of International Service
of American University
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements of the Degree of
Master of Arts
In
International Peace and Conflict Resolution
Chair:
)r. Mohammed Abu-Nimer
. Josiah Young C O G - r d h ____ Dean Louis Goodman 2. me.u-i Date
2005 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 .THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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by
Emily E. Welty
2005
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. My thesis work was bracketed on either end by the departure of both my grandfathers - Herman Bailey Seal and Robert Samuel Welty. Papa Seal passed away during the first days of my research in the fall of 2000 and Papa Bob passed away during the spring of 2005.1 am grateful to now have them as my ancestors and this is dedicated to them -
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIBERATION OR DOMESTICATION? : AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF
RELIGION DURING APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA
BY
Emily E. Welty
ABSTRACT
My thesis examines the role of religion during apartheid in South Africa. I argue that in
order to comprehend the socio-political circumstances surrounding the end of apartheid,
it is necessary to understand the role of religion in South African society. During my
fieldwork in the country, I interviewed key religious figures about their role in the
liberation struggle. These interviews as well as information from theological statements
produced by religious organizations, published memoirs, transcripts of speeches and
published research on the apartheid era formed the backbone of my research. I
established that religion served both as a force for domestication as well as liberation in
South Africa. The Afrikaner community used religion to theologically justify and enforce
apartheid. The use of religion for liberation manifested itself in theology, the work of
religious leaders and direct political activism.
ii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer and Dr. Josiah Young for their willingness to serve as advisors to this project. Dr. Abu-Nimer has been my mentor at American University for the past three years and I have benefited greatly from his wisdom and knowledge.
During my time in South Africa, I was blessed by the wit and spirit of David and Patty Geerdts who gave me direction, encouragement and even a cool bed to recover in during a bout of illness.
The Hope Community sisters of Saint Philomena’s were my second home during my first and second stays in Durban. Their sense of humor and genuine care for me were immeasurably valuable.
Marie Salupo was a perfect traveling companion and supportive listener during my first days back in South Africa after a long absence. Her friendship is a joy to me.
Andrew McDonnell went above and beyond the call of duty by deciding to celebrate our ten year anniversary of friendship by volunteering to edit my thesis all the way from Saipan!
Without the willingness of a great number of people in South Africa to share their stories and their experiences with me, this project would not have been possible. The gracious readiness of all of my interviewees to spend a morning or afternoon and several cups of tea with me is a testament to the warmth of the South African people. I am particularly indebted to the brilliant spirits of: Archbishop Denis Hurley, Dr. Nico Smith, Albert Nolan, Father Chris Townsend, Archbishop Rubin Phillip, Sue Brittion, Cardinal Wilfred Napier, Cosmas Desmond, Paddy Kearney, Richard Steele, Anita Kromberg, Archbishop Lawrence Henry and Rob Robertson.
Finally, I am grateful beyond words to my family, friends, friends who feel like family and family who feel like friends for their patience, encouragement, good humor and love throughout this entire process.
iii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ...... ii
Acknowledgments...... iii
Chapter One: Domestication or Liberation?...... 1
Chapter Two: Apartheid as Religion...... 26
Chapter Three: Theology for Liberation and Resistance...... 57
Chapter Four: Serving the People, Resisting the State...... 102
Chapter Five: Direct Political Activism From Faith...... 129
Chapter Six: People are People through other People...... 161
Chapter Seven: Turning the Tide - South African Society After...... 1994 181
Chapter Eight: Both Domestication and Liberation...... 198
Appendix: Chronology of Relevant Events...... 213
Bibliography...... 215
iv
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER ONE: DOMESTICATION OR LIBERATION?
All my life, stories have been important to me. Since childhood, I have been
engrossed in stories ranging from exquisitely illustrated picture books to incredibly
detailed novels. As I grew older, my passion for travel and my preoccupation with social
justice became just two more outlets for my thirst to hear and participate in human
narratives. Unfortunately, “stories” are not seen as scholarly. Yet, despite that fact that
this thesis rests firmly in the realm of scholarship, it still feels very much like a story to
me. This is the story of a group of people who would not be kept down, who refused to
accept second-class citizenship. This is a story about people of faith and the way that they
used their faith to bring down an oppressive regime. This is a story about faith and hope
and fear and courage. This is a story that involves people thousands of miles away and,
this is the story of how I encountered and interpreted their experiences. And when people
ask me to justify the power of nonviolence and spirit over violence and death - this is the
story I tell them....
In 1972, Paulo Freire poised a radical thesis to the world of education. He asserted
that education served one of two purposes - domestication or liberation.1 That is, the
purpose of education was either to indoctrinate people into a way of life that served the
interests of a more powerful institution or to open people to new possibilities for them to
1 Paulo Freire, “Education: domestication or liberation?” Prospects - quarterly review of education. Volume II, Number 2, (1972). 1
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become agents of change in society. In this thesis, I raise this same assertion in a different
context - religion.
In a discipline that has tended to focus on issues such as human rights,
international negotiation, dispute resolution and peacebuilding initiatives, it might seem
strange that I chose to focus my thesis on religion. The argument that I sustain
throughout my thesis is that in order to fully understand the forces and historical
conditions surrounding the end of apartheid, it is necessary to investigate the role of
religion in South African society. I believe that when the definitive work on the struggle
against apartheid is completed, it will take into account the depth and breadth of religious
action that took place. This thesis is an attempt to make a contribution to this particular
section of that grander scheme of research.
The primary question that my thesis addresses is: how does viewing the historical
events in South Africa (particularly from 1960 to 1990) through the perspective of
political theology and religious activity help to explain the ending of apartheid? While
theology may not have been the primary catalyst for the ending of apartheid, without the
diversified and strong participation of religious communities, I assert that apartheid
would have lasted much longer than it did. The role of political theology in both the
Afrikaner as well as the black population in this period of South African history is crucial
to examine and understand if one wants a clear understanding of the dynamics of
apartheid and its subsequent demise. My ultimate goal in describing and assessing the
role of theology and religious communities in South Africa is to better understand the
role of religion in ending conflict in an even broader context.
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I argue that a formula for religious struggle against oppression can be gleaned
from the case study of South Africa. One of my hopes for this research is that by better
understanding the particular role of theology in this conflict, a contribution can be made
to the field of international relations and peace studies that helps to address the larger
question of the role of religion in contemporary conflicts. The conclusion of my study
addresses the issue of replication - the circumstances in which I believe my conclusions
and theory might be relevant and applicable in the world today.
Why South Africa and why now?
One of the factors that makes the case of South Africa particularly relevant and
unusual is that religion had a deeply dualistic role in apartheid. Political theology was
used by the Afrikaner community as a justification of apartheid and by the black
community as a justification for the liberation of South Africa. I closely examine this
dualistic role in order to help unravel the paradox of theology at this point in South
Africa’s history.
There has been no comprehensive study that looks specifically at the role of
religion in the construction as well as the de-construction of apartheid. No one has
undertaken the task of linking what happened during those years to what is happening
today in South Africa. It is this void that my research attempts to fill. As the key
participants in the struggle continue to age and pass on, capturing their voices and their
own interpretations of their experiences becomes more urgent than ever. In 2004, two
heroes of the religious struggle against apartheid, Beyers Naude and Archbishop Denis
Hurley, both passed away. While I lived in South Africa in 2000-01,1 was proud to call
Archbishop Hurley a friend and a mentor. It was his death that impressed upon me the
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importance of this research now. As memories fade, the chance to record a crucial aspect
of South African history begins to fade as well. In addition, to acting as a researcher and
a critical analyst, I often felt as though I was also working as an oral historian, recording
the voices and stories of a generation that changed the face of South Africa.
Why religion?
Religion is increasingly being accepted as a crucial discipline to both understand
and analyze in the field of International Relations and International Peace Studies. With a
rise in both religious peacemaking efforts as well as conflicts involving religion, the
international affairs scholar must begin to utilize religion as an important lens of analysis
through which to view conflict. Religious traditions establish ethical norms and moral
standards that direct people’s actions and have the power to move people towards
committed forms of resistance. Scholar Cynthia Sampson notes: “In societies in which
the government is widely viewed as illegitimate, or centralized authority has broken
down altogether, organized religion may be the only institution retaining some measure
of credibility, trust and moral authority among the population at large”.2 As I
demonstrate, Sampson’s assertion holds true in the case of South Africa.
The relationship between the Church and the State, the private and the political
and the religious and the secular have been tremendously complicated throughout much
of South Africa’s history. It would be fair to say that the practice of faith in the country
has not been a politically neutral activity for hundreds of years. From the arrival of the
first European colonists on the shores of the Cape in the 1600s, the history of religion in
2Cynthia Sampson, “Religion and Peacebuilding” Peacemaking in International Conflict eds. William Zartman and Lewis Rasmussen, (Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 1997) 275.
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South Africa has been inextricably bound up with colonialism, imperialism, economic
motivations and political agendas.
When scholars examine the case of South African apartheid, a pattern tends to
emerge in their analysis. The main unit of analysis tends to focus on the National Party
and the African National Congress as the two primary organizational players. The
individuals that symbolize these two organizations are usually FW de Klerk, P.W. Botha,
Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and others. The crisis of apartheid is seen as a political
problem and the explanations for its origin as well as its demise are usually analyzed
from the perspective of nationalism, economics and racism. Conventional wisdom paints
Nelson Mandela as a primary hero of nonviolence and a leader of the smooth transition to
democracy without bloodshed.
I wish to take a different approach. While I believe that analysis from a political,
economic or racial perspective is important in understanding apartheid, I do not believe
that it is complete. My assertion is that the political theology of both the Afrikaners as
well as the blacks must also be taken into account in any balanced study of apartheid
origins, dynamics or demise. I argue that inattention to the dynamic role that religion
played in the conflict renders any investigation incomplete. My attention in this thesis is
directed towards presenting a coherent look at the role that civil religion and theology
played on both sides of the conflict and how this role impacted the way history unfolded.
I anticipate that my thesis will contribute to current analysis of South Africa’s
apartheid period by highlighting the role of political theology and religion in both
constructing as well as ending apartheid. In doing so, my thesis presents a strong
argument for broadening the scope of analytical tools to include religion when analyzing
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apartheid. I believe that attention to the role of religion in scholarly analysis will deepen
existing knowledge and theories about the apartheid period.
Faith can be an intensely political act. While it may be an enormously private and
individualized practice, the practice of one’s religion expresses the deepest values that a
person chooses to be guided by. As such, faith can be a tremendous shaper of action in
the world - action intended to bring the world into accordance with a more private
version of what is right and good. Public expressions and forays into the shaping of the
world are the essence of politics.
Yet, at the same time, I argue that religion must be backed by social analysis in
order to remain relevant. One of the lessons that came out of apartheid in South Africa is
the degree of potency that religion possesses as an agent of social change if it is coupled
with rigorous political/cultural/economic analysis. There was a definite learning curve in
South Africa in terms of religious opposition to apartheid. Over time, religious
organizations and actors became more powerful and more relevant as they integrated
more robust social analysis into their understanding and actions against the apartheid
government. Theology alone, without social analysis, is not enough to change an
oppressive system.
My personal motivation for conducting a study such as this lies with my intense
interest in issues of religion and social justice. Most of my adult life has been spent
mitigating my passions for both of these areas. As a scholar, religion and social justice
have been the driving issues behind most of my research. As an activist, I have
consistently drawn upon religious resources to aid in my work while as a person of faith,
peacemaking issues have been at the heart of what spirituality means to me.
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Mixing Faith and Politics:
Analysis of religion’s role in perpetuating as well as ending oppression has
suffered from the reluctance of scholars to associate faith and politics. In the western
tradition of separating Church and State, many have been reluctant to blend political
analysis with analysis from a religious perspective. This perceived separation has
hindered scholarship and prevented sharper research about the many interconnections
between the two disciplines.
Simply because of its position in a society, religious organizations like churches
affect and are affected by the socio-political environment of a particular place. Political
scientists have often ignored the role of religion in international affairs because they see it
as a “soft” discipline or perceive it as essentially unrelated to socio-political situations.
Political activists have been guilty of avoiding the inclusion of religion into aspects of
their work because their association with religious politics is strongly rooted in images of
authoritarianism, fanatical devotion or sectarianism. This is not the case. Religion has
often played the role of peacemaker as well. Theology has been an imparter of social
norms and moral behavior in every established religious tradition in history.
Religious actors have also been squeamish about appearing to be too interested in
politics. However, theology and religious traditions must address a society’s socio
political situation in order to maintain relevancy. The attempt by churches and other
religious organizations to be apolitical is naive and shortsighted. Any attempt to alleviate
suffering in society must address not only the suffering itself but also the structures that
cause suffering. To do otherwise is to treat the symptoms of suffering while ignoring the
causes. South African theologian Cosmas Desmond writes: “In its efforts to preach a
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‘pure’ Christianity the Church has tried to take Christianity out of the political, social and
•5 historical spheres; to remove it from the real world. It has spiritualized its content”. The
apartheid era South African government succeeded in preventing wider church
involvement in the struggle against apartheid by playing upon people’s fears of
associating faith and politics. By making “political” a sinister word connoting subversive
activity, the government discouraged religious organizations from more open action
against the system.
My thesis does not ask whether or not politics and religion should address one
another - it instead asks the question of how this should happen. To quote Cosmas
Desmond again:
Generally speaking, the argument that religion and politics do not mix is advanced by those who have a vested interest in keeping them apart. This is why the distinction first arose and that is why it is perpetuated. In South Africa the separation of religion from politics is obviously used in the interests of the ruling party, but it also allows others to enjoy the benefits of the system with an untroubled conscience.4
Methodology:
My thesis is a qualitative study that seeks to capture the spirit of the religious
movement in South Africa during the apartheid period. I intend for my thesis not to
simply generate knowledge for its own sake but to be applicable in a broader context. As
a qualitative study, my research was conducted against the backdrop of the history of
apartheid in South Africa. There were neither variables that I could control nor
experiments that I could conduct. My role as a researcher drew on multiple methods of
inquiry to interpret the stories and legacies that apartheid left in its path. The advantage of
3 Cosmas Desmond, Christians or Capitalists? Christianity and Politics in South Africa (London: Bowerdean Press, 1978) 25. 4 Desmond, 48-49.
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such research is that it produces a more detailed understanding of human experience that
is gained by delving into the complexities of life that cannot be captured in quantitative
terms. I did not have discrete variables that lent themselves to interpretation. Instead, my
data took the form of stories and life experiences that I gathered, described and
interpreted.
My research framework was inductive rather than deductive. I investigated the
role of religion in a particular case - apartheid South Africa - and from this research
created a theory regarding the use of religion by oppressed as well as empowered groups
in divided societies. I utilized analytical generalization in order to generate a more
general theory from a particular set of results.5
I used the role of religion in South Africa’s apartheid era as a case study - a
chance to understand and explain larger phenomena in our world through the intensive
study of one specific case. Using a case study provided me the opportunity to present a
deep, detailed exploration of a single example and use this example to extrapolate a
larger theory. My case study of South Africa and the role of religion in constructing as
well as deconstructing apartheid is generalizable to conflicts in which religion is used as a
tool by both parties. The successful and peaceful outcome of the South Africa case
provides a stable foundation upon which to build a theory of the role of religion in a
inter-group conflict.
The case study was an appropriate means by which to conduct my research
because it allows for the inclusion of context. Within a case study, the boundaries
between the phenomenon under investigation and the context may not always be readily
5 Robert Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods (London: Sage Publications, 2003) 37.
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discemable.6 For example, it is difficult to measure the degree to which the black
consciousness movement, as opposed to the black theology movement, influenced the
empowerment of the black population in the townships. However, by presenting a case
study, I was able to concentrate on my primary focus (theology and religious
organizations) without ignoring the context in which it occurred (the socio-political
climate of South Africa).
My fieldwork in South Africa was a chance for me to conduct multiple forms of
inquiry by observing the condition of the society and interview key religious figures
involved in the struggle against apartheid. I used several primary sources of information
as the backbone of my thesis including, but not limited to, interviews, memoirs and
theological statements produced by churches between 1960 and 1990. These
supplemented the background reading that I had already completed regarding the history
of the relationship between apartheid and religion. Such multiple sources of inquiry
establish the credibility as well as the rigor of my study.
My interview data is twofold. I conducted twenty-two interviews in the year
2000-2001 in Durban, South Africa. This initial group of interviews is enhanced and
strengthened by twelve interviews that I conducted during the winter of 2004-2005 in
Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. The interviews were all semi-structured and
ranged in duration between one and two hours. Because I lived in Durban during my first
stay in South Africa, the initial group of interviewees were all located in Durban. I chose
the sample to reflect the diversity of Durban’s religious setting.
6 Yin, 13.
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The first sample was drawn by choosing one church from each denomination and
requesting an interview with the pastor or religious leader. Some of the people that I
spoke to during my first round of interviews recommended other people that they
believed would be helpful to my research. During my first sampling period, I spoke to
twenty-two people from eleven different denominations including: Catholic (3), Anglican
(4), Dutch Reformed (3), Lutheran (3), Congregational (2), Methodist, Jehovah’s
Witness, African Independence Church Movement, Assembly of God, and non-
denominational (3). I also interviewed three Muslim leaders and three Jewish leaders.
The second sample was more selective and was drawn by identifying a range of
key religious figures in the struggle. This time the sample was based in Johannesburg,
Durban and Cape Town. I identified prominent theologians and religious leaders that
played an active role in the anti-apartheid movement and requested interviews. I felt
extremely lucky to be granted interviews with two Anglican Archbishops, a Catholic
cardinal and several esteemed authors, theologians and activists.
While I feel that additional interviews would continue to strengthen the arguments
I made in this thesis, I also feel confident that the sample that I used accurately reflects
the theological and social landscape of South Africa. My sample is particularly strong
because it represents a blend of prominent religious personalities as well as local
religious leaders with a lower profile.
A series of theological statements regarding apartheid were produced by a variety
of different churches between 1960 and 1990. These include but are not limited to: the
Belhar Confession, the Kairos Document, the Ottawa Declaration, A Message to the
People of South Africa, the Cottesloe Statement and the Rustenburg Declaration. These
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confessional documents map the changing thought processes of the mainline churches
towards apartheid. I examined the content of these documents and compared them with
secondary sources which offer commentary on the role of theology during the apartheid
years. This allowed me to produce a fuller understanding of the way that political
theology was used during this era. I also read and researched the memoirs of people such
as Stephen Biko, Frank Chikane and Desmond Tutu to highlight the way that they used
particular aspects of theology in their struggle against apartheid.
Locating my study:
For the purposes of my study, religion will be defined as organized religion. The
majority of religious adherents in South Africa are Christians and so, in most cases, I will
seek to analyze the Christian church movement. However, I do not wish to discount the
presence or the influence of non-Christian religious movements in South Africa but in
this thesis have focused only on the Christian religious movement. A comprehensive look
at South Africa’s religious movement would necessarily require further research
particularly addressing the active role of Muslims in the struggle. I hope to undertake
such research at a later date.
The period of time that I focus on is 1960 until 1990. 1960 was the year of the
Sharpesville massacre - an outbreak of violence in which the police opened fire on a
crowd at a PAC demonstration killing sixty-nine protesters and wounding hundreds.
Shortly after this massacre, the Unlawful Organizations Act was passed which banned
political groups including the ANC and PAC. In the absence of organized political
movements, the churches became prominent in organizing the struggle against apartheid.
In 1990, Nelson Mandela and several other political prisoners were released, political
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groups were unbanned and the momentum towards a democratic South Africa surged
forward. Chapter Seven will address the impact that the religious struggle against
apartheid has on the South African society today.
Units of Analysis:
When I began work on this topic, I had assumed that I would be investigating the
ways in which lay people as well as religious leaders and institutions worked against
apartheid. In the course of my research, it became clear to me thatindividuals more than
institutions were responsible for work against apartheid in a religious context. While
churches sometimes produced denominational statements denouncing apartheid or
particularly unjust practices, such statements were usually not acted on by institutions. I
do examine such statements and their relevance to the struggle. However, I concentrate
more heavily on the ways in which individuals within churches were led by their faith to
participate in particular actions against apartheid.
There may be several reasons why individuals from mainline churches were more
prominent in the struggle against apartheid than the churches themselves. As institutions,
churches tended to suffer from the typical constraints that come with organizational
culture such as slow response to crises or lack of formal protocol to react to changing
circumstances. While many churches did issue statements condemning apartheid, the
more radical actions and programs for change came from individuals. Trevor
Huddleston, a prominent Anglican anti-apartheid activist, claimed, “The Church which I
was involved in at the time quite frankly lacked passion. It was too cautious, too discreet
and too moderate... It was the leadership of the Church, which was invariably removed
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from the squalor of black township suffering and rural starvation, that was too cautious,
t n too uninvolved and too passive.”
Churches seemed wary of committing themselves too fully to any course of action
that might be deemed too hasty or too dramatic by their connections overseas. It is
important to note that institutional constraints that churches faced in terms of both
funding and governance issues. South African denominations of churches like the
Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican or Catholic Church, did not have the power to make
decisions without the consent of other, more moderate factions. Thus, as institutions they
were slower to condemn apartheid than individual leaders.
Similarly, I had initially expected that I would find wide-based religious support
for anti-apartheid activities within congregations of churches. While this was true in
some ways, what I discovered was that the religious leaders tended to be far more
outspoken and active than their congregants. Therefore, my thesis looks more closely at
the actions of religious leaders than those of their members.
My own social location:
As a qualitative researcher, it is important for me to acknowledge that my own
perspective and social location within society will affect the way that I interpret my
research. Qualitative theorists Rossman and Rallis write, “The researcher does more than
affect ongoing social life - hisweltanshauung - worldview - shapes the entire project.
From early curiosity all the way to writing the final report, the researcher’s personal
biography is the lens through which he (sic) sees the world. Gender, race and ethnicity,
7 Trevor Huddleston, interview with Charles Villa-Vicencio The Spirit of Freedom (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 135.
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age, sexual orientation, politics, and beliefs all affect any research • project” 8 . As much as
possible, I will endeavor to acknowledge the ways that my own identity might influence
my interpretation of my research.
The reader will note that I am not formally trained in theology or ministry. While
I have been a regular churchgoer all my life (in the Presbyterian and Mennonite
traditions) and I hold a BA in Religious Studies, I do not pretend to be a scholar of
theology or pastoral ministry. My advanced training is in International Peace and
Conflict Resolution. Therefore, if some of my expositions on Calvinism or Reform
theology seem less than rigorous, I ask the reader’s patience.
I write using both the third person as well as first person point of view. While the
third person is more academic and professional, I cannot completely divorce this paper
from my own experiences in South Africa. This thesis is the product of not only a
graduate school program but also of sustained friendships that I had with many of the
people I interviewed - first in 2000-2001 and then in 2004-2005. Many of the people
that I interviewed meant more to me than just an important quotation pulled from an
interview. They were also guides to me in my journey to understand the religious and
socio-political landscape of South Africa. It is impossible to separate me, the researcher
and writer, from me, the person who had the honor of sharing a room with many of the
extraordinary people whose experiences and stories appear in this thesis. Therefore, I
employ both the first as well as third person point of view in my writing.
8 Gretchen Rossman and Sharon Rallis. Learning in the Field: an introduction to qualitative research. (London: Sage Publications, 2003) 10.
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Assumptions
My thesis assumes that the reader has background knowledge about the political
situation in South Africa between the years 1948-1990. I do not go into detail explaining
the causes of such events, for example, as the tensions and violence between Inkatha and
the ANC. I assume that the reader has such historical knowledge prior to reading my
work. Therefore, I concentrate solely on the role of clergy and other religious actors
within the context of the political situation at the time.
Limitations:
While I felt confident that my methodology allowed me to accurately capture the
impact of religion upon the anti-apartheid movement, I was also aware of several
limitations to my research. Especially with regard to reading historical documents, my
inability to read or speak Afrikaans was a hindrance. I found myself forced to use
secondary sources for much of my research on Afrikaner civil religion because original
documents are not translated into English. I must also acknowledge that many of my
interviews with religious leaders might have been even richer if I possessed language
skills in Xhosa or Zulu. While this wasn’t a problem when interviewing prominent
religious figures with fluency in English, I often wondered if communication difficulties
were dulling my ability to fully comprehend the experiences and stories of clergy who
were forced to translate their feelings and thoughts for me.
During the course of my interviews, I became more adept and proficient at
conducting the interview and unobtrusively posing questions. I wish that I had developed
this skill when I conducted the first round of interviews in 2000-2001. After two years of
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graduate study, the questions that I asked were far more refined and articulate than my
initial technique and questions earlier.
Another limitation of my study was my focus on Christianity to the exclusion of
other religious traditions. While Christianity was the most vocal and visible tradition in
the struggle, this does not negate the contributions of Muslims, Jews and Hindus. I had
originally intended to include these traditions as well but realized that due to research
time constraints, this would not be possible. I do want to note the importance of this
research and my regret at being unable to include it within the parameters of this study.
Despite my profound gratitude to all those interviewees who so graciously aided
me during my research, I acknowledge that their experiences do not encapsulate all forms
of religious resistance to apartheid. Given additional time and resources for my research,
I feel that it would be beneficial to continue to interview additional South Africans about
the connection between their faith and their activism.
Historical Overview:
Before delving into the intricate relationship between theology, religious activism
and apartheid, I feel it is necessary to provide a brief overview of the events that took
place in the region that precipitated the rise of apartheid. (There is also a chronology of
relevant events in South African history at the end of the thesis.)One should not attempt a
discussion of religion and its influence in South Africa without acknowledging the role of
missionaries in the region. The first recorded missionary to South Africa was Georg
Schmidt who arrived in 1737. However, it was not until the 1820s that missionary work
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became more widespread.9 The missionaries brought with them a form of Christianity
ensconced in Western civilization (see further discussion in Chapter Three). Conversion
to Christianity meant abandonment of traditional forms of religion and adopting
particular aspect of white culture. Colonial Christianity reserved ecclesiastical authority
for whites thereby creating a standard of separation in churches.
It is only fair to note that despite the paternalism that was practiced by many of
the missionaries, some of them also were supportive of indigenous rights. Both Dutch
and English settlers resented the missionaries because they often sided with the local
people in disputes over land and supported the people’s right to justice.10 There was
division between missionary churches and settler churches because of this rift.
Some of the missionaries were part of the Social Christian movement which
exercised paternalism towards the African population. On one hand, these missionaries
had a liberal concern for the economic and personal liberty of the people and thus
opposed early legislation such as the Native Settlement and Squatters bill that was
discriminatory.11 On the other hand, the missionaries did not believe that Africans were
capable of exercising their own degree of agency and needed the guiding hand of the
Church. It should be noted that the Xhosa groups who had the most contact with the
missionaries, initially rejected all of their attempts at conversion. It was only when the
9 9 Marjorie Hope and James Young South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983) 12-13. 10 Hope and Young, 15. 11 Richard Elphick,“The Benevolent Empire and the Social Gospel: Missionaries and South African Christians in the Age of Segregation” Christianity in South Africa: a political, social and church history. Eds. Richard Elphick and Rodney Davenport, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) 356-358.
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frontier wars in the region began to weaken Xhosa political and economic structures that
i j the missionaries gained a foothold among the people.
The first and second Anglo-Boer wars accelerated the cultural clash and conflict
between the British and the Afrikaners. Events that occurred during these two wars
increased the Afrikaner perception of themselves as a community under siege which
eventually became one of the driving fears and motivations that prompted the creation of
apartheid. Between 1900 and 1903, estimates indicate that as many as 26,000 Afrikaner
women and children died in British concentration camps.13 This experience became an
important part of the Boer consciousness and served as an additional reminder of the need
to create a strong, united state. As I discuss in more detail in Chapter Two, the Afrikaner
leaders were carefully formulating and developing cultural traditions and civil religion
for many years before they came to power.
In 1948, the National Party won a decisive victory over the United Party in the
elections. With this triumph, the Afrikaner hopes for their own state were realized. The
fact that the English speaking churches (which were soon to become the backbone of
apartheid resistance) were predominantly supporters of the United Party, allowed the
newly elected Afrikaner government to dismiss much of the initial religious resistance to
apartheid as simply the complaints of poor losers.14
During the first ten years of National Party rule, such institutional church
resistance was lukewarm at best. Individuals such as Trevor Huddleston, Michael Scott
and others practiced a ministry of opposition to the burgeoning policies of apartheid but
12 Charles Villa-Vicencio, Civil Disobedience and Beyond: law, resistance and religion in South Africa (Cape Town: David Philip, 1990) 22-23. 13 Mark Hay, Ukubuvisana. (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1998) 22. 14 Hope and Young, 57.
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the Church as an institution did little. Both Huddleston as well as Scott served in South
Africa in a missionary capacity as Anglican priests - neither were from the country
originally. Scott became active in the Campaign for Right and Justice formed in 1943.
He applied the new international thinking coming out of institutions like the United
Nations concerning international human rights to the situation in South Africa.
Huddleston brought international attention to apartheid with the publishing of his book
Naught for Your Comfort in 1956. Huddleston has also been widely credited with
popularizing the idea of the cultural and sports boycotts of South Africa in the 1960s.
Scott was eventually declared a prohibited immigrant and forced to leave the country
while Huddleston was recalled by his order back to England. While these men both
worked primarily in isolation from the larger institutions of their church, their activism
set the stage for religious involvement in the struggle in later years.
It was only with the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 that churches became more
solidly involved in the struggle against apartheid. In 1960, the ANC as well as other
popular political movements were banned. This created a void in active political
leadership. The churches became the next level of leadership in the absence of popular
figures like Mandela, Sisulu, Luthuli and others. This transition of leadership was not
immediate and the active role of religious leaders did not peak until the mid-1980s.
The harsh crackdown of the government after the Sharpeville massacre shocked
the non-white population of South Africa. There was a gap in overt political activity in
the years immediately following - it was as if the population was holding its breath and
waiting for the next irrational explosion from the government. No one was sure if
peaceful, non-violent protest was illegal and if it would be met with cruel brutality.
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The reaction of the population to the Soweto uprising of 1976 was different - this
time the people were infuriated and the killings of school children only deepened their
resolve to resist. By this time, the religious institutions had become wiser and savvier
about the ways that they could assist the people in their struggle.
A few words about language:
Inclusive language is extremely important to me. In addressing theological
issues, I have used gender-neutral language for God, even in cases where such usage may
sound redundant. However, I have not altered any of the God-language employed by any
of my sources. In an attempt to be as scholarly as possible in my biblical references, all
passages cited come from The New Oxford Annotated Bible. This Bible does not use
inclusive language but for the sake of consistency, this is the version I chose.
The reader should be aware that the terms signifying racial groups are
dramatically different in South Africa than in other parts of the world. The racial
classifications are part of the legacy of apartheid and its often arbitrary groupings of
human beings used to keep people separate. The most accepted words for each group in
South Africa are: blacks, whites, Indians and coloreds. The term ‘colored’, while
derogatory in the States, is used to classify people who are multiracial in South Africa.
During the rise of the Black Consciousness Movement, it became customary among some
activists to refer to all non-white people as black. However, in the course of my
fieldwork, I found that most people continue to strongly classify themselves into one of
the four racial designations originally used during apartheid.
In many ways, I do not embrace the term “non-white” as an appropriate adjective
to describe the majority of the human population on earth today. I do not like the way
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that it suggests that white is the norm and everyone else is non-white by comparison.
Nevertheless, I have employed this term in my research as it became too verbose to
continually write “blacks, coloreds and Indians”. The term “non-white” is used in South
Africa in the way that “people of color” might be used in the States.
In many instances, I have used more than one language to denote the title of
various documents or statements. I did this for the ease of other researchers who might
want to reference particular works that I drew upon. In my own research, I often found it
difficult to access or locate certain items because I only knew the English name for the
work. Thus, in cases in which the document is known by more than one name, I have
included both.
Layout of my Argument:
I have structured my examination of the influence of religion on the end of
apartheid into eight distinct parts.
Chapter Two examines the way in which the Afrikaner religion and civil theology
was actually deeply responsible for the construction of apartheid. I examine the religious
roots of apartheid and the fact that, as a system, it was methodically planned and carried
out by church institutions, namely the Dutch Reformed church. I highlight the role of
particular religious thinkers (Calvin, Kuyper) and pseudo-religious groups (the
Broederbund) as a way of showing the religious character of the individuals who brought
forth apartheid. The deep civil religion of the Afrikaner people was instrumental in
creating a strong identity and unifying against what they saw as foreign threats. I argue
that apartheid should be properly understood in part as a religious ideology because both
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its philosophical and theological justification as well as its implementation were religious
in nature.
In Chapter Three, I examine the theology behind the anti-apartheid movement.
The two prominent theological frames were black theology and contextual theology.
Each of these was a form of liberation theology that attempted to provide a prophetic
voice to empower the oppressed of South Africa. I also address a range of theological
issues that were key in these movements such as the image of God, the differentiation
between Western and Christian cultural constructs, the reclamation of reform theology
and others. While any of these topics would make a worthy study by itself, I provide an
overview of a number of issues that were relevant from a theological standpoint. I also
present a few of the key documents that acted as turning points in the religious struggle
against apartheid - the Cottesloe Consultation, the WARC declaration, the Belhar
Confession and the Rustenburg Declaration. The chapter closes with a short case study of
the Institute for Contextual Theology, an organization that was deeply theological in
nature and addressed many of the theological issues that I identify.
Chapter Four looks at the ways in which the every day job responsibilities of
religious leaders were often changed by apartheid and the way in which these tasks could
become a method of resistance. Clergy performing such ordinary duties as visiting their
congregants, preaching a sermon or allowing use of church space were potentially
engaging in revolutionary acts. In a charged political environment, rites of passage such
as marriages and funerals also became politicized. My analysis here is unique in that
scholars have rarely identified ordinary pastors and priests as key figures in the struggle.
Much attention is given to bigger names like Desmond Tutu, Frank Chikane or Allan
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Boesak but rarely are the common religious leaders given sufficient credit. The last part
of this chapter examines the Diakonia Council of Churches as an illustration of the kinds
of revolutionary pastoral work that was done during the struggle.
The focus of Chapter Five is an examination of the opportunities that religious
leaders had to use their faith to engage in larger actions of civil disobedience. Here, I
examine the overt acts of resistance and action that were tackled by religious groups as a
part of the struggle. In the political vacuum created by the banning of political
organizations and the detention of political leaders, religious leadership became the next
tier of authority. Religious leaders stepped up to the task and led marches and organized
campaigns. Yet they did so in a way that was categorically different than political leaders.
This politicized function of the religious sector is analyzed and the chapter ends with a
short case study of the South African Council of Churches, a religious organization
responsible for a large amount of political action.
No examination of the religious aspects of the struggle against apartheid would be
complete without addressing the concept of ubuntu. Ubuntu is a way of life in South
Africa that encompasses religion, politics, sociology, psychology and economics. Ubuntu
claims “a person is a person through other people”. This conception of fellowship and
community pervades the religious action and resistance to the government during the
apartheid era. In Chapter Six, ubuntu and its role in the struggle are studied. I look at
exposure and immersion efforts between different races and the religious significance of
unity. My case study for this concept and its implementation is the Koinonia Movement.
What happens when you win? How do you remain prophetic in a situation in
which most of your goals have been accomplished? Chapter Seven addresses the impact
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that the religious movement during apartheid has on the socio-political situation in the
post-1994 era. The legacy of the religious struggle continues and is evident in many
repercussions of apartheid in Church as well as society now. The efforts of contextual
theology to remain relevant and the redirection of religious movements towards other
social issues are observed. This chapter reflects on the themes raised throughout the first
six chapters but frames them within the context of the post 1994 period.
Finally, in Chapter Eight, I discuss what the field of international relations can
leam from the case of the religious struggle against apartheid in South Africa. My
conclusions indicate that the rise of the Afrikaner Christian Nationalist government offers
a valuable set of warning signs for potentially oppressive regimes and that other countries
enmeshed in conflict and repression should examine and utilize the religious model of
struggle developed in South Africa during apartheid.
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Apartheid should be described as a religious phenomenon. Though most people
think of it as a socio-political system, both the roots as well as the implementation of that
system were inherently religious in nature. In this chapter, I examine and analyze
religious aspects of apartheid including Calvinist ideologies, predestination, covenant
theology, Christian Nationalism and civil religion.
PRC - basics
In order to understand the history and relevance of the DRC in Afrikaner history,
it is important to have a bit of background about the framework of the Church. At the
time that the Nationalist Party came into power, there were three sections of the DRC: the
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), the Nederduitse Hervormde Kerk (NHK) and
the Gereformeerde Kerk (GK). Together these three churches formed the most powerful
Afrikaner institution in the world.
The NGK is the largest branch and throughout this paper, I have made the DRC
synonymous with the NGK. This branch was most closely identified with the Nationalist
Party and was the church that most tightly embraced apartheid. Beginning in 1857, the
NGK divided into four parts - the white church and three daughter churches (colored,
black and Indian).1 In 1994, the daughter churches integrated themselves to form the
Uniting Reform Church of Southern Africa.
' June Goodwin and Ben Schiff. Heart of Whiteness: Afrikaners Face Black Rule in the New South Africa (New York: Scribner, 1995), 190. 26
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The NHK was the second largest grouping of the DRC and it was the most
politically conservative. However, theologically, the NHK has often been considered the
most liberal of the three branches.2 The majority of Voortrekkers belonged to this
branch.
The GK, also known as the Dopper church, was the most closely aligned with
Calvinism but was also known for being quite socially conservative. For example, in
1859, the GK banned the singing of modem hymns and limited worship music to
psalms. While the Doppers were the smallest group within the DRC family, their
members held a disproportionately large number of government posts and were
influential in apartheid politics.4 The most famous Dopper was F.W. de Klerk who
seemed to embody the Dopper stereotype of “morally conservative and politically
liberal”.5 Some Afrikaners identified de Klerk’s liberalization of apartheid policy as a
natural outcome of his faith as a Dopper. The GK church emphasized concepts of justice
and spheres of sovereignty. As a Dopper, de Klerk may have implemented his religious
beliefs by separating the realms of Church and State and allowing for more political
independence.6
2 T. Dunbar Moodie, The Rise of Afrikanerdom: Power. Apartheid and the Afrikaner Civil Religion (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975) 59-60. 3 Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe. “Christianity in Central Southern Africa Prior to 1910” Christianity in Southern Africa: a political, social and church history eds. Richard Elphick and Rodney Davenport. (Cape Town: David Philip, 1997). 4 Goodwin, 191. 5 Goodwin,300. 6 Goodwin, 302-303.
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Calvinism and the Afrikaner:
As strict Calvinists, the Afrikaners were situated within a tradition that regarded
predestination and election as sacred precepts. Both of these concepts played a part in the
way that the Afrikaner people regarded themselves.
Calvinism holds that all of life is saturated with religion. Every realm of life
resides under the sovereignty of God. There are no clear separations between what is
private and what is public - all of life should be carried out in deference to God’s wishes.
Different social spheres (state, church, civil society, etc.) all fall under the sovereignty of
God. Religion is not just one aspect of life; it is the totality of life. This pervasiveness of
religion became part of the basis for the interweaving between religion and the state for
the Afrikaners. Under a strict interpretation of Calvinism, it would be natural for the
church to intervene in the affairs of the state since religion should permeate all spheres of
life.
Calvinist election means that some people are chosen (or elected) by God for
heaven while others are chosen for damnation. Being chosen is not a result of good
deeds or merit but rather is a predetermined status that cannot be altered. For the
Afrikaners, election was partially based on racialism and the chosen were the racial elite
- the whites. There is a strict division in Calvinism between the elect and everyone else.
The Afrikaners believed that God had chosen them for a special purpose and maintained
a covenant based on ethnicity with them. John Calvin’s concept of election became
synonymous with the Afrikaner idea of a racial elite.7
7 Charles Bloomberg. Christian Nationalism and the Rise of the Afrikaner Broederbund. in South Africa. 1918-48 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989) 4.
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Calvinism also served to further collective individualism amongst the Afrikaners.
While election was a private matter between an individual and God, it was necessary that
the individual also remain connected to a church community.8 For the Afrikaners, this
community was the volk.
Calvinist doctrine regarding election combined with the racism of the day
produced a new form of confessional Afrikaner nationalism. Historian Charles
Bloomberg demonstrated that Christian-Nationalists manipulated ideas within Calvinism
to better suit the Afrikaner situation:
Christian-Nationalist ideologists isolated and coupled together similar elements in both Calvinism and Nationalism, welding them into a unified system. To Calvinism’s aristocratic and elitist elements, expressed in the notion of election, they married the Afrikaners’ sense of racial superiority, their consciousness of being superior biological- ethical beings, and their claim to constitute a Herrenvolk; to Calvinism’s strict divisions between believers and heathen, elect and damned, they attached the Afrikaner’s rigid insistence upon the color bar; to Calvin’s teachings of predeterminism and vocation they linked the nation’s sense of mission and destiny.9
Calvinism provided the moral authority as well as the conceptual explanation for
the policies of apartheid. The Calvinism of the Afrikaners was a more recent
development - not brought with them to the continent in 1652 but rather developed
amongst them in the 1860s.10
Kuyper as a Leader:
Central to the blending of Calvinism and Afrikaner politics were the teachings
and writings of Abraham Kuyper. He popularized the term “Christian Nationalism” and it
was under his direction that the NHK and GK split. He was referred to by some as ‘a
8 Moodie, 24. 9 Bloomberg, 100. 10 Goodwin, 188-189.
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second Calvin’ or ‘the Dutch Pope’.11 The nerve center of Afrikaner theology,
Potchefstroom, was based on Kuyperian theology. Perhaps he, more than any Afrikaner
leader, could be called the theological father of apartheid.
Kuyper saw the major error of Europe as secularization and the departure from
acknowledging the sovereignty of God in favor of individualism. He idealized the Boers
and viewed them as a rebirth of the Calvinist vision to which he was so devoted. Kuyper
hoped that the Afrikaners could fulfill his dream of a theocentric culture in which all
authority belonged to God. He believed that Calvinism was capable of providing
guidance and direction for any realm of public affairs.12
Kuyper’s core theology can be described in three theses: “First, God is the creator
and only sovereign power over nations. However, second, in the realm of politics, sin has
broken down God’s direct government and hence the exercise of authority in the state has
been vested in man ‘as a mechanical remedy’. Finally, man possesses power over his
fellows only as a delegate of ‘the majesty of God’.”13
While identifying Kuyper as one of the key theological influences on the system
of apartheid, it is also crucial to note the ways in which his ideas differed from the system
actually implemented by the Afrikaners. Kuyper believed in the separation of the Church
and the State, feeling that both were divinely created and ordained but that their tasks
were different and should be kept apart.14
Kuyper’s views on race appeared to be contradictory in nature. On one hand, he
never publicly criticized the Afrikaner’s approach to race and his theology certainly
11 Bloomberg, 6. 12 Bloomberg, 10 13 Moodie, 54. 14 Bloomberg, 7.
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supported the policy of separate development. On the other hand, he supported
intermarriage and claimed that Calvinism encouraged the mingling of blood to produce
stronger human societies.15
The Great Trek
Beginning in 1835, groups of Afrikaners, known as Voortrekkers, began leaving
the Cape Colony, which was under British control, and moving further inland. This was
an effort to resist British control and escape from the imposition of British policies. A
few years before, the British had abolished slavery and passed Ordinance 50 granting
equal rights under the law. This was an impetus to the flight of the Voortrekkers. The
majority of the Voortrekkers settled in what came to be known as Natal, the Transvaal
and the Orange Free State.
The Great Trek may have marked the beginning of Christian Nationalism among
the Afrikaners. They saw the Trek as a metaphoric reincarnation of the Israelites flight
from Egypt in the Old Testament. As such, the Voortrekkers strongly identified with the
ancient Israelites and conceptualized the Great Trek as an exodus out of oppression. In
cases where the Voortrekkers were followed by the British army, this was seen as a
parallel to Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites. Historian Charles Bloomberg dismisses this
metaphor writing, “The Trekkers drew a parallel between themselves and Israel’s flight
from Egyptian servitude to the freedom of the Promised Land. Their analogy was false
and pretentious. Frontiersman had not been opposed by a British pharaoh, but were
15 Bloomberg, 8.
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emigrating in protest against the partial liberation of non-whites from white oppression
and enslavement, whereas the genuine Hebrews were fugitives from actual slavery.”16
The history of the Great Trek became enshrined in the minds of the Afrikaners as
a national epic and proof of God’s support of the Afrikaner nation. They had become a
chosen people with a sacred mission to fulfill.
Afrikaner Civil Religion
As the identity of Afrikaners grew stronger, their civil religion grew to encompass
more arenas of life. Everything Afrikaner came to be sacred. Monuments marking
significant moments in Afrikaner history became hallowed places for homage to the
Afrikaner cause. The language, Afrikaans, also became a sacred tongue and the right to
speak this language in public spaces and schools was regarded as a holy duty. Scholar of
Afrikaner history, T. Dunbar Moodie explained the connection this way: “...everything
which emphasized Afrikaner uniqueness - their language, their Calvinist faith, their
customs and conventions, their very dress - took on sacred significance. Because of the
divine election of Afrikanerdom, anything threatening Afrikaner separateness became
• 17 demonic.”
Part of the expression of civil religion for Afrikaners during the apartheid era
could be found in the army. Soldiers were given Bibles that had a message from Prime
Minister Botha in it declaring that the Bible was their most important weapon. During
the TRC, Dominee Neels du Plooy, a SADF chaplain, explained that conscientious
objectors were regarded as unbelievers in the Dutch Reformed Faith.18 This message
16 Bloomberg, 119. 17 Moodie, 15. 18 Research Institute on Christianity in South Africa, “Faith Communities and Apartheid”, 6.
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reinforced the idea that religion was an exclusive possession of one ideological group -
the Afrikaners. The Afrikaner churches also backed the armed forces and signaled their
acceptance of the SADF by training and supporting military chaplains who traveled with
the forces. These military chaplains emphasized to the soldiers that their work was
blessed and ordained by God. The support of troops by the chaplains was intended to end
any qualms that soldiers had about human rights abuses by assuring them that their work
served God’s purposes. This was not a situation unique to the Afrikaners, however. Even
the Anglican church, often thought of as the most vocal church opponent to apartheid,
sent military chaplains to the SADF to provide pastoral support. The military chaplainry
was problematic primarily because it appeared to give moral legitimacy to the actions
carried out by the SADF.
The Great Trek- Part II
In 1938, a momentous celebration was planned to celebrate the centenary
anniversary of the Great Trek. This celebration served as a rallying point for growing
Christian Nationalism as well. Nine ox-wagons were constructed as replicas of the
original Trek wagons - each bearing symbolic names of Trek heroes and martyrs. The
wagons strategically took a number of different routes to be seen by as many people as
possible. DRC leaders along each of the routes were responsible for coordinating
receptions and celebrations for the wagons. Speeches were given in every town
emphasizing the need for volkseenheid (Afrikaner unity). One memorable speech was
given by Afrikaner leader Henning Klopper emphasizing God’s special destiny for South
Africa:
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Brothers and fellow country men, we stand here before the Holy God of Heaven and
Earth to make a vow that, if he will be with us and protect us and give the foe unto our
hands, we shall ever celebrate the day and date as a Day of Thanksgiving like the Sabbath
in his honor.19
Speeches such as this one strengthened the Afrikaner resolve to have their own state and
that such a state would be the final proof of God’s favor upon the people.
The reenactment of the Great Trek was one of the grandest displays of civil
religion and Christian Nationalism of the century. The sacred history of the Afrikaner
people was being shaped and created as the people canonized the Trek. Afrikaner heroes
were celebrated and important historical moments were re-enacted. The unity of the
people gained strength as their identity as Afrikaners grew stronger.
Chosen by God
At the heart of the Afrikaner theology that enabled and supported apartheid was a
worldview of chosen-ness. The Afrikaners believed themselves to be a chosen nation
with a sacred mission ordained by God. They accepted the task from God of being a
manifestation of Christianity and a reflection of the divine in the midst of Africa. They
believed they were predestined to spread the Christian faith throughout the land.
In the secret Broederbund handbook, Principles of our Aspirations (1956), this
chosen-ness was emphasized:
As unswerving Afrikaners we believe that the Afrikaans people were brought into existence in the southern part of Africa by God with an individual vocation of worshipping in his name. We believe that the special vocation of the Afrikaner as a distinct self-contained community with its own character and nature is founded in the Protestant-Christian conviction that God at all times controls their destiny.20
19 Moodie, 179. 20 Bloomberg, 42.
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This statement is telling for a number of reasons. It states a creation story of the
Afrikaans people - ignoring their journey from Europe and their ancestry as Dutch - this
statement seems to indicate that the Afrikaans people had always been in the region. The
Dutch settlers of 1652 are indistinguishable from the Afrikaans leaders at the time the
statement was written. Any sense of an evolution of Afrikaans culture is eliminated in
favor of the notion that the people have always been independent and chosen. The use of
the phrase “brought into existence” suggests that God directly created the Afrikaners in
South Africa. The vocation of the people is rooted in a Protestant understanding of
predestination but goes further by articulating a particular vocation.
Once the chosen nature of the Afrikaners had been established, each historical
moment was interpreted in this light. Victories from the battlefield to the election booths
were seen as proof of God’s continued favor upon the people. Even obstacles were
portrayed as reinforcing the special nature and destiny of the people. Dr. D.F. Malan
emphasized the point in this way: “In his wisdom He surrounded this People by great
dangers. He set the people down upon unfruitful soil so that they had to toil and sweat to
exist upon the soil. From time to time he visited them with droughts and other
plagues....God also willed that the Afrikaans people should be continually threatened by
other people.” 21 This statement supports the siege mentality that the Afrikaners
experienced while also reminding them that all these events are proof of God’s favor. It
is interesting to note that this statement again reinforces the idea that God brought the
people directly from heaven to the earth by using language such as “set down”.
21 Moodie, 248.
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The Nationalist election to power in 1948 was seen as final proof of God’s
selection of the Afrikaner people for a sacred task. Control of the government and the
nation had been a long-time dream for this people and its actualization felt like a God-
given miracle. Nico Smith was a university student at the time and remembers the
moment in this way: “We were all rejoicing. Pretoria University was an Afrikaner
University and all the students were pro-apartheid and pro-Nationalist party. We really
thought that God had at last smiled on the Afrikaner people and given them their own
government.”22
Christian Nationalism
The best way to describe the ideology that gripped the Afrikaner people and drew
them into the apartheid mentality is the creed of Christian Nationalism. Christian
Nationalism posited that the Afrikaans people were a chosen people with a sacred
mission but needed an organized system to carry out that calling. The state was the
mechanism that was to be authoritative in this task. The state was at the top of the
hierarchy of power and answered only to God. In the ideal Christian-Nationalist system,
all of the political parties, the leaders, the voting public and the government itself should
be Christian.
As the pinnacle of the system of governance, the state was elevated to a religious
level by the Boers. Love for the Afrikaner nation was part of one’s duty to God. The
status of nationhood was viewed as God’s greatest creation. “Nationalism is therefore a
religious obligation. Services to the nation express service to God; loyalty to nation
22 Dr. Nico Smith, Interview by Emily Welty, April 10, 2001.
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manifests loyalty to God. Working of the fulfillment of national calling is work for the
realization of God’s plan. To maintain the volk is to accept God’s will and disposition.”23
Christian Nationalism was another embodiment of the theological justification for
apartheid. It acknowledged that diversity existed among human beings and that God
created such diversity. However, it saw structural subjugation and separation as the key
to preventing the mixing of races. The nation as a concept was not a political entity but
rather a divinely inspired manifestation of God on earth. Even political instruments such
as voting or legislation were framed in religious terms. “For the theologians of the DRC
and the National Party, the vote is merely a symbol of divine authority, for use only by
the Christian and by those who are politically mature. But possession of the vote, in any
case, conveys no authority to make laws. Laws are God-given.”24 It was not the
electorate that gave legislators power - it was God. Voting was not a right but a privilege
bestowed on those who were deemed competent to understand God’s intentions for the
Afrikaner people.
Beginning in 1914, a program of Christian-Nationalist education was started in
select schools. The intent of this program was to further promulgate the ideals of
Afrikanerdom and inculcate a new generation of proud Afrikaners. The importance of
sticking together or the laager mentality of the people was never far from the forefront of
lessons in Christian-Nationalism. The relationship between religion and state was
reinforced with vigor. One of the architects of Christian-Nationalism in South Africa,
P.J. Meyer, reminded the Afrikaners: “The Gospel is not directed to the human being as
23 Bloomberg, 18. 24 Ivor Wilkins and Hans Strydom, The Super Afrikaners: Inside the Afrikaner Broederbond (New York: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 1978) 289.
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an absolutely autonomous and isolated entity, but to the human being as creature and
therefore as a member of a specific nation.” When the Nationalist Party came to power
in 1948, Christian Nationalism was introduced as official education policy in all South
African schools.26
The Broederbund
At the heart of the Christian-Nationalist agenda was a group of powerful men in a
secret society called the Broederbund. The Broederbund masterminded apartheid and
dictated to the politicians and churches how best to implement it.
Many of the most influential members of the Afrikaans society were members of
the Broederbund. A survey taken in 1982 revealed that 60% of the dominees of the DRC
77 belonged to the Broederbund. Broederbund members, as the most elite tier of society,
included seminary professors, theologians (such as J.D. du Toit) and the moderators of
the NGK, NHK and GK churches.28 These men were bound together by a secret oath and
a common cause to uphold and strengthen the volk in fulfilling God’s destiny for the
Afrikaner people. All of the members were men who were committed to Calvinism and
who supported the cause of Christian Nationalism.
The Broederbund should be considered as a religious organization since their
meetings had a religious aura to them with each meeting opening and closing with prayer
and readings from the Bible. Charles Bloomberg wrote an extensive book on the culture
25 PJ Meyer quoted in The Puritans in Africa: a story of Afrikanerdom.tNew York, Penguin Books, 1975) 214. 26 Johann Kinghom, “Modernization and Apartheid: the Afrikaner Churches” Christianity in South Africa: a political, social and church history ed. Richard Elphick and Rodney Davenport (Berkley: University of California Press, 1997} 136-137. 27 Goodwin, 209. 28 Bloomberg, 38-50.
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and programs of the organization and he found that: “...the spirit of a chosen religious
elite or aristocracy prevails within the organization. It justifies its unaccountability to the
public in religious terms, holding itself answerable to God alone.”29 The Broederbund
conducted work in secret that the institutional DRC did not want to be openly involved
with - such as policy formation and the setting of political agendas. Former Broederbund
member Nico Smith describes the role of the organization in making political decisions,
“It was always preparing people for participation. The government would decide what
decisions were necessary but the Broederbund prepared the people on the street so that
the laws would be implemented. That way the most irrational legislation was passed
without people complaining about it.”30
While the DRC had no formal relationship with the Broederbund, the two
organizations were inextricably connected. The Broederbund published and distributed
instructions to DRC members on how to implement and present different apartheid
policies in churches. Since the organization’s members were in the top echelons of
Afrikaner society as well as the church, it is indisputable that the Broederbund heavily
influenced, if not controlled, the DRC.31 Concrete political proposals and mandates were
formed in the intimacy of Broederbund meetings and members then looked to DRC
churches and theologians (many of whom were Broederbund members themselves) to
provide theological justification and biblical backing. The two issues that knit the two
groups most tightly together were education in Afrikaans and apartheid.
29 Bloomberg, 38. 30 Dr. Nico Smith, Interview by Emily Welty, April 10, 2001. 31 Wilkins, 288.
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Liberation Theology Part One?
Though liberation theology tends to be more closely identified with people who
are oppressed and deprived of power (see Chapter Three for a fuller discussion of
liberation theology), the Afrikaners also practiced a form of it. In order to truly
understand the paradigm that the Afrikaners were operating under theologically, it is
important to understand that they viewed themselves as a people under siege up until the
election of the National Party in 1948. They genuinely believed that their presence in
South Africa was divinely ordained but that both the policies and dominance of the
British and the hostility of the locals thwarted their mission. The economically struggling
Afrikaners developed their theology in response to the harsh conditions they were
enduring long before they came to power in 1948. They saw themselves as an oppressed
minority and viciously guarded their culture and traditions to prevent assimilation.32
The notion of suffering played a vital role in the development of the Afrikaner
theology. Suffering was a test to be endured and to make a people worthy of God’s
continued grace. As such, attacks by local tribes or oppression from the British were
seen as ways of testing the Afrikaner’s worthiness. The imprisonment of Boer women
and children in concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer Wars was a significant event
symbolizing the kind of suffering that the Afrikaners most feared. This event became
enshrined as proof of the need for a strong, dominant Afrikaner state. While it would be
unfair and unnecessary to compare the suffering of blacks under apartheid to the
suffering of those Afrikaners in British camps, it is important to note the ways in which
32 Marjorie Hope and James Young. The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983) 27-28.
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an experience of oppression at the hands of a more powerful entity can motivate a group
to oppress others in order to avoid suffering again. In the aftermath of repression, the
victims can sometimes rise up and become the victimizers to another group of people.
While suffering justified the siege mentality of the Afrikaners, it also was viewed
as God’s way of continuing to shape the chosen people. In the sacred book Ossewa
Gedenkboek. history and handbook of sorts for the Afrikaner people, Henning Klopper
wrote: “Disasters, adversity, privation, reversals and suffering are some of the best means
in God’s hand to form a people.... These are the tests by fire which refine a people and
determine its worth.”33 The occupation of the British was explained as a failure on the
part of the Afrikaner people to celebrate the covenant with God made at Blood River.
This covenant was a particularly strong part of Paul Kruger’s civil religion. He therefore
decided to encourage the people to begin celebrating the Day of the Covenant on a yearly
basis beginning in 1900.34
The DRC - The National Party at Prayer
During the National Party’s forty-six year reign, it experienced an intimate
relationship with the DRC. There were no clear distinctions between the Afrikaner
nation, the DRC and the Nationalist Party - leading many to refer to the DRC as “the
Nationalist Party at prayer”. The Afrikaner nation was never without the strong, guiding
hand of the Afrikaner church. The Broederbund stated in a 1972 document to its
members: “The history of the Afrikaner nation cannot be written without the history of
the Afrikaans churches.”35 Estimates indicate that as much as 80% of Afrikaners
33 Moodie, 13. 34 Moodie, 33-34. 35 Wilkins, 287.
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belonged to the DRC. This institution had more than three hundred years of history and
connection with the Afrikaner people.
The South African government under the National Party embraced the concept of
theocracy and did not see it as problematic. The South African situation at that time was
unique in that most of the Western world was experiencing secularization while the
Afrikaners grew ever more religious. The government was happy to define itself as a
Christian state, seeing that as the realization of hundreds of years of struggle. Political
documents openly referred to God and even the “new” constitution of 1981 began: “In
humble submission to Almighty God; who controls the destinies of nations and the
history of peoples; who gathered our forebears together from many lands and gave them
this their own; who has guided them from generation to generation.. ,”36
The National Party and their agenda to spread Christian nationalism throughout
South Africa might be properly understood as a form of religious fundamentalism.
International relations and religion scholar Scott Appleby defines fundamentalists as
people who “react primarily against the marginalization of religion. By creating viable
alternatives to secular structures and processes, they seek to restore religion to its rightful
place at the center of society, culture, politics and law.”37 By this definition, the DRC’s
push to locate all structures of Afrikaner life within the spheres of Calvinism would
identify them as a group of Christian fundamentalists.
36 Peter Walshe, Prophetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement in South Africa (Pietermartizburg: Cluster Publications, 1995) 79. 37 Scott Appleby, “Religion, Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding” Turbulent Peace: the challenges of managing international conflict eds. Chester Crocker, Fen Osier Hampson and Pamela Aall. (Washington, DC: United States Institute ofPeace, 2001.
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In order to understand the intimate relationship between the DRC and the
National Party, one must understand that the clergy were seen as the most elite tier of the
volk. The leaders of the church and the leaders of the state-were often one and the same.
Hendrik Verwoerd was a particularly interesting example of this overlap. When he was
elected as prime minister he credited his election to the will of God.38 While Verwoerd
himself was a secular man and an atheist, this did not keep him from emphasizing that
IQ apartheid was a divine creation. He maintained that the destiny of the Afrikaner people
was to spread Christianity throughout Africa.
The DRC was instrumental in creating apartheid in many ways. Often church
leaders or prominent church members were responsible for drafting pieces of apartheid
legislation as well as implementing such policies. Most notably, the DRC and its
theologians were guilty of using theology to justify apartheid (as will be discussed later in
this chapter). State theology was indistinguishable from the theology of the DRC. Die
Kerkbode, the official newspaper of the DRC, published a statement on September 22,
1948 that read, “As a church we have ... striven constantly for the separation of these two
national groups (white and black). In this regard one can correctly refer to apartheid as
church policy".40
The DRC urged the government to implement apartheid policies such as the
Mixed Marriage Act, the Group Areas Act and the Bantu Education A ct41 What was the
Church’s interest in this legislation? Primarily, the DRC was committed to preserving
38 Bloomberg, xxiv. 39 Goodwin, 195. 40 Die Kerkbode. 22 September 1948 in TRC Submission, Journey with Apartheid 6-7. 41 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church, TRC Submission, Journey with Apartheid: 1960-1994 (19971
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Afrikaner cultural identity and viewed policies of separate development as furthering this
identity.
The Nationalist government often criticized the black church leaders in the anti
apartheid struggle for mixing politics and religion but, in fact, the Afrikaners were guilty
of this as well. The NGK was especially harsh in disparaging the involvement of black
church leaders in politics but often took political stands itself. In terms of civil religion,
politics and faith were tightly meshed for the Afrikaner nation. Religious devotion was a
measure of political involvement and ideology was part of a government mandate. The
Afrikaner political struggle for nationhood was portrayed as a religious quest. “Worship
of God and worship of nation were equated; but in practice, the result was a glorification,
an idolization, of nation.”42 Political independence was an important tenet of Afrikaner
civil religion.
The communication between the church and state was not uni-directional. The
government also actively sought the guidance and counsel of the church on many
occasions. In 1974, the government provided funding for the church to more widely
publicize its views as a response to the large amounts of negative publicity about South
Africa being generated by the South African Council of Churches at the time 43 This
funding was done in secret and did not become a matter of public knowledge until 1978
when it then caused quite a scandal.
The relationship between the DRC and the State was not always unconditionally
supportive. During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings, members
42 Bloomberg, 103. 43 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church
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of the church testified that they had expressed reservations with Nationalist government
behind closed doors. The official DRC statement to the TRC regarding this matter reads:
It is not correct to assume that in the years between 1960 and 1990 the Dutch Reformed Church seldom if ever expressed criticism concerning national policy to the government at an official level. The feeling, however, was that more could be achieved through confidential discussions with members of the government behind closed doors...There were also frequent discussions with the government concerning detention without trial. However, the church was hesitant to insist on the repeal of the Acts concerned and 44 usually simply requested that they be applied with compassion and humanity. One has to wonder if this questioning had been done sooner and with more publicity if
apartheid might have ended sooner.
Relationship to the Bible
The Afrikaners believed that the Bible was the authoritative, infallible and
inspired word of God. They had a special fondness for many of the stories in the Old
Testament because they felt that their own history was a modem expression of these
sacred events. In 1933, a Bible was published in Afrikaans which was seen as a
sensational event in Boer history. With the publication of a Bible in their own language,
the masses could now access it and further participate in theological inquiry. The nascent
Broederbund claimed partial responsibility for this achievement which added to their
growing popularity. Professor J.A. du Pleiss of Potchefstroom University called the
translation “a milestone in the struggle for the rights and use of our tongue in Church and
household worship, and a sign of victory in the yet uncompleted struggle for these rights
and their public use.”45 This religious and cultural landmark brought the intersections of
Church and State ever closer for the Afrikaans people.
44 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church 20-21. 45 Bloomberg, 98.
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Skeppingsverskeidenheid/the variety of creation
While apartheid appeared to be a deeply flawed, irrational and cruel system to
most observers of that dark period in South African history, to those who were
responsible for constructing it, the system contained an internal logic. This logic was
based on scriptural and scientific interpretations of the world inhabited by the Afrikaner
people.
For the Afrikaner people, it was obvious that God wanted a variety of races, each
with its own purpose. Racial integration was a sin and contradicted deeply held
convictions about the nature of humankind. Boundaries between races were sanctified
and were accepted as a natural part of God’s ordering of the universe. A collection of
biblical verses was used to justify as well as explain God’s desire to keep races of people
segregated.
Biblical passages cited to support separation included Deuteronomy 32:8 (When
the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the
boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods) and Acts 17:26 (From
one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of
their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live). When taken on
their own, neither of these verses seems to overtly support the cause of separate
development. However, the Afrikaners were reading these verses against their own
context and interpreted them within that context.
The most referenced biblical story that reinforced the belief in the necessity of
separation of the races was the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). According to the
Afrikaner read of this story, God became angry that people were attempting to build a
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unified society and speak one language. As punishment, God destroyed the tower of
Babel and scattered the people to maintain the diversity of the human population. This
was seen as an indication that God’s will for humanity is separation of different races of
people and languages. The threatened uniformity is ended and the people are taught to
remain divided from one another
The way language was used to describe God was also indicative of the belief in
separation of different peoples. DRC domineer Johan Heyns’ language for God
demonstrated this conviction: “God wasYahweh HaMabdil, that is the Hebrew for God
the Big Divider. He made divisions in creation, created different animals, different plants,
different people. Therefore the division between whites and blacks was to be accepted as
God’s will. It was our God-given calling to keep our blood pure.”46 The image of God as
the Big Divider reveals that Afrikaners did not see diversity as a coincidence of nature -
it was rather the result of an active, sovereign God who desired separation.
Examples drawn from the biological diversity of the natural world were often
used as justification for apartheid. The primary characteristic of God’s creation was
identified as the differentiation in flora and fauna. One time South African president Nico
Diederichs wrote:
God willed there should be nations so as to enhance the richness and beauty of his creation...Just as He decided that no dreary uniformity should rule in nature, but that it display a richness and variety of plants and animals, sounds and colors, so, too He willed the existence in the human sphere of a variety of nations, cultures and languages.47 The fact of biological diversity was extended to mean that not only must variety exist
among humans but that variety should be the defining factor by which to classify and
determine rights for different people.
46 Goodwin, 194. 47 Bloomberg, 13.
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The biology of South Africa’s veld was often used as a practical example to
explain the necessity of the separation of the races. “Anybody who knew the habits of the
sea-birds on the coastal islands of the Cape could testify to this (separation). The
penguins and the Cape gannet never mixed. Neither did the zebras and the wildebeest
where they grazed together in their natural habitats.”48 However, it should be noted that
this analysis was clearly biased and selective. One could just as easily argue that the
mutually beneficial relationships that existed between many of South Africa’s species
were evidence of the need for diversity to be complementary and a source of reciprocal
benefits. This was not the conclusion reached by the proponents of apartheid however.
The implications of the identification of diversity were crucial in the construction
of apartheid. Not only were differences inherent in nature but they were also inherent
among human beings. Christian Nationalism argued that the talents, intelligence,
capacities and morality of humans were unequally distributed amongst the population.
These differences were God’s will and could not be altered. Each race therefore had to
accept its place in the hierarchical ranking of humanity and fulfill its unique task in
history. This could best be accomplished by providing separate opportunities for each
race. Historian Charles Bloomberg describes this philosophy as follows:
Just as God diffuses abilities unequally, so He is said to assign each nation its own
particular mission. Though some carry a more glorious or responsible earthly mission
than others, each must obey the divine role in which they are cast. In doing so, they serve
God, their maker.49
48 De Klerk, W.A. The Puritans in Africa: a storv of Affikanerdom (New York: Penguin, 1975) 235. 49 Bloomberg, 17.
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Naturally, the architects of apartheid happened to believe that the Afrikaner nation was
meant to serve the highest, most responsible and most glorious role of all. This role gave
them the duty to rule over, evangelize and civilize the other Tower’ races. Social justice
in this context did not mean equality or equity but simply implied that each race received
the treatment that God intended for them.
The principles of separate development extended firmly into the DRC churches
themselves which were segregated by race (white, colored, black and Indian). This was
the natural expression of the DRC’s vision for the nation at a micro level. In addition to
the practical reasons (such as language) that were used to justify this policy, the greatest
justification of all was that this was the will of God.
It has been suggested that the mentality of separation was firmly rooted in English
speaking churches as well. Often justice, health and human rights were only addressed
from the perspective of the afterlife. Many leaders found it easy and convenient to
preach that the congregations need not worry about the quality of their day-to-day lives
because heaven awaited them in the future. This separation between the mundane and
the sacred effectively kept congregations from mobilizing and protest as well as directing
the focus away from issues of social justice in church. If parishioners believed that the
focus of the church was solely reaching heaven then there was little reason to believe that
separation of the races in church was of concern.
All in all, the emphasis given to classification and separation was evident beyond
theology and the church into the life of the South African government. The government
viewed the world in terms of dualisms and dichotomies, believing in a sort of “eternal
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antagonism between nations”50. The entire world could be classified in terms of good vs.
evil, the government vs. the ANC, capitalism vs. communism.
Christian Guardianship
To downplay the human tragedy of apartheid is unthinkable and unethical.
However, in the interest of scholarship, it is necessary to note that early Afrikaner
writings and statements seem to indicate that some of the intentions behind apartheid
were not purposefully cruel but instead were painfully nai've. A prime example of this
type of thinking is the idea of Christian guardianship.
Christian guardianship is the conviction that Christians are morally superior to
other people and as such, have a responsibility to look after and make decisions for the
less fortunate. This premise figured prominently in the construction of apartheid. The
DRC’s original plan for apartheid was to have separate but equal facilities for whites and
non-whites. The vertical segregation of the races was supposed to secure equitable
systems for each of the races and each race was supposed to develop as much as it was
able. In time, this separation was intended to end white domination rather than reproduce
it. However, like such policies in the United States, separation did not produce equality
but instead generated cycles of violence, poverty and racism.
One of the tenets of Christian Nationalism was the conviction that blacks needed
to develop under the care of whites. It was viewed as a Christian duty to act as guardians
of non-whites and to make decisions on their behalf. In its submission to the TRC, the
DRC stated that: “our church never made this a battleagainst people of color. On the
50 J. Comblin, The Church and the National Security State (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979) 170.
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contrary, it was a battlefo r them, an attempt to serve their interests best...White
guardianship is not so much a right as a high calling.”51
Many who participated in the creation of apartheid seemed to genuinely believe
that they were working for the good of blacks. In 1949 the chairman of the NGK
addressed the Federal Council of that church declaring that the aim of apartheid was not
“oppression but development, growth, upliftment, more privileges and rights according to
one’s own abilities, talent and potential.. .The Bible does not instruct us to have apartheid
but it does not prohibit us from doing so either. However the Bible decrees Christian
guardianship. And our entire history leads us in this direction too. Whether we like it or
not, we are the guardians of the coloreds and the natives too”.52
During the time that biblical justification of apartheid was coming under scrutiny
of churches in the country, the Christian guardianship duty was not questioned. This idea
of apartheid “for their own good” presented a case of cognitive dissonance for those who
considered it carefully. The government appeared to be engaging in the clear oppression
of non-whites and yet claimed that it was doing it for the good of the oppressed.
Even after the end of apartheid, some people look back on its intentions as good.
Dutch Reform pastor Reverend J. Kemp said: “The main purpose of apartheid was never
to put someone in a bad situation. It was for their own benefit. But we didn’t listen to
them, that was the real problem.”53 While Nico Smith later renounced his membership in
the Broederbund and became a champion of equality, he can remember his indoctrination
51 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church, 8. 52Kinghom, 145. 53 Reverend J. Kemp, Interview by Emily Welty, January 18, 2001.
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into thinking that Christian guardianship was a valid excuse for apartheid. He was taught
that:
You must love your neighbor as you love yourself means that you must love the ethnic groups in South Africa so much that we will allow them their own countries, their own lands within the South African borders so they can develop on their own merits, have their own governments, set up their own economic system, etc. So that is the biblical basis and I was taught that we can be in support of this particular policy because it plans to do justice to all the different groups in South Africa. To me, that was enough theological justification. I wanted to see the blacks having the same as me. I was taught that the only way they could have the same or eventually achieve the same was by separating them.54
But we still don’t want it...
At the 1974 Synod, the DRC officially acknowledged that there should not be a
theological justification of apartheid. However, even once such justifications had been
rejected, many still clung to the idea that apartheid was the best policy for South Africa.
A focus on the DRC’s theological reasoning for apartheid should not obscure the fact that
it was accepted by many for other reasons. Some saw it as the most logical and practical
plan for a country with so many different ethnic groups.
In 1960, Dominee David Botha wrote in a prominent Afrikaans journal, “At this
stage apartheid is certainly the obvious practical policy for the whites and the black
people because there are overwhelming centrifugal forces in all spheres of interest.”55
This statement, which expressed the ideas of many DRC theologians at the time, came on
the heels of the Cottesloe Consultation which stated that there was no scriptural
justification for apartheid (discussed further in Chapter 3). Nico Smith, a former
dominee of DRC, explained his indoctrination in the apartheid system in this way: “I
wanted to see the blacks having the same privileges as me and I thought the only way
54 Nico Smith, Interview by Emily Welty, April 10, 2001. 55 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church, 7.
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they could have the same or eventually achieve the same was by separating them and
giving them their own country... So I completed my studies, went to a congregation and
supported the apartheid system openly claiming both that it was biblically mandated and
that it was the best way.”56
Confessing Apartheid
In the period following the 1994 elections, the DRC was called upon by the TRC
to explain its actions during apartheid. The DRC did not make a submission to the TRC
but chose instead to publish a document that sought to explain its intentions and actions.
What the Church chose to confess as well as omit from its confession offers telling
insight into the mind of the church during the apartheid years. The document, Journey
with Apartheid, is formatted as a series of questions and answers that address key events
and ideologies.
The DRC acknowledged its guilt in creating a problematic environment in South
Africa. However, the aspects of apartheid that it takes responsibility for are different than
what one might expect. Apartheid is described as a system which “contributed to a
situation of unequal, unjust distribution of economic resources which has led to the
serious discrepancy in income, standard of living, unequal education and training
between White and Black.”57 This statement says nothing about apartheid as system of
cruelty, humiliation or pain and instead concentrates solely on the economic aspect.
The document maintains that God has always used the Afrikaners for divine
purposes “including the 34 years which this document examines...and we thank and
56 Nico Smith, Interview by Emily Welty, April 10, 2001. 57 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church, 21.
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praise Him for that.”58 However, the document continues by stating “we did not always
understand His Word correctly for the times in which we lived, and often we did not do
what He asked of us. We confess that to Him. Where we offended against our neighbors,
we also sincerely confess our sins to them.”59 No mention is made here about what
specific misinterpretations or misunderstandings occurred. The oblivious reader could be
forgiven for thinking that this statement might not be in reference to apartheid at all.
The document continues to express support for its Church in Society statement of
1990. Church in Society was written in response to the Rustenburg Conference and stated
that the church should not dictate the actions of government. However, Church in Society
continues to sustain the claim that apartheid was based in good intentions and was not
entirely evil:
The Dutch Reformed Church realizes that the ideal and policy of apartheid took form and shape over a long period in our history. There were also honest and noble intentions by those concerned to achieve the optimal development of all population groups within the framework of their own cultural traditions. It would also be unreasonable to brand as wrong and bad everything which took place within the political structure of apartheid and to deny the positive developments achieved in various fields.60
Church in Society was criticized as never completely rejecting apartheid because
it never defines apartheid in terms of its racial character.61 Racism is described as “a sin
which tends to take on collective and structural forms”62 and the document says that the
Church should reject racism. But the critical link between racism and apartheid was never
established by the DRC. By failing to link racism and apartheid, the true insidious nature
of the system was not exposed and the DRC did not take full responsibility for its role in
58 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church, 4. 59 General Synodal Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church, 4. 60 Kerk en Samelewing/ Church in Society. (1990) paragraphs 278-288. 61 Pieter Holtrop, “Farewell to Apartheid?” (Studies from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Volume 25,1994) 62 Kerk en Samelewing/ Church in Society. Paragraph 110.
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the cruel system. The selective examination of apartheid without linking it with racism
meant that the DRC could disassociate itself from all other declarations or condemnations
of apartheid that had been made by other bodies. In examining Church in Society, the
South African Alliance of Reformed Churches concluded that it was not a sufficient
answer to the charge of status confessionis: “The DRC’s clear rejection of the negative
effects of apartheid does not constitute an unequivocal rejection of the very essence of
apartheid....The document, however, does not at any stage define apartheid per se, in
unequivocal terms, as racism.”63
While the DRC did not make an official submission to the TRC, the Church did
elect to make a presentation. This presentation once again differentiated between “good”
and “bad” apartheid. The DRC never equated apartheid with gross human rights
violations and never linked its scriptural justification of apartheid to the tortures and
death that took place. It merely said that it “often tended to put the interests of its people
above the interests of other people.”64
As demonstrated by the facts and analysis in this chapter, apartheid’s foundations
were inherently religious. Not only did the DRC church have close ties to the Afrikaner
political institutions, but the Church actively used its religious status to justify apartheid.
The essential identity of the Afrikaner was bound up in both distinctive cultural as well as
religious identity development that made them feel set apart from all others in South
Africa. The determination to strengthen and preserve this identity at all costs was part of
63 Holtrop, 4. 64 Research Institute on Christianity in South Africa,5.
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the impetus between designing the separate development system. Having established that
apartheid was a religiously motivated system, the next three chapters will examine why
and how religion was instrumental in bringing this system to an end.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER THREE: THEOLOGY FOR LIBERATION AND RESISTANCE
Theology provided the backbone to the anti-apartheid movement’s religious
actors. In this chapter, I analyze the different types of theology that were primarily
utilized in the struggle and then I address particular theological themes that were
pertinent in explaining, justifying and securing equal rights for all racial groups.
Theology became important in the issuing of documents that decried theological
justifications for apartheid and reinforced the Christian values of unity and equality. I
present an overview of key statements and discuss their impact. Finally, I highlight the
work of the Institute for Contextual Theology as a model of an organization that drew on
theology as a foundation for its case against apartheid.
Types of Theology:
Liberation Theology
In order to accurately understand the unique theological movements that took
place in South Africa, it is necessary to understand the larger theological tradition to
which it belonged. Liberation theology is, simply put, theology that takes as its starting
point God’s preferential option for the poor. The term “poor” refers not only to those
who suffer from lack of material resources, but also those who suffer from a lack of
power. In this context, the term “preferential option” asserts that God relates to and cares
for the poor in a way that is different from the way God relates to the wealthy and secure
of society. Liberation theology is the root tradition of feminist theology, black theology, 57
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mujerista theology and any number of additional theologies that seek to relate the
situation of the oppressed to the special attention of God.
In the context of South Africa, liberation theology primarily took the form of
black theology and contextual theology - both of which I address in detail in this chapter.
While it is important to acknowledge these as two separate movements, it is necessary to
appreciate their similar grounding in the tenets of liberation theology. Liberation
theology established that God had special concern for those in South Africa who suffered
the effects of banning, detention, torture, home demolition, relocation and any of the
other daily humiliations that non-white people faced in apartheid South Africa.
God was not neutral but rather sided with those who suffered. This preference for
the poor was not a result of the poor being somehow more holy or moral than other
people. As Desmond Tutu explained, “the God Jesus came to proclaim was no neutral
sitter on the fence. He took the side of the oppressed, the poor, the exploited, not because
they were holier or morally better than their oppressors. No, he was on their side simply
and solely because they were oppressed.”1
Liberation theology does not simply make socio-political statements and claim
that God supports them. This theology of the oppressed firmly grounds itself in Biblical,
scriptural teachings found in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament.
The prophets are an example of constant denouncement of oppression and support for the
exploited on behalf of God. The person of Jesus is seen as a physical embodiment of
God’s special care for the oppressed.
1 Desmond Tutu, The Rainbow People of God (New York: Doubleday Books, 1994) 18.
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For the Church, the implications of liberation theology are staggering. In order to
please God, the Church must constantly be in a state of responding to oppressive
situations whether it be human rights violations or famine. Black theologian Sabelo
Ntwasa writes, “The Church therefore cannot be seen simply as the company of believers
who have had spiritual experiences. It is the company of those whose lives are perceived
to have the quality of Christ-in-his-struggle-against-human-bondage. It is thus the
company of liberators, or it is not the Church.”2 It is not an option or a part time
engagement for the Church to act on behalf of and for the good of the most downtrodden
members of society. Loving your hungry, widowed, imprisoned, homeless, vulnerable
neighbor is not optional - it is a requirement that is at the heart of what it means to be
Christian according to liberation theology. Charles Villa-Vicencio correctly identifies the
significance of this requirement for the disciplines of politics as well as religion: “the
most radical form of theo-political engagement in the struggle for justice necessarily
affirms a position of permanent revolution - in which all political solutions are constantly
reviewed in the interests of those who suffer most.”3
Black Theology
Black theology is a conscious and systematic theological reflection on black
experience in a particular time and place. Black theology in South Africa articulated a
form of black resistance while also providing a theoretical backbone to the anti-apartheid
movement. As a form of political theology, black theology opposed the politics and
policies of apartheid and posed an attack on white theology from an educated theological
2 Sabelo Ntwasa, “The Concept of Church in Black Theology” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 114-115. 3 Charles Villa-Vicencio, Civil Disobedience and Beyond: law, resistance and religion in South Africa (Cape Town: David Philip, 1990) 8.
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point of view. Black theology did not come from the churches. In fact, some have gone
as far as saying that black theology rosedespite the churches. The hotbed of black
theology was not the churches but the seminaries and student movements where eager
and desperate young people struggled to create and impart a theology that spoke to their
own experiences. I believe one of the most concise definitions of black theology comes
from Simon Maimela, who writes:
Black theology, an aspect of a worldwide theological movement known as liberation theology, owes its origin to the unique experience of the people of color, especially of African descent, in white dominated societies where the people’s blackness was taken and rationalized by white people as giving them enough reason to subject black people to the life of domination, exploitation, oppression and humiliation.4
I like this definition because it emphasizes four different aspects of black theology: its
relation to liberation theology, the importance of blackness, the relevance of the historical
situation and the implications for daily life. I will examine each one in turn.
Black theology is a situational theology that takes into account the suffering of the
people of South Africa. The conditions of life in South Africa for a black person are not
only acknowledged - they are the most basic foundation from which to do relevant
theology. Manas Buthelezi simply stated, “Black theology is nothing but a
methodological formula whose genius consists in paying tribute to that fact that
theological honesty cannot but recognize the peculiarity of the black man’s situation.”5
Reality is at the forefront of the movement - theory is less emphasized. Black theology
attempts to repair some of the psychological and spiritual damage inflicted upon non
whites during apartheid. For example, traditional emphasis on the omnipotence and
4 Simon Maimela, “Black Theology of Liberation” Paths of African Theology, ed. Rosino Gibellini. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1994) 182. 5 Manas Buthelezi, “An African Theology or a Black Theology?” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 34.
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omniscience of God was a scary concept for some blacks who experienced omnipotence
as a sinister force embodied in the Security Police.
Blackness is not coincidental or accidental for black theology. The experience of
being created black by God is seen as a gift rather than a punishment. For black people,
this theology spoke to them as black people. It did not ignore or disparage their color - it
acknowledged their blackness and called it beautiful. Black theology reminded people
that they were created in the image of God, a God who does not make mistakes. It tried
to change the negative impression that many blacks had of themselves.
The condition of blackness was not a command to be subservient to others, nor
was it a mandate to exercise authority over others. The blackness of the people did not
need to mimic the whiteness of those around them. There had to be a balance between
black theologians naming their own experiences and contact with whites. Due to the
situation in South Africa, the whites could not be ignored - they were a part of everyday
life.
Scriptural sources still hold meaning for black theology despite the fact that the
Bible was so often used to deprive blacks of their land. A common anecdote among
South African blacks captures this situation:
When the White people first came to our country, we had the land and they had the Bible. They said to us, “Close your eyes and let us pray.” When we opened our eyes again, the White people had the land and we had the Bible.
One of the challenges facing black theologians was to create a theology in which black
people could keep the Bible but also regain control over the land.
Black theology highlights of the context in which events occurred in examining
biblical passages. This approach locates the Bible within a particular time and place and
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relates the present to the past. Black theology places particular relevance on the fact that
the Jews originally entered Israel, not as a conquering army but as a group of broken,
hungry and despairing slaves. Jesus himself was not a member of the Roman ruling elite
but rather was one of the subjugated Jews.6 Black theology also poses questions to the
Bible, asking in particular what the passages can say to blacks in the present moment.
Black theologians often spoke of Christ himself as black as a way of more closely
relating the teachings of the Gospel to the lives of blacks at the time.
Black theology is a form of liberation theology. However, the term ‘liberation
theology’ was so closely aligned with the liberation theology movement of Latin America
that black theologians often chose not to identify themselves with such a term.
Nonetheless, the theme of liberation is at the very heart of black theology.
Black theology defined the framework of Christian life as being a movement
towards liberation. Any kind of theologizing that did not take liberation seriously, could
not be an authentic expression of Christian faith. Allan Boesak writes, “Black theology
believes that liberation is not only ‘part o f the gospel, or ‘consistent with’ the gospel; it
is the content and framework of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”7 In order to achieve
liberation however, the white frame of reference of the white oppressors had to be
abandoned in favor of a newly created structure of black theology. As an unyielding
advocate of liberation, black theology rejected the structural racism and misuse of
theology that was prevalent in biblical justifications of apartheid. It bears emphasizing
that the white structural racism and the justification of apartheid were the enemies - not
6 Basil Moore “What is Black Theology?” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 5. 7 Allan Boesak, Farewell to Innocence. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1977) 9.
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the white people themselves. To fail to decry racism and its effects was to fail to live an
authentically Christian life.
Liberation mattered not only for blacks but also for whites. Genuine liberation
could only occur when the categories of ‘master and slave’ or ‘server and served’ no
longer existed. Implicit with the themes of liberation in black theology was the
knowledge that if/when blacks gained power, they would not use this power to subjugate
others.
The Black Consciousness Movement carried out a relationship with black
theology in ways that were ambiguous and shifting. On one hand, the BCM had
denounced religion as a way to support the status quo and had held a high degree of scorn
and contempt for church leaders who demonstrated any degree of allegiance to white
theology. On the other hand, BCM’s founder Steven Biko claimed that black theology
was one aspect of the BCM as a whole. Initially, Biko appeared to reject Christianity all
together, claiming that it was a “white man’s religion” and that “black people find no
message for them in the Bible”.8 However, Biko realized that Christianity had become so
rooted in the consciousness of the blacks in South Africa that it was impossible to reject it
entirely. “Too many people are involved in religion for blacks to ignore. Obviously the
only path open for us now is to redefine the message in the Bible and make it relevant to
the struggling masses.”9
Biko was not an active Christian but privately held that black theology was a
potent force capable of this redefinition and of tying together traditional and modem
8 Steve Biko, I Write What I Like (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978) 31. 9 Biko, 31.
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ways of being in the world. He eventually embraced black theology not for reasons of
principle but for reasons of pragmatism. Biko hoped that through projects like the Black
Community Programs (run as an initiative of the Christian Institute), the church could
undergo an internal change in order to be more accepting.10 While he may not have been
an insider to the church world himself, it was Biko’s hope that he could move the church
towards justice by working from the inside rather than by openly acting as an outside
critic.
The distinction, made by many, between secular black consciousness and
religious black theology was unfortunate. Black theology was essentially the religious
expression of the Black Consciousness Movement. Any division between black theology
and BCM served only to weaken resistance to the government and divide the power base
of vocal blacks against themselves. Sometimes African theology was presented as a
competitor to black theology. In reality, there was no concrete resource for competing
theologies to win and eventually this sort of theological competition became less
prevalent.
Criticisms of Black Theology
One of the most frequent criticisms of Black Theology was that it did not begin in
South Africa. This argument was used to discredit the movement by attributing it to
outside, foreign influences. While it is true that the rise of black theology in South Africa
did seem to follow the rise of such theology in the United States, this alone was not an
adequate reason to discredit the movement. After all, Christianity was also imported
10 Peter Walshe. Prophetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement in South Africa. (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1995)54-55.
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from another place and those who decried black theology’s significance did not seem
concerned about Christianity’s origin at all. In addressing the Le Grange-Schlebusch
Commission’s criticisms of black theology, Manas Buthelezi wrote, “The premise that
Black Theology is a foreign import, in the sense of its emergence being unrelated to
legitimate factors in South Africa, is fallacious. It is true that, as a deliberate and
technical model of theologizing, Black Theology started in the United States. But this
does not by any means detract from its integrity.”11
Some black theologians have criticized the lack of women theologians in the
field. Those women who actively do theology from a black perspective are often
marginalized. Others have noted that black theology does not adequately address the
grassroots level and remains an elite practice that it out of touch with the conditions of
ordinary people. Itumeleng Mosala, a black theologian himself, said, “Black theologians
have failed to keep in touch with the grassroots people and have not succeeded in
adapting the message of black theology to address the changing needs of the
community.”12
Contextual Theology
One of the theological contributions that the struggle against apartheid gave to the
world was contextual theology. While it built upon the foundations laid by liberation
theology and black theology, contextual theology presented a new mode of thinking
theologically about particular political situations.
11 Manas Buthelezi, “Black Theology and the Le Grange-Schlebusch Commission” Pro Veritate. Volume 14, Number 6, (October 1975) 2. 12 Itumeleng Mosala, interview by Charles Villa-Vicencio Spirit o f Freedom: South African Leaders on Relieion and Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 215.
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Albert Nolan, widely accepted as one of the founders of the contextual theology
movement, was influenced by the liberation theology that he witnessed during his time in
Latin America in 1976. From liberation theology, he gleaned the hermeneutic progression
of see-judge-act. This meant that in order to engage critically with a text, one had to first
accurately see the conditions the text was being read in, then analyze the text critically
and finally act on one’s convictions. This was a reflexive praxis that fluctuated between
theological thought and action in the world. Contextual theology meant discovering the
religious significance of public events and relating these events to the message of the
Bible. This involved not only a clear penchant for social analysis but also knowledge of
the Bible.
‘Contextual theology’ was a new phrase that had not been used before it was
employed to describe the theology happening in South Africa. Initially the theologians
had considered using the phrase “theology from below” but did not like the connotation
that “below” had. Also the theologians did not wish to directly reference liberation
theology or black theology in the title. Liberation theology was too associated with Latin
America and black theology obscured the fact that both whites and blacks were to be
involved in this new movement.13
The methodology of contextual theology involved three components -
distantiation, contexualization and appropriation.14 The first step of doing contextual
theology was creating a distance between the reader and the text. In this step, readers
were encouraged to examine their own social location as well as the social location that a
13 Albert Nolan. Interview by Emily Welty, December 28, 2004. 14 Jonathan Draper, “Old Scores and New Notes: Where and What is Contextual Exegesis in the New South Africa?” Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 152- 158.
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particular passage in the Bible was situated within. Creating a distance between the
reader and the sacred text opened up the possibility of engaging the text more critically.
Distantiation requires realizing: “we are not the original addressees of the
communication. Paul wrote his letters to particular communities at Rome, Corinth and so
on. We are eavesdroppers. Like all eavesdroppers, we are likely to misunderstand what
we overhear, being unable to observe the perlocutionary contextual markers.”15
We may be eavesdroppers but we are eavesdroppers who still want to engage
meaningfully in the conversation. The next step, contextualization, involves recognizing
that the text has no absolute meaning. The meaning of any text is simply the meaning
given to it by its readers. Examining the context of the text is a two-fold task. The
meaning of the text for its original hearers should be identified but more importantly, the
reader(s) should determine what the text means today. In order to understand the
contemporary meaning of a text one must be aware of both “who we are as readers and
what the questions are which we bring to the text.”16 The final step of the contextual
methodology is appropriation which means deciding what the text means for the readers
today. It is with this decision that an appropriate course of action can be chosen.
In some sense, all readings of theology are contextual. For as long as religious
leaders have been reading the Bible, they have also been interpreting what they think the
Bible means to their communities. Albert Nolan writes, “...the gospel is, and has always
been contextual. The particular set of words or expressions that one may choose to use
depends upon the language, culture, politics and needs of a particular time and place.”17
15 Draper, 151. 16 Draper, 157. 17Albert Nolan, God in South Africa: the challenge of the gospel (Cape Town: David Philip Press, 1988) 8.
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Contextual theology took a more systematic and intentional approach than other
theologies by noting the necessity of religion speaking to the particular context of
suffering people in South Africa.
The context of South Africa was very different from the context in which most
traditional theologies had been formulated. In addressing the need for contextual
theology, Larry Kaufmann wrote: “Much of the theology with which we are traditionally
familiar had been worked out in the isolated context of the monastery, especially in the
Europe of the Middle Ages. The monastic context was replaced by the university and
seminary, but very often these were no less isolated from the experience of ordinary
people than the monasteries were.”1 8 Thus, contextual theology was radical in that it was
contemporary and it was concerned with addressing the current socio-political situation
in the country.
Contextual theology emphasized the power of the ordinary reader. While it
acknowledged the important work done by theologians it also privileged the insight of all
peoples’ lived experiences. One theologian, who did contextual theology work with a
Bible study group in Qwa Qwa, explained: “Our (theological) readings may be critical
but they are not truly contextual without the presence of ordinary readers.”19 It is the
ordinary readers who are actually best equipped to relate the text in question to their lived
experience and it is this relationship that is truly at the heart of contextual theology. For
contextual theology, the context of each reader is as important as the text itself since it is
18 Larry Kaufmann, “Good News to the Poor: the impact of Albert Nolan on Contextual Theology in South Africa” Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology eds. McGlory Speckman and Larry Kaufmann (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 24. 19 Mogomme Alpheus Masoga. “Redefining Power: reading the Bible in Africa from the peripheral and central positions” Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 134.
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only through the reader that any meaning can be made. Contextual theology should also
be done in a group because it requires a sharing of experiences and skills. The wisdom
that arises when a group of readers examine a text is far more acute than a single reader
could ever hope to harness.
Criticisms of Contextual Theology
One of the foremost critics of contextual theology was the evangelical,
charismatic Church movement. For these churches it was very important to take the Bible
quite literally and adherents to this literalism equated thinking contextually with
somehow discrediting the word of God.
Anglican leader Sue Brittion explained the difficulty that the charismatic
movement had with contextual theology: “People do not easily want to hear the
contradictions that there are within the Bible and even when you try to show them, they
don’t want to see - there is a kind of blindness and deafness about what the Bible is
which is very painful. I haven’t thrown the bible out by any means but we have to read it
in context, we have to read it in its own context and in the context of people who wrote
down the word of God.”20
Another criticism of contextual theology came from members of the black
theology movement. While many black theologians also considered themselves to be
contextual theologians, others felt that the two theologies were in competition. Itumeleng
Mosala was one black theologian who opposed contextual theology claiming that it was
formulated and dominated by privileged white theologians and that it detracted from
20 Sue Brittion. Interview by Emily Welty, January 7, 2005.
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black theology.21 However, this criticism was not widespread and in general, the black
theology movement and the contextual theology movement supported and complemented
one another.
A Prophetic Voice
The voice of prophecy is a dynamic common to religious traditions as well as
social justice movements. The prophetic tradition in the Bible, for example, is a tradition
of speaking truth to power, of calling people back to righteousness even when such a call
is unpopular. Social justice movements are familiar with this role as it is one that they
often play - speaking out against the powers that be, denouncing wrongs in society and
drawing attention to wrongs in the society. Prophets speak to a particular time and place
in history.
The best way to describe the type of theology that was being practiced by those
working against apartheid is prophetic. Black theologians defined prophetic theology as
“a biblically based, action oriented theology of oppressed people that fights external
(white) and internal (black) oppressions and also uses social analysis of ‘the oppressor
and the oppressed’”.22 Religious leaders who spoke out against apartheid were exercising
a prophetic function - addressing a particular time and place in history and calling for a
change. Tutu drew the comparison between prophets and politics in the following way:
“The prophets are deeply involved in politics because politics is the sphere where God’s
people demonstrate their obedience or their disobedience. The prophet Nathan rebuked
21 Dwight Hopkins, Black Theology USA and South Africa (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990) 129. 22 Hopkins, 97.
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King David not for a so-called religious misdemeanor but for the political act of causing
the death of Bathsheba’s husband”.23
Biblical prophets continued to speak out even if their message appeared to be
futile. In this tradition, some religious leaders continued to approach the Nationalist
government and appeal for a change in policies even though they knew their efforts were
probably in vain. Prophets were the voice for the less privileged of society who needed
additional avenues to make their voices heard.
Theological Issues:
Questions we didn’t ask: distinguishing Western Culture from Christianity
Racism and discrimination in apartheid era South Africa was not only a political
or social problem but a theological problem as well. The roots of the oppression of
blacks and other minorities in the country were based in a theology that privileged
Western civilization to the exclusion of all other groups. Concomitant with this
privileging was the blurring of the distinction between what was Western and what was
Christian in the theology and religious practices that took hold in South Africa.
Colonialism was an expansive system which deprived the colonized of their own
political systems, economic structures and theological frameworks. The legacy of
colonialism throughout Africa reverberated in the Western theology that most African
Christians had come to embrace. In order to form a coherent and cohesive black theology,
South African theologians needed to first name the structures within the Church that were
Western. Once the delineation was clear between what was authentic Christianity and
what its Western trappings were, the black theologians could then better articulate a
23 Tutu, Rainbow People of God. 71.
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thoroughly African Christianity. Some theologians used the term “theological
schizophrenia” to describe the formation of a Christianity laden with Western values that
had become deeply rooted in the soil of South African religion.24 I prefer Desmond
Tutu’s pithy observation that: “The white man’s cerebral religion barely touched the
African soul - redeemed Africans from sins that they had not committed and posed
questions they had not asked”.25
When Christianity was brought to Africa, it was a gift that came wrapped in a
Western European value system and culture. Until black theologians across the continent
began to articulate their own distinct voices, there was little differentiation between what
was Western and what was Christian. In a 1971 address to the Transkei regional seminar
on Black Theology, Peter John Buthelezi declared, “One need not be Westernized to
become a Christian. Christianity and Western culture are not the same thing. The same
truth can be stated in a positive manner thus: one can become a full-fledged Christian
while remaining an African in the true sense of the word”.26
The legacy of colonialism in Southern Africa lived on in the Church long after
missioners had ceased to arrive at the tip of Africa. With the missionaries came a
theology that exalted the white man and his religion while demonizing the black
population. All things good and pure were described as white while evil was described as
black. Sabelo Ntwasa described the Church as: “essentially the most colonial institution
in the country today. Although the membership is almost 70 percent black, the power and
24 Hopkins 25 Tutu quoted in Black Theology: USA and Africa. 141. 26 Peter John Buthelezi, “Black Theology in South Africa”. Address given at the Regional Seminar on Black Theology of the Transkei, St. Cuthbert’s Mission, Tsolo, 1971. African Perspectives on South Africa. 312.
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decision-making are still safely in the hands of the white minority. The liturgy is still
essentially Western and white oriented. All the land owned by the Church is registered as
white land”.27
Ending the theological colonialism meant breaking theological dependency on
whites. In a system in which there was no distinction between culture and religion, the
9 8 idea that blacks survived through the grace of whites was insidious and pervasive.
Steve Biko explained the development of theological dependency by the missionaries in
this way: “A man who succeeds in making a group of people accept a foreign concept in
which he is expert makes them perpetual students whose progress in the particular field
can only be evaluated by him; the student must constantly turn to him for guidance and
promotion”. 29 White theology reinforced not only the white worldview in religion but
also had greater political implications. By identifying God with the oppressors, a
criticism or attack on the government became an attack on God. Thus, religious and
political approval is given to the actions of the oppressor.
An additional implication of the theological dependency created by whites was
that all things white were equated with value. To be obedient, faithful and valuable to
God meant to lead a life as exemplified by the whites. Ntwasa worried, “The
predominance of white value systems in the Church life of the black man has led him to
equate whiteness with value and so to aspire to be white”.30 The dominance of the white
value system privileged not only the image of whites but also made sacrosanct their
27 Ntwasa, 110. 28 Hopkins, 30. 29 Steve Biko, “Black Consciousness and the Quest for a True Humanity” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 44. 30Ntwasa, 111.
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vision for the way the world should be. So long as white people dictated the religious
vision of where the future lay, they would also control the structures necessary for
accomplishing such a future. Therefore, black theology was an act of reclaiming both
agency and responsibility for the path of the nation.
White theology possessed a degree of irrelevancy for non-whites in South African
society. Part of the movement to excise Western values from Christianity drew on
indigenous cultural resources to expand the theology of the Church in Africa.
Reclaiming African values and traditions in worship and theology helped people to
question the Europeanization process that theology had previously undergone.
Theologians who concentrated on this reclamation process are classified (by scholar
Dwight Hopkins) as cultural theologians whereas those who focus primarily on opposing
unjust political systems are political theologians.31 I find this distinction useful for
understanding the landscape of black theology in South Africa. The African
Independence Churches did not consider themselves as part of the black theology
movement but their efforts to blend elements of traditional African religion with
Christianity seem completely in agreement with the goals of cultural theologians.
God-talk
South African theologians were very intentional about the words and images that
they used to describe God. Recognizing that the language used to describe God seeps
into the consciousness of the people, theologians urged people to think about the divine
in ways that were empowering and hopeful rather than intimidating.
31 Hopkins, 93-144.
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The black theology movement observed that traditionally, the language used to
describe God was very authoritarian. God is referred to as if God were the master of a
totalitarian system of faith. Such images not only taught submissiveness and obedience,
it also was disturbingly reminiscent of the system of oppression that blacks were already
living under. In examining concepts and images of God in black theology, Sabelo
Ntwasa and Basil Moore wrote, “In this situation the Western images of God’s absolute
authority, power and knowledge are too distressingly familiar for comfort....The old
images of God as ‘person’, ‘over’ or ‘beyond’ us, will no longer do”.32 Using metaphors
for God that emphasize ‘power over’ rather than ‘power with’ does not speak to the heart
of the situation of an oppressed people. Words like “Master”, “King” or “Ruler” are too
authoritarian and reduce the role of people to that of “slave”, “servant” or “child”.33 For
a people whose dignity and worth was already questioned or impugned by the
government, this language only reinforced the hierarchy of submission.
One of the problems with images of God that stress authority is that it placed God
in the position of super-oppressor. If I am oppressed and my oppressor rules over me and
God rules over my oppressor, then, in a sense, God is the super-oppressor. As such, God
is oppressing me and expecting worship from me at the same time. Theologically, this is
an untenable vision of God. Albert Nolan notes, “This God has been made in the image
and likeness of the kings and emperors of Europe. This God may indeed be similar to the
32 Sabelo Ntwasa and Basil Moore. “The Concept of God in Black Theology” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 24, 26. 33 Mokgethi Motlhabi, “Black Theology and Authority” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973).
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God who was made in the image and likeness of King Solomon, but it is not Yahweh, the
God of the Hebrew slaves or the Father of Jesus or the Crucified One”.34
If traditional images of God as an authoritarian ruler are to be rejected, what then
should be substituted? Black theologian Mokgethi Motlhabi writes, “In the place of these
authoritarian images we should explore those images which speak of the suffering God
who is identified with the oppressed in their suffering and who struggles in and with them
to lift the burden of oppression. As such God is neither our servant, to be treated as we
choose, nor our master, to treat us as he chooses, but our comrade and our friend in the
-3 c struggle for freedom”. God must be present with the people - not ruling over them
from a distance. God must be a reflection of the people in the society - the black skinned
mother in Soweto, the brown skinned man in Durban, the coffee colored child in the
Cape Malay district. The people of South Africa do not need a white God. The people of
South Africa need a God who looks like them and is enmeshed in the fabric of their
society.
In 1988, Albert Nolan posed the question: where is God in South Africa today? I
find his answer to his own question beautiful and a testament to his solidarity as a white
person with the people of South Africa.
God can be heard in the crying of the children in detention. God speaks through the mouth of a person whose face has been disfigured by a policeman’s boot. It is not their innocence, their holiness, their virtue, their religious perfection that make them look like God. It is their suffering, their oppression, the fact that they have been sinned against.
It may seem strange that I would choose to quote a white man in attempting to write
about the changing images of God in South African society. However, I argue that it was
34 Nolan, 191. 35 Motlhabi, 127.
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important for the images of God to change in all sectors of society - not just for the non
white people. Encouraging the whites of the country to see God in the people suffering
under apartheid was just as important as it was for the non-whites.
Another effort to change the image of God in society was based upon the
presumption that God was too complex to be described in human terms. Theologians who
supported this line of thinking advocated the use of more ambiguous qualities to portray
the divine. This led to such images as God as liberation, God as community, God as
relationship or God as freedom. Sabelo Ntwasa and Basil Moore create a stirring
example of this sort of vision: “God is the freedom fleetingly and incompletely known in
our own experience. But God is also the freedom beyond anything we have yet known,
the freedom that calls us out of our chains of oppression into a wholeness of life. God is
this wholeness which exists in the spaces between people when their dignity and worth is
mutually affirmed in love, truth, honesty, justice and caring warmth”.36
You are not God
One of the prevalent themes of anti-apartheid theology was that victory was
certain. Such theology emphasized that the power of God was so overwhelming that any
government, no matter how powerful, could not outlast God. God’s omnipotence
promised that victory was certain even if the day of victory was unknown. Such a
theological position did not minimize the suffering of the people in the present but
pledged that a brighter future was not only possible, but inevitable.
Desmond Tutu was particularly fond of reminding the South African government
that their power was limited and their rule was finite. “We try to tell oppressors
36 Ntwasa and Moore, 27.
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everywhere, ‘You are not God! You are just an ordinary human being. Maybe you have
- i n got a lot of power now. Aha, but watch it! Watch it!’”. In a situation in which the
government declared that they had a divine mandate and claimed to speak for God, this
reprimand from Tutu was prophetic.
Tutu’s consistent reminders that the government was not God gave hope to people
who were suffering and felt that the cause might be hopeless. At the same time, he did
not equate his own role in the struggle with the divine either. Just as he reminded the
government of their human-ness and finite quality, he was also well aware that he too
was human and finite: “God’s purposes are certain. They may remove a Tutu, they may
remove the South African Council of Churches, but God’s intention to establish his
Kingdom of justice, of love, of compassion, will not be thwarted. We are not scared,
certainly not of the government, or any other perpetrators of injustice and oppression, for
victory is ours through him how loved us”.38
The black theology movement in South Africa called attention to the inherent
transitory nature of the South African government by emphasizing God’s unchanging
compassion towards and commitment to shepherding the people towards wholeness and
freedom. Black theologians noted that this was a distinct theological departure from the
way that other theological traditions had conceived of God’s work in the world. James
Cone wrote, “To see the revelation of God is to see theaction of God in the historical
affairs of man. God is not uninvolved in human history, as in the Greek philosophical
37 Tutu, Rainbow People of God 165. 38 Tutu, Rainbow People of God 78.
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tradition. The opposite is true: he is participating in human history, moving in the
direction of man’s salvation which is the goal of divine activity”.39
Theological Training
In order to properly understand the role of theology in apartheid South Africa, it is
necessary to understand the way that theologians and pastors were trained. There was a
wide disparity between the training of white and black religious leaders. Seminaries
tended to focus on purely doctrinal thought and Biblical scholarship while the context of
South Africa was scarcely addressed.
The seminaries, like so much else in apartheid South Africa, were segregated by
race. Black seminarians and theologians were schooled in primarily white religious
thought by predominantly white staff at a black seminary. While the staff were often
academically competent, they had no existential knowledge of the lived black experience
in South Africa.40 Consequently, they could not and did not tailor their teaching to meet
the needs of black South Africans who desperately needed realistic guidelines and
suggestions about how to minister to an oppressed people. Clergy exited the seminaries
feeling almost irrelevant and unable to translate their education into relevant and
empowering action.
The dominating hierarchy of race in the seminary seemed to further indoctrinate
the young seminarians into the blending of Western civilization and Christianity (as
previously addressed in this chapter). Furthermore, such a system did not teach the
students to question authority or challenge the powers of the day. Sabelo Ntwasa, in
39 James Cone. “Black Theology and Black Liberation” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 53. 40 Sabelo Ntwasa, “The Training of Black Ministers Today" The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973)
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examining black theological education wrote, “When his (the student’s) pattern of
behavior in the seminary is that of subservience to white authority, it is natural that when
he leaves the seminary he reproduces the same pattern in the parish, himself replacing the
white authority figure, the one who must be listened to and obeyed. Further, because he
has failed to gain clear insight and direction for his ministry at college, he cannot afford
to have his decisions questioned or discussed in the parish; he is too insecure for this”.41
This situation created a hierarchy within black congregations in which the authority of
the clergy was unquestionable. Such an environment did not encourage civic dissent or
questioning of the larger context of oppression within the country.
The rise of black theology as an academic discipline was slow in South Africa.
Many pastors were involved in the Black Consciousness Movement and tried to adapt
their theology to reflect this new awareness. The majority of black pastors during
apartheid were trained in seminaries in which there was no mention of an articulated
black theology.
In 1971, the South African Student Organization (SASO) passed a resolution on
black theology outlining a number of changes that students wished to see in the
seminaries. These included a greater inclusion of black theology as well as black history
in classrooms and an increase in the number of black professors in the classroom.42
White seminarians who were informed and concerned about the socio-political
situation in South Africa were also unhappy with the kind of instruction they received in
their institutions.
41 Ntwasa, 142-143. 42 SASO. “Resolution Number 51”. Taken at the General Students’ Council, 1971. Reprinted in African Perspectives on South Africa.
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In the midst of a sea of mediocre or lacking seminaries, the Federal Theological
Seminary (FEDSEM) in Alice was a bright gem. Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists
and Congregationalists formed FEDSEM in 1961 as an interdenominational seminary for
non-white students. The fact that Indian, colored and black students could mix freely
there made it unusual in the country at the time. Former student Alison Chonco praised,
“.. .the close relationship and mutual trust between the students and staff, the liveliness of
student questioning and debate. The seminary did not breed ‘yes men’. The students were
continually pressed to think for themselves and stand on their own feet”.43 FEDSEM was
a stronghold of both the Black Consciousness Movement as well as SASO. As such, it
was a center of student activism encouraged by members of the staff such as Stanley
Mogoba and Neville Ncube - both activists in their own right.
In his evaluation of theological education in Africa, John de Gruchy wrote the
following: “FEDSEM was also a response to apartheid and especially Bantu Education,
and even though it fit into the segregationist scheme of things, it was a thorn in the flesh
of the apartheid regime. FEDSEM was, in fact, the place where black theology in South
Africa matured and from which it made its impact upon the churches...FEDSEM
increasingly aimed at providing a theological education which was viable for the South
African context. In the process it produced a new generation of black theologians and
ministers of a high quality, some of whom are now in leading positions within church and
society.”44
43 Alison Chonco, The Casspir and the Cross eds. P. Denis, T. Mlotshwa, G. Mukuka. (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 37-38. 44 John De Gmchy, “From the Particular to the Global: Locating our task as theological educators in Africa within the Viability Study Process” Bulletin for Contextual Theology in Southern Africa and Africa. No.3. (October 1996) 20-24.
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The activism that took place at FEDSEM did not go unnoticed or unpunished by
the government. In 1974, the government expropriated FEDSEM’s land, allegedly
because the nearby University of Fort Hare needed room to expand. After several more
moves in the eighties and inner tensions within the seminary, regrettably FEDSEM
closed in 1993.
Imago Dei
The term “imago dei” literally means “image of God”. An important tenet of
Christianity is the idea that all people are made in the image of God - all people are
imago dei. This concept became particularly important during apartheid because it was a
foundation for the concept that all people are fundamentally equal and deserving of the
same rights. For the non-white community who had consistently been told that they were
worthless and garbage, the concept of imago dei affirmed their worth and precious
nature. For the white community, the value in emphasizing imago dei was not
affirmation of their own worth but recognition of the value of others.
The privilege of being created in the image of God was at the core of Desmond
Tutu’s theology. In countless speeches and letters, Tutu emphasizes the glory as well as
the responsibility that comes with people accepting themselves as imago dei. He writes,
“God created us in his image. It was no to animals or spirits that He gave this splendid
privilege.. .Thus our humanity is for ever united with dignity. We are temples of the Holy
Spirit. We are God-carriers and ought to genuflect to one another as we do to the reserved
sacrament in the tabernacle”.45
45 Tutu, Hope and Suffering. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984) 60.
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When the SACC was brought before the Eloff Commission, Tutu made an
impassioned speech vilifying the policies of apartheid and praising diversity and unity.
Imago dei was an important theme that he returned to: “...each human being is God’s
own representative, own viceroy or ambassador. No mention is made of race or
nationality or color. It is the fact of their being created by God that endows them with this
infinite and eternal value...Apartheid exalts a biological quality, which is a total
irrelevancy, to the status of what determines the value, the worth of a human being”.46
Apartheid was the fundamental opposite of imago dei. It emphasized that the
most important aspect of each human was their race identity and the color of their skin.
According to apartheid ideology, people mattered and were valuable in varying degrees
according to their race. Bonganjalo Goba declared that racism was a sin precisely
because it denied a fundamental truth of human creation - by denying that God made all
people, regardless of race, imago dei, racism insults God 47
Black theologians seized on the concept of imago dei as a way of re-asserting the
beauty and worth of their own skin color. Much like the “black is beautiful” movement
in the United States, imago dei gave blacks an unreserved affirmation of their importance
and dignity. God had not made a mistake in creating non-white people. God had chosen
to make many races of people and they all were created in God’s image. It was not just
white people who reflected God’s image - it was everyone. No one could be created in
the image of God unless everyone was. Ananias Mpunzi sums this up most beautifully
when he writes:
46 Tutu, Rainbow People of God 60, 64. 47 Hopkins, 127.
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My humanity includes my thinness, my fatness, my shortness, my tallness, my big nose, my small ears, my blackness or my whiteness. I am not a person despite my big nose. I am a person because the big nose, the small ears, the thin frame and the blackness are mine. Without the totality that is me, I am not me! Therefore, in affirming my humanity I must affirm everything that is me. I must affirm my blackness. God must also affirm it, otherwise he could not know me or have any dealings with me and my blackness would exclude me from him.48
One of the implications of being created in the image of God is that humans also
have responsibilities to God. If humans are fragments of God’s image on earth then they
must behave in ways that honor this role. Archbishop Hurley told me that it was this
responsibility that he felt required him to become active in the anti-apartheid struggle.
“People are created in the image of God. Once you believe that, you can’t keep quiet.
You MUST speak out. Religion must promote justice. It becomes part of your being. You
wouldn’t be true to yourself if you kept silent.”49
Seeing humanity as God’s partners in the work of creation meant that one could
not passively wait for God to enact change. Being a fellow worker with God entailed
taking responsibility for pushing creation towards social justice and equality for all
people. Even those most oppressed in society were imago dei and therefore also
responsible for helping to mend the brokenness among them. Theologian Albert Nolan
wrote, “The good news is not supposed to bring hope to the poor and challenge to the
rich. It is supposed to bring hope and challenge to everyone...It is the poor and the
oppressed who are being challenged to take up their own cause as the cause of God”.50
Dr. Nico Smith drew upon the concept of imago dei in trying to sensitize whites
to the plight of non-whites in South Africa. One of my favorite examples of this was
48 Ananias Mpunzi, “Black Theology as Liberation Theology” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 136-137. 49 Archbishop Denis Hurley. Interview by Emily Welty. March 17, 2001. 50 Nolan, 196.
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when Smith was giving a speech at a prayer breakfast about sensitivity to other human
beings and racial equality and had someone argue with him after the speech. The story in
Dr. Smith’s own words is as follows:
He stood up and said, ‘Professor Smith, in spite of what you have said, I must tell you that I have a daughter and I have told her that she may marry whomever she wants but she must never come and tell me that she wants to marry a black man because I think it is against God’s will. God created us differently and we must stay that way’. So I said to him, ‘Sir, I don’t know you but I think that you must be a believer in God. Otherwise you wouldn’t be attending a prayer breakfast and if you are a believer in God than I also think you must pray sometimes/ Now I want to tell you that the next time you pray, I want you to tell God straight in his face - ‘God, I don’t like your black image and I think you made a mistake by making a black image of yourself.’ Tell that to God’”.51
Die bvbel het iou a terrorist gemaak
While Umkhonto we Sizwe armed themselves with guns and explosives to wage
war against the Nationalist government, the theologians and religious leaders were
arming themselves as well - with Bibles. The role of the Bible became revolutionary
during the struggle against apartheid. While for centuries being used as a way to
domesticate indigenous people, the Bible was a path to liberation during apartheid.
When Frank Chikane requested a Bible from a guard in jail, his request was
denied and he was told, “Die bybel het jou a terrorist gemaak”. (The Bible has turned you
into a terrorist.”52 Itumeleng Mosala, president of AZAPO, described the Bible as “a
powerful weapon in our struggle. It is a text with a complexity of practices, struggles and
ideological experiences which continually reproduces the stuff of humanity. It is a
powerful cultural weapon - and there is no law against carrying it!”53
51 Dr. Nico Smith, Interview by Emily Welty. April 10, 2001. 52 Frank Chikane, interview by Charles Villa-Vicencio Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 63. 53 Mosala, 217.
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Lebamang Sebidi’s experience might indicate otherwise. He carried a Bible when
he marched with Protestant clergy to John Vorster Square and was charged under the
Riotous Assemblies Act - he commented, “Bibles are riotous here!”54 The fact that the
government became wary of Bibles (a clear symbol of religious piety) is a testament to
the strength and influence of religion in working against apartheid. Had religion posed
no threat to the government, such actions would not have been taken. Tutu noted, “The
Bible is the most revolutionary, radical book there is. If a book had to be banned by those
who rule unjustly and as tyrants, then it ought to have been the Bible. Whites brought us
the Bible and we are taking it seriously”.55
The Power of Reclaiming
Theologians engaged in the struggle against apartheid had to contend with the fact
that particular Biblical passages or traditions had been heavily drawn upon by Afrikaner
theologians. These passages needed special attention from those opposing apartheid in
order to reclaim them. In this section, I will address two of the stories most often used by
those who had justified apartheid - the Tower of Babel and the Exodus - and discuss how
anti-apartheid theologians reclaimed them.
Afrikaner theologians had used the story of the Tower of Babel to explain the
necessity of keeping races and peoples separate. This story, they claimed, proved that
God’s intention for the world was one of separation. Desmond Tutu was particularly
offended by this use of this passage. He pointed out that all of passages in Genesis
leading up to this event emphasize fellowship and community between all humans. The
54 Lebamang Sebidi, qtd. in The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation. Marjorie Hope and James Young, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983) 164. 55 Tutu, Rainbow People of God 72.
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purpose then of the Babel story is to show the consequences of sin, not to suggest that
separateness is God’s purpose. Tutu argues that the separation of people after Babel is
meant to be temporary and that people are supposed to seek reconciliation to heal the
divisions:
“...the Genesis stories culminate in the shattering story of the Tower of Babel where human community and fellowship become impossible - human beings can no longer communicate with one another because God has confused their languages and people are tom apart. That is the ultimate consequence, according to the Bible, of sin - separation, alienation, apartness. It is a perverse exegesis that would hold that the story of the Tower of Babel is a justification for racial separation”.56
I find it fascinating that neither group of theologians disagreed upon the circumstances or
details of the story of Babel. The only thing difference is in their interpretations of what
God’s purpose was in dividing the people and in how permanent the separation was
meant to be. The Afrikaners saw it as a lasting division while the anti-apartheid
theologians saw it is a temporary separation that would later be rectified.
These differences in interpretation also hold true for the story of the Exodus. The
Afrikaner nation related the experience of the Great Trek to the exodus of the Israelites
out of Egypt. In this story, they heard echoes of their own sense of special duty and
privilege in the world. Those who struggled against apartheid heard the very same story
with different themes. For anti-apartheid theologians, the story of the Exodus was a story
that promised liberation of enslaved people. The Exodus story for this group embodies
God’s promise to actively engage and care for people who suffer. God does not just
listen to the cries of those who suffer; God acts throughout history to relieve their
suffering.
56 Tutu, Rainbow People of God 61.
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In his book, Hope and Suffering. Tutu devotes an entire chapter to reclaiming the
story of the Exodus. For him, one of the most important points in the story is that it
merges spiritual and material liberation. He writes:
It was a thoroughly political act by which God was first made known to the Israelites. Nothing could be more political than helping a group of slaves to escape from their bondage. For the Israelite, therefore, the liberation of Exodus was not just a spiritual or mystical experience. It was highly materialistic and had to do with being protected from an enemy in pursuit, being fed when hungry, being provided with water to quench their thirst.57
The Afrikaner interpretation of this text spiritualized the suffering and the experience of
the Exodus. They claimed to have experienced a parallel experience but their experience
of chosen-ness was purely spiritual. While the Voortrekkers may have experienced
elements of actual hunger or thirst, it does not compare to the actual suffering of non
whites under the apartheid system. Tutu’s appreciation of the Exodus text comes from
the fact that he believes the text speaks directly to material suffering and God’s promise
of liberation for those who suffer.
Theological Documents and Turning Points:
The Cottesloe Consultation
Two declarations, like bookends, bracketed the Church’s most active periods of
resistance against apartheid - the Cottesloe Declaration in 1960 and the Rustenburg
Declaration in 1990. The Cottesloe Declaration was the first official ecumenical
statement against apartheid. It was the product of the Cottesloe Consultation which took
place at a residence hall (named Cottesloe) at the University of Witswatersrand. The
event was sponsored by the World Council of Churches which invited eight South
African churches to send ten delegates each. What the delegates could not have known at
57 Tutu, Hope and Suffering. 55.
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the time was that this was to be the last time that representatives from the DRC and other
mainline churches officially met for thirty years.
The purpose of Cottesloe was to examine the policies and practice of apartheid in
light of Christian scripture. This was considered an urgent task in light of the Sharpeville
massacre which had occurred a few months earlier. Many regarded the statement
produced at Cottesloe as too mild and weak while for others it was revolutionary. The
statement concluded that all people of South Africa had a right to participate fully in the
country and should be regarded as full citizens. It recognized that the wages received by
the non-white majority of the country were below what was needed for survival and that
everyone should have the right to own land and participate in government.58
Additionally, it was decided that there were no scriptural grounds for banning mixed
marriages although such marriages were not in the best interest of those involved.
Status Confessionis and Heresy
Status confessionis is a term used to describe a situation in the world in which the
very truth and heart of the gospel is at stake. For churches this is a most serious claim and
has been used very sparingly throughout history. Before theologians in South Africa
began raising the question of status confessionis with regards to apartheid, the term had
not been used since the Holocaust. As defined in the Ottawa resolution, status
confessionis for the Reformed tradition meant “we regard this as an issue on which it is
58 Johann Kinghom, “Modernization and Apartheid” Christianity in South Africa: a political, social and church history eds. Richard Elphick and Rodney Davenport (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) 148-149.
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not possible to differ without seriously jeopardizing the integrity of our common
confession”.59
Dietrich Bonhoeffer used status confessionis in 1933 with regards to the Nazi
oppression of the Jews in the Aryan Paragraph that excluded Jews from the church,
ministry and holding positions as civil servants.60 It was in the writings of Bonhoeffer
that status confessionis became more widely known as a theological concept. He wrote,
“Not to act and not to take a stand, simply for fear of making a mistake, when others have
to make infinitely more difficult decisions every day, seems to me to be almost a
contradiction of love.”61
Bonhoeffer believed that if the Church of the day sought to bar Jews, they would
be fundamentally violating the teachings of the gospel. In 1934, a group of Lutheran,
Reformed and United Churches gathered and authored the Barmen Declaration which
rejected the Aryan Paragraph and any attempt of the Nazi regime to influence the
teachings or practice of the church.62 This group started what came to be known as the
confessing church movement. The primary idea behind this movement was that the
Church could not be compromised by a popular political ideology. The teachings of
Bonhoeffer, the Barmen Declaration and the confessing church movement became
important role models for South African Christians struggling against apartheid.
59 Ottawa Declaration, Proceedings of the 21st General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Chinches. 1982. 60 Karel Blei, “Apartheid as Status Confessionis” Studies from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches Volume 25 (1994) 5. 61 Allan Boesak, “He Made Us All, But...” Apartheid is a Heresy Eds. John de Gruchy and Charles Villa- Vicencio (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983) 8-9. 62 Allister Sparks. The Mind of South Africa (London: Mandarin Press, 1990) 282.
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Following in the footsteps of their forefather, Bonhoeffer (also a Lutheran), the
Lutheran World Federation met in 1977 and declared that the situation in South Africa
constituted a status confessionis.63 The statement on confessional integrity written at this
meeting clearly stated:
...political and social systems may become so perverted and oppressive that it is consistent with the confession to reject them and to work for changes. We especially appeal to our white member churches in southern Africa to recognize that the situation in southern Africa constitutes a status confessionis. This means that, on the basis of faith and in order to manifest the unity of the church, churches would publicly and unequivocally reject the existing apartheid system.64
In 1982, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) declared that the
theological justification of apartheid was heresy and that the practice of apartheid
constituted status confessionis. (It is no coincidence that at this gathering, black
theologian and Reformed minister Allan Boesak was elected to the presidency of the
WARC.) This declaration, known as the Ottawa Declaration, shook the DRC to its core.
Beyond just condemning the practices of the NGK and NHK, WARC went a step further
and suspended the membership of both churches. The WARC also went beyond what the
Lutheran World Fellowship had stated and declared that apartheid should be
characterized as a pseudo-religious ideology as well as a faulty political policy.65 The
Ottawa statement directly called apartheid a theological heresy thereby emphasizing that
it was an issue of religion and faith, not merely an adverse set of political strategies.
63 Marjorie Hope and James Young. The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983) 140-141. 64 Lutheran World Federation, In Christ - a new community. The proceedings of the Sixth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation. (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1977) 179-180. 65 Lodberg, 5.
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The Belhar Confession
Coming directly on the heels of the WARC declaration, the synod of the
Sendingkerk (the DRC daughter church for colored people) issued the Belhar Confession.
This Confession declared the Church’s “conviction that the policy of apartheid and/or
separate development, as implemented by the authorities, is in conflict with the
Gospel”.66 One of the primary emphases in the document is the concept of unity as both
a gift and an obligation of the Christian faith. Any attempt to disturb unity or separate
people from one another is therefore a sin. One of the most potent claims of the Belhar
Confession is that the DRC’s support of apartheid undermined the entire Christian faith
stating that “the credibility of this (Christian) message is seriously affected and its
beneficial work obstructed when it is proclaimed in a land which professes to be
Christian, but in which the enforced separation of people on a racial basis promotes and
perpetuates alienation, hatred and enmity.”67 A letter from the Belhar theologians
confessing their own sense of guilt and joint responsibility for the policies of apartheid
accompanied the official document. Echoing the sentiments of the Ottawa Declaration,
they stated that they felt compelled to make this confession since the very essence of the
Gospel message was at stake in South Africa. The Belhar Confession was adopted as the
fourth article of faith for the Sendingkerk Church.68
The DRC responds
The leadership and membership of the DRC were shocked by their suspension
from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the accusations of the Belhar
66 Belhar Confession. 67 Belhar Confession. 68 Piet Meiring, “The Confession of Belhar” Theological Forum Volume 19, Number 1 (March 1991) 2.
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Confession. Nonetheless, no direct action was taken to rectify the practice of apartheid.
Instead, a study was undertaken of the theological significance of apartheid and the
document “Church and Society” was issued.
Even as late as 1990, the repercussions of the Ottawa Statement and Belhar were
still being discussed. At the 1990 Bloemfontein synod of the DRC, the Synod continued
to issue statements about the impact of the two documents on the Church. Belhar was
described as not being in conflict with the previous three articles of faith in the DRC
church although still did not embrace the Confession itself. The Synod emphasized its
preference for the Church and Society document over the Belhar Confession but urged
that both should be considered as a basis for further discussions in the Church.69
Relevance of Documents
In the years following the end of apartheid, there has been debate concerning the
actual impact of documents such as the Ottawa Statement, the Belhar Confession, and the
Kairos Document. Many political scientists dismissed such statements as irrelevant and
claim that they had little to no impact on the struggle against apartheid. I would strongly
disagree. While such statements did not have the same weight as a governmental
mandate would, they were effective at reaching and influencing thousands of people. In
any society, religious institutions hold sway with the people but in South Africa this was
even truer than in most places. South Africa had been under the influence of theocratic
movements and forms of government since the first arrival of Europeans in 1652. As
demonstrated in the previous chapter, religious institutions had been instrumental in the
development as well as the implementation of apartheid. In this religiously charged
69 Meiring, 1-3.
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society, statements by theologians or by particular religious organizations were highly
powerful and significant for the general public.
Albert Nolan’s assessment of such declarations and statements is that they were
useful because they kept the religious struggle against apartheid under the public eye:
“There were very few South African Christians who didn’t know that there were
statements like that coming out. It was important just to know that the churches were
saying something and were opposed to the apartheid government...The most important
thing was just to know that there were Christians saying something...It was in the
newspapers and that’s what people read about. They heard that Christians were criticizing
the apartheid government.”70
Rustenburg
In 1990, a group of delegates from all the major Christian denominations in South
Africa gathered in Rustenburg, a small town in the Transvaal, in order to reflect on their
role during the apartheid years and to plan their part in the reconciliation process. The
gathering was officially known as the National Conference of Church Leaders in South
Africa but has come to be known as the Rustenburg conference. The conference was
convened by the SACC and included 230 representatives from 80 denominations and 40
church associations (such as Diakonia, PACSA, ICT, etc.). The gathering was historic in
that it brought together denominations that had both supported as well as opposed
apartheid. The Rustenburg conference was the most inclusive gathering of Church
leaders in South Africa’s history.
70 Albert Nolan, Interview by Emily Welty, December 28, 2004.
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One of the most memorable moments at Rustenburg came when DRC theologian
Willie Jonker electrified the delegates by confessing guilt over the policy and practice of
apartheid. In his speech he said:
I confess before you and before the Lord, not only my own sin and guilt, and the personal responsibility for the political, social, economical and structural wrongs that have been done to many of you...but vicariously I dare also to do that in the name of the DRC of which I am a member, and for the Afrikaans people as a whole.71
While many delegates welcomed and applauded this courageous speech, others were
dubious of the ability of one man to adequately confess on behalf of a church. Desmond
Tutu spoke immediately after Jonker and publicly forgave him. This created a stir among
the conference participants as many felt that Tutu had claimed to speak on their behalf.
Tutu spoke again the following day and admitted that he had no authority to
forgive Jonker on behalf of any church body but had been speaking as an individual: “I
heard people say that I had no mandate in a sense to have accepted a confession on behalf
of anybody except myself and I believe that it is right for people to say so. It is the height
of presumption for me to have suggested that I was speaking on behalf of anybody.... I
cannot, when someone says ‘Forgive me,’ say, ‘I do not.’”72
The declaration produced at Rustenburg broadly outlined a reflection of South
Africa’s past as well as a vision for the country’s future. The document begins by
describing the context out of which the conference was bom - that is, making clear that
the leaders are gathering in a time of transition and on the threshold of new things. The
leaders express hope that religious people can be instrumental in creating a brighter, more
71 June Goodwin and Ben Schiff. Heart of Whiteness: Afrikaners face black rule in the new South Africa (New York: Scribner, 1995) 408. 72 Tutu, Rainbow People of God 223, 224.
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liberated nation. However, in order to do this, the leaders believe that it is necessary for
them to confess their complicity in apartheid.
Therefore, the next section of the document is a confession. While
acknowledging that there are other sins besides apartheid, the leaders concentrate on the
role the Church played in supporting apartheid by misuse of the Bible, spiritualizing or
neutralizing the message of the Gospel or condemning apartheid but failing to adequately
resist it. The victims of apartheid are remembered with honor and sadness. The role of
colonialism is highlighted as problematic in sowing the seeds of the system by allowing
some to benefit from the cruelty of apartheid. Dual sins of sexism and preventing youth
from full participation in the life of the church are acknowledged. For all of these sins
against the people of South Africa, the church leaders ask for forgiveness and encourage
members of the churches to do the same.
The third section of the document is a declaration of the work still to be done in
the country. The Church is called upon to end structures of apartheid and discrimination
within its structures such as disparities in clergy salary. Government is also called upon
to repeal all apartheid laws, release political prisoners and return confiscated property to
banned organizations.
The fourth section of the Rustenburg Declaration is an affirmation of what is
needed in South Africa. The centrality of justice is emphasized as well as the separation
of Church and State. A list of the biblical and ethical values that the church leaders
would like to see in the new Constitution is given. This list emphasizes the need for a bill
of rights, a multiparty democracy and universal suffrage. The causes of violence are
named as well as how the people should respond to such violence.
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The final section of the document addresses restitution. This section is the most
concrete in its recommendations. Among the actions that the leaders wanted to see are: a
re-examination of issues of church and land ownership, a National Day of Prayer, a
review of private church school policies and further study material on the declaration
itself.
The Rustenburg Declaration is striking for a number of reasons. First, there is no
distinction made between churches like the DRC that supported apartheid and churches
like the CPSA that resisted it. The confession section is not specific to one particular
group or the other. Instead the unity of the Church is stressed by only using the language
of “we” or “us” rather than naming particular parties who engaged in particular actions.
The declaration does not say ‘the DRC misused the Bible’ and ‘the Presbyterians failed to
act’. Instead the language is broad and simply says, for example, “some of us ignored
apartheid’s evil”.
The Rustenburg Declaration is also unique among the declarations made by
individual churches or organizations in that its scope is so broad. Rather than addressing
purely theological issues or social issues, it addresses both. Many of its
recommendations are practical and specific, naming particular pieces of apartheid
legislation that must be revoked and calling on the Church to re-examine certain policies.
Such specificity in the Declaration has made it easier to evaluate its effectiveness
in retrospect. Typically, reflections on Rustenburg have voiced disappointment that
many commitments were unevenly implemented or not aggressively addressed after the
conference ended. However, I would argue that because the Declaration was so specific,
there was a higher degree of accountability expected of it. The implementations of more
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generalized declarations could not be directly assessed. For example, it is much more
difficult to determine whether Christians are “obeying God rather than men” (as the
Message to the People of South Africa directs) or to what degree the Church is taking the
side of the poor and oppressed (as the Kairos Document commands). Therefore, I believe
the results of Rustenburg should not be harshly evaluated.
After Rustenburg, an attempt was made to publicize the Declaration in local
parishes and churches. Small delegations were also sent to prominent politicians (such as
Buthelezi, de Klerk, etc.) to share the Declaration and encourage implementation of it at
the highest levels of governance.
Embodied Theology: the Institute for Contextual Theology
In terms of organizations, one of the best and most effective actors using theology
against apartheid was the Institute for Contextual Theology (ICT). A group of
theologians launched the ICT for the purposes of going beyond academic theology in
order to create a theology that was intimately connected to the realities and context of
every day life in South Africa. The original founders and members of the ICT included
theologians such as: Cedric Mayson (first acting director), Frank Chikane, Albert Nolan,
Simon Maimela, Bonganjalo Goba, Allan Boesak, James Cochrane and Beyers Naude.73
The fledgling ICT drew members from both the black theology movement as well as the
banned Christian Institute.
The goals of the new organization were to bring theology out of the university and
academic settings and situate it among those most affected by apartheid. Originally the
73 Larry Kaufmann, “Good News to the Poor: the impact of Albert Nolan on Contextual Theology in South Africa” Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology eds. McGlory Speckman and Larry Kaufmann (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 20, 26.
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ICT was to be based at Cape Town University but this was decided against since it
framed the work in an academic context which was exactly what ICT members wanted to
avoid. The goal was to create a people’s theology that was independent and empowered
all people to be involved in the practice of theology.
Advancing the practice of contextual theology was crucial and at the heart of
ICT’s purpose. In the proceedings of the first conference of the ICT, Bonganjalo Goba
laid out the mission in this way:
We want to develop a people’s theology project....We must involve ourselves with
people’s movements that are struggling with liberation. We must work with ministers,
student groups, etc. We want all our workshops to be issue-oriented. We hope the
Institute will promote analysis in local groups by means of publications and workshops.
We will need the help of social scientists, economists and other experts. There is a crisis
in South Africa, a crisis in the churches. We hope to respond to this crisis.74
The ICT went beyond just addressing the crisis in South Africa from a political angle; the
unique perspectives and problems of women and the poor were also taken into account.
The naming of the ICT was strategic in many ways. ICT members had learned
from the experience of the Christian Institute that the South African government would
be quick to ban any organization that it suspected of doing political work. Choosing to
call it an institute rather than an organization was tactical and conveyed that the goals of
the group were theological reflection and research rather than political organizing.75 Also
the initials ICT contained an inversion of the initials of the Christian Institute (Cl) which
was a subtle tribute to the work of that banned organization.
74 Minutes of the 1982 Conference of the Institute for Contextual Theology, Hammarskraal. 75 James Cochrane, “Questioning Contextual Theology” Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 69.
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The biggest achievement of the ICT was the writing and publication of the Kairos
document. While Kairos was not officially listed as a publication of the ICT, all of its
primary authors were members and much of the work was done under the auspices and
funding of the ICT. It was important for Kairos not to be officially associated with the
ICT because it would have endangered the institute by putting it at much higher risk of
banning. Nonetheless, the ICT was for the most part responsible for Kairos, arguably the
most important theological document of the anti-apartheid struggle.
At the heart of ICT’s work was meeting with groups of people from all different
walks of life in South Africa and doing theology together. The form this most often took
was a Bible study. The groups would discuss the relevance of Christianity for their lives,
the way the Bible spoke (or failed to speak) to their day-to-day lives and the importance
of religion in the struggle against apartheid. The second major vein of ICT’s work was
publishing booklets and articles about the revelations coming out of the group work and
what the implications might be for South Africa.
No discussion of contextual theology and the ICT is complete without a word
about Albert Nolan who was the central leader of both the contextual theology movement
and the ICT for many years. Nolan began as a board member of the ICT but later joined
its staff. Throughout his tenure with the ICT and later as the editor of Challenge
magazine, Nolan popularized the idea of contextual theology. He published two major
books Jesus Before Christianity and God in South Africa that were major contributions to
the development of thought concerning contextual theology. Nolan is a member of the
Dominican Order and did his theological training in Stellenbosch and Rome, earning a
doctorate in theology. One of the most remarkable things about him is that even after the
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close of ICT and his retirement as editor of Challenge, he has continued to practice and
develop contextual theology. Currently, he is the process of writing another book, this
one addressing the need to do contextual theology that takes the state of the environment
and the natural world into account.
When asked to reflect on the unique contribution of the ICT to the struggle
against apartheid, Nolan summarizes his work with the ICT in this way: “We were
theologizing about a situation of oppression where some were oppressors and some were
oppressed. One of the very important things that we emphasized was that it was not a
theology of blaming people. It was not a theology that blamed whites or that even blamed
the Nationalist party.. .what we did blame was the system. The enemy was not whites or
Afrikaners or Verwoerd - the enemy was apartheid.” 76
The Institute of Contextual Theology illustrates many of the key theological
themes that were drawn upon by activists. The theological voices speaking out against the
government’s apartheid system drew upon coherent, strong theological trends such as
black theology and liberation theology to further their case against the oppression in the
country. By using traditional concepts like imago dei, status confessionis, and images of
God, the inherently religiously backed and justified apartheid system was addressed from
another religious point of view. This widened the discourse and did not simply resign
religion to the role of supporting apartheid. Through the sorts of theology addressed in
this chapter, religion was re-claimed as a tool for defeating oppression rather than
supporting it.
76 Albert Nolan, Interview by Emily Welty, December 28, 2004.
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The political situation of a nation and the responsibilities of any worker in a
people-centered industry are intimately related. Perhaps nowhere is this truer than for
religious leaders. As clergy strive to nurture the spiritual lives of their oppressed
congregants, they find that even the most routine aspects of their jobs change. In addition
to using theology to formulate and support resistance to apartheid, clergy were also able
to use the everyday responsibilities of their jobs as an avenue to support the resistance
movement. Their role as administrators of life’s many changes -such as marriage and
death - take on a new meaning in a highly politicized and volatile environment. In this
chapter, I explore the ways in which the pastoral roles of clergy changed in response to
the socio-political environment and the impact this had on the struggle against apartheid.
Apartheid in Church Structures
Even as churches outwardly struggled against apartheid in the South African
society, structures of inequality and separation existed within the Church itself. In some
traditions, there were separate churches for each of the races, while in other churches,
apartheid appeared in the difference in salaries between white and non-white pastors.
The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) had separate churches for non-whites which
they called “daughter churches”. The Apostolic Faith Mission was divided into four
sections (White, African, Colored and Indian). Separation was also enacted in the
Lutheran denomination. However, even in churches that did not specifically have
different church assemblies for each race group, separation still occurred. Methodist 102
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minister Alison Chonco acknowledged, “During those times there was a clean divide
between blacks and whites. The black Methodists could not worship comfortably with
the whites in town. The master-servant attitude permeated the relations”.1 The white
church did not have the desire to unite and the black church did not have the political
power to do so.
This separation was often ignored or justified by a number of excuses claiming
that logistics rather than desire for separate structures were the reason behind the
division. “Joint services were never done. There were a couple of excuses to this. First
of those was the language problem. Which language was going to be used during the
service: Zulu or English? Another excuse was that in those days the whites needed
permission to enter the townships. But these could have been overcome. The blacks
needed no permission to go to town. There was no reason whatsoever why these services
could not have been organized”.2
In churches like the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, stipends were markedly
different for black and white clergy. Methodist minister Themba Zwane reported that
“The ministers received their stipends according to race. The white ministers received 42
pounds per quarter while their black counterparts got 7 pounds”.3
The separation of races in churches took its most concrete form in the Church
Clause of 1957. This clause was an addition to the Native Laws Amendment bill and
forbid blacks from attending churches in white communities. The Christian Council and
1 Alison Chonco, The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 33. 2 Lymon Dlangalala, The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 35. 3 Themba Zwane, The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 40.
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the Anglican Bishops conference denounced the Church Clause. Anglican Archbishop of
Cape Town, Geoffrey Clayton wrote a letter to Prime Minister Strijon declaring, “The
Church cannot recognize the right of an official of the secular government to determine
whether or where a member of the Church of any race shall discharge his religious
duty”.4
Struggles to Integrate
Presbyterian pastor Rob Robertson left his first church assignment in East London
to form a racially integrated church. He says he wanted, “to demonstrate that you don’t
need to be separated, that it’s a myth that the whites will get tuberculosis and there will
be immorality cases in the courts and that people can’t understand one another because of
the language and all the stories that people made as excuses”.5 The Presbyterian
Assembly financially supported this vision and helped him to form the Northend
Presbyterian Church. There were approximately 37 members who were brave enough to
overcome their fears and gather week after week.
Initially, people were reluctant to come because they were afraid of violating the
Church Clause and being arrested. However, Robertson demonstrated to them that they
could remain within the bounds of the law despite the fact that Northend (a suburb of
East London) was a white area. “Apartheid was a fraud. It wasn’t genuine so the laws
were full of loopholes and you just had to find the loophole and exist in the loophole.
There was no law against it (meeting together). The law that people tried to talk about
was called the Church Clause and all it said was that black churches, churches that were
4 Ambrose Reeves, “State and Church in South Africa” Notes and Documents Number 9/72, (March 1972) 3. 5 Rob Robertson, Interview by Emily Welty, January 13, 2005.
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run by blacks could not meet in white group areas. That was all it was. Northend was
declared a white area but the point was that we were not a black congregation”.6 This
loophole allowed the church to celebrate and worship together for nine years before they
decided to disband and join other congregations in an effort to continue the integration of
churches.
Others resisted church segregation in more subtle ways. Reverend Fred Von
Fintel of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Durban simply disregarded the apartheid
structures within the church. He continued to run an integrated church in spite of laws to
the contrary. Part of his success was in his strategy of keeping a low profile. He said, “I
never went to the press to announce our integration and I never challenged the
government openly. I simply refused to obey the apartheid laws”.7 Von Fintel
characterizes his own actions as “servant leadership” - a way of leading by example
without condemning people in power.
In the 1960s, Archbishop Denis Hurley took an active role in trying to integrate
the Catholic Church by assigning non-white priests to serve in white parishes. Father
Albert Danker was one of first vanguard priests whom Hurley sent. Danker was assigned
to serve the predominately white Afrikaner Assumption parish in Durban. Danker
remembers that the parish protested his assignment initially, claiming that he did not have
enough experience. This claim was only a cover for their deeper alarm at the intrusion of
a colored man into their white sanctuary. Danker was undeterred and continued in his
6 Rob Robertson, Interview by Emily Welty, January 13, 2005. 7 Fred Von Fintel, Interview by Emily Welty, February 12, 2001.
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work. He did not try to push the church to integrate too quickly, noting “My strategy was
that by having a good celebration and spirit you can touch the hearts of people”.8
Danker did not openly challenge the congregation’s racism and he did not attempt
to radicalize people in his preaching. At first, the Assumption parish attempted to
capitalize on his color by hoping that he could recommend some “good girls” to serve as
maids in their homes. Rather than challenge these paternalistic and racist requests,
Danker used this as an opportunity to negotiate higher wages for domestic servants
serving congregation members. Danker’s quiet persistence in working in the parish
eventually paid off - when he was assigned to another parish after four years, he and the
congregation both mourned the move. People who had initially protested against his
presence in the parish came and apologized to him.
Father Rod Van Zylen found that even within his integrated Anglican parish in
Dundee, congregants tended to separate themselves by race.9 The apartheid mentality of
the day permeated the church walls and non-whites continued to sit in the back of the
church. Van Zylen openly emphasized that everyone was welcome to sit wherever they
wished but this dynamic remained unchanged. He then realized his position as a white
leader compromised his ability to integrate the worship space. He reached out to the non
white community by appointing several black and colored people to serve as lay leaders
within the church. As the leadership became more integrated, the seating followed suit.
8 Albert Danker, Interview by Emily Welty, March 5, 2001. 9 Rod Van Zylen, Interview by Emily Welty, February 16, 2001.
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Hambe Kahle, Comrade (Go Well. Comrade)
In the explosive atmosphere of struggle against apartheid, funerals for community
members killed by security police became enormous community events. Religious
leaders found themselves at the head of political rallies as they conducted funerals for
fallen comrades. The role of the clergy at such funerals went beyond comforting the
family and saying a few words of praise for the dead. Clergy were expected to ignite the
spirit of the people by celebrating the life of the fallen and issuing a charge to continue
the work of bringing down apartheid. Those who died in the struggle against apartheid
were regarded as martyrs and heroes and their funerals were opportunities to honor their
sacrifice. At the same time, in a society with no outlets for political expression, the
funeral became a space for political rallying as well. Funerals were highly politicized
and often several members of the deceased’s political party delivered long orations,
accolades and challenges to action.
Funerals became a space to publicly commit oneself to the struggle and
acknowledge the possibility of paying with one’s life. As such, they were emotional,
highly charged events which clergy often felt unprepared to handle. In 1985, the
Methodist Church published a pamphlet entitled “Ministry and Resistance: a handbook
for ministers and lay leaders” to prepare clergy to handle the new task that mass funerals
presented. This manual advised, “Deaths during times of resistance are perceived as
deaths for a cause, or as victims of a crisis. If the church wishes to have a ministry, it
will respond with compassion to the wishes of the community in relation to funerals.
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And it will seek to conduct funerals in order to enable the voice of the church to be heard
by all”.10
Steven Biko’s death in 1977 brought international attention to the racism and
tyranny of the white South African government. More than 15,000 people attended his
funeral in King William’s Town. Desmond Tutu was one of the speakers and his address
to the people was a clear demonstration of the potency of a religious leader able to serve
as a political leader as well. Tutu drew on political theology as he attempted to both
encourage the masses of people as well as mourn the loss of a brave leader: “Oh God,
how long can we go on? How long can we go on appealing for a more just ordering of
society where we all, black and white together, count not because of some accident of
birth or a biological irrelevance, where all of us, black and white, count because we are
human persons, persons created in your image....Let us recall, my dear friends, that
nearly two thousand years ago a young man was done to death and hung like a common
criminal on a cross outside a city where they jeered at him and made fun of him”.11
Tutu’s speech created connections between the grief people felt at Biko’s death
and the grief of people living under the apartheid system. By recalling the death and
suffering of Christ, Tutu produced a theological angle on Biko’s work and on the
necessity for the struggle to continue. In the closing moments of the ceremony, Tutu
said, “We weep with Ntsiki (Mrs. Biko) and all of Steve’s family. We weep for
ourselves. But that can’t be the end of the story, because despite all points to the
contrary, God cares. He cares about right and wrong. He cares about oppression and
10 V.G. Nyobole and P.M. Graham, Ministry and Resistance: a handbook for ministers and lav leaders (Durban: Christian Education and Youth Department of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, 1985) 33-34. 11 Desmond Tutu, The Rainbow People of God (New York: Doubleday Books, 1994) 17.
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injustice. He cares about bulldozers and detentions without trial. And so, paradoxically,
we give thanks for the Steve and for his life and death. Because, you see, Steve started
something that is quite unstoppable”.12
After a funeral, the streets often filled with chanting or toyi-toying masses as the
procession moved to the burial site. Coffins draped with ANC flags or ANC colors made
their way through streets filled with singing of freedom songs and inevitablyNkosi
Sikelele Africa (God Bless Africa). This was often the point at which the police
intervened and clashes between the mourners and police frequently turned violent. The
Methodist Church’s publication addressed this dynamic as well and recommended: “Tell
the young people that they must honor the dead by being disciplined and non-violent. Do
not abdicate your responsibility at this point, but travel in front of the coffin. Stop at
strategic points where there could be conflict and watch the procession pass, encouraging
discipline”. 1 Clergy were encouraged to intercede to the best of their ability to convince
the security forces to let the funeral procession continue.
While some clergy members felt exhilarated by the opportunity to play a role in
the funeral as a political event, others expressed frustration with such politicalization of a
private event. Sometimes clergy arrived to perform a funeral, only to find that a political
party dominated the service. Maurice Nkosi of the Reformed Presbyterian Church
recalls, “ft was just like a political party. Like with other similar funerals there was little
time for a decent service. We were invited to conduct the service, but there was no
service. I think the politicians did not need us, but the family of the deceased insisted that
12 Tutu, 20. 13 V.G. Nyobole and P.M. Graham, 35.
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we should conduct the funeral....I remember in one funeral where they (the politicians)
told me to pronounce the benediction only...You often wondered why you were called
during these funerals. It was just a window dressing so that it would appear as if it were a
good thing”.14
Samuel Ndlovu of the Church of the Nazarene tried to reclaim religious control of
the funeral from political parties by telling the parties: “They should not turn the funeral
into a political rally. That we could not accommodate. They should not pronounce
political statements or slogans inside the church or do toyi-toyi dancing. The church is a
house of prayer and worship. The church was dedicated to that and nothing else”.15
Marriage
In a time when any sort of mixed marriages were illegal, the simple act of
marrying an interracial couple was an act of resistance for clergy. In 1949, the Mixed
Marriages Act was passed amid protests from various churches. While some clergy
declined to become marriage officer in protest of the Act, others used their roles as
marriage officers to do work in areas that they would have otherwise been prohibited
from traveling to. An odd loophole in apartheid law declared that even white marriage
officers were to have freedom of movement into areas where whites were forbidden to
go-
Beginning in 1982, the Presbyterian Church, following the leadership of Reverend
Rob Robertson, was the first church to adopt a resolution that called on ministers to
ignore the Act. Catholic priests had been quietly marrying interracial couples before this
14 Maurice Nkosi. The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 84-85. 15 Samuel Ndlovu, The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 69.
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but the Presbyterian Church was the first church to openly defy the law in a public way.
Other churches quickly followed suit and soon clergy of most denominations were legally
marrying interracial couples. In June of 1985, under pressure from several mainline
Christian denominations, the South African Parliament repealed the Mixed Marriages
Act. The repeal of this Act was directly linked to the action of the churches and is one of
the clearest examples of the effects that churches had on government policy during
apartheid.
Preaching against apartheid
One of the most frequent ways that local clergy chose to resist apartheid
was to preach on the subject in their sermons and homilies. Religious leaders
were usually held in high esteem by their congregations and they used this
platform. In the case of leaders serving white congregations, sermons were often
used to raise the consciousness of the people about the plight of those who
suffered under apartheid. Leaders serving non-white congregations used sermons
to reassure people that their struggle would be successful, that God understood
their suffering and that resisting apartheid was not contrary to the will of God.
Pastor Bhekisipho Khulekani Dludla of the Beatrice Street Congregational
Church in Durban remembers passionately attacking the apartheid government in
his sermons. “I constantly tried to proclaim that segregation was wrong and
unchristian. I had members of my church who has low positions in the
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government and I wanted to emphasize that they should exercise non-compliance
in their jobs”.16
Clergy who served a mixed population of Inkatha and ANC supporters
found the task of addressing politics exceedingly difficult. While they felt drawn
to speak out against the violence, they risked their own lives if they offended a
particular political party. One priest explained it this way: “One day I said in a
sermon that God never created aniqabane (ANC comrade) and that he never
created an utheleweni (Inkatha member). In fact I started by saying that God never
created an utheleweni and everybody laughed. Then I said that God never created
an iqabane. There was silence. I said it was just ourselves who created this
animosity amongst ourselves, but we were all children of God.... As a servant of
God, I am for unity and not for division. I made clear my position. Because of that
they said I was sitting on the fence and that I had become an enemy of some of
them.”17
Archbishop Henry was serving a District Six congregation when the
orders came through that the area had been declared white and scheduled to be
cleared of all its current residents. The people were bereft and expected to hear a
message of comfort and assurance in Henry’s sermon.
People were saying “Father what is going to happen to us? Where are we going to go?” The devastation in their hearts about having to be moved was something terrible. The evening of February 11 for us is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and people had a great devotion to Our Lady. They all came to the mass in the evening. I remember introducing the mass and saying “Let’s ask our Blessed Lady to help us and to intercede on our behalf’. There was a lady on the fourth bench, Augustus was her name, and she started to cry. And then I remembered
16 Pastor Bhekisipho Khulekani Dludla, Interview by Emily Welty, December 15, 2000. l7Philippe Denis, Thulani Mlotshwa and George Mukuka eds.The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 82.
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everything that I had experienced that morning going around to people and them asking me what to do. I also reacted and became emotional. I cried - the whole congregation was crying. It was a terrible time. I always think of that as my first real contact with the inhumanity of man and the apartheid scene.18
Archbishop Henry’s reaction of simply feeling what the people were feeling was
more helpful than any words that he could have offered. Sometimes the best
sermons did not require words at all.
Liturgy as Resistance
Beyond speaking out against apartheid to their congregations, some
religious leaders chose to incorporate resistance to apartheid into the heart of their
services in the form of liturgy. This was a more radical decision for churches that
follow a set liturgy from week to week such as the Anglican and Catholic
churches. The liturgy in most mainline Protestant churches consistently changes
each week so it was less of a drastic change for these leaders. Some leaders
sought to modify the liturgy by adding responsive prayers or readings in local
languages such as Zulu or Xhosa or by including African songs. Today such
inclusions are commonplace in South African worship services in most traditions.
However, this is a recent change induced by modifications made during the
struggle against apartheid.
Father Michael Lapsley’s parish increased dramatically in numbers when
he made efforts to modernize the liturgy and make it responsive to the
experiences of his congregation.19 He split the church into different groups and
assigned each group responsibility for leading the service on a given Sunday. The
18 Archbishop Lawrence Henry, Interview by Emily Welty, January 12,2005. 19 Michael Worsnip, Priest and Partisan (Melbourne: Ocean Press, 1996) 119.
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people felt a greater degree of ownership over and engagement in the services. A
youth theatre group was formed and sometimes performed short dramas about
problems in the community instead of having a sermon.
Diakonia founder, Paddy Kearney, is another firm believer in the potential
and gravity that liturgy possesses to stir people. “The liturgy is powerful; it’s
very, very powerful. It’s a kind of theatre. You can get across to people at the gut
level rather than at the intellectual head level through those kinds of images and
symbols.”20
One of the most famous examples of revolutionizing liturgy took place in
Sebokeng on Sunday, January 27, 1985 at the Emmanuel Church. During this
Mass, bishops from across the region attended the service together wearing full
priestly regalia and the people of the congregation paraded in carrying symbols of
repression with them. The press dubbed this ceremony the “Rubber Bullet Mass”.
Among the items paraded and presented at the alter were: a rubber bullet shot by
the Security Forces, a rent invoice (symbolizing the ongoing Vaal rent and
services strike, the bishops’ booklet on police brutality, a tear gas canister, a
school book (symbolizing problems in the education system), a change of clothes
for a detainee, a quirt, sjamboks, a knobkierie, two petrol filled bottles
(representing petrol bombings as a form of terror), and a list of the names of
people killed by the Security Forces.21 These items were ceremoniously thrown
into a garbage can at the end of the Mass. Reflecting on the ceremony later,
20 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005. 2lPatrick Noonan, They’re Burning the Churches (Bellevue: Jacana Press, 2003) 129.
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Albert Nolan writes, “I remember thinking that these were the modem crosses, the
symbols of repression that were being transformed like the cross into sacred
symbols of our hope for salvation and liberation”.22
Prayer as a Means of Nonviolent Protest
Religious leaders possessed a power to employ a method of nonviolent protest
quite unique to their profession - prayer. While prayer is often accepted as a means of
personal transformation, when used in a public and prophetic way, it can also be a venue
for socio-political change. Religious leaders held vigils in which people were able to
express the depths of their sorrow and pain in a public way. As long as the South African
government claimed that it was a Christian institution, it could not prohibit such
gatherings. Vigils by individuals also served as silent though powerful protests of
repression. Archbishop Denis Hurley stood vigil outside the Durban post office in 1978
to draw attention to the relocation of members of the Crossroads community.23 His
visible public profile captured in this act of humility created a stir in the city. He had
accomplished his goal of raising awareness of the plight of a forgotten community while
also engaging in a religious act that he felt personally called to do.
When religious leaders were arrested and brought to police stations, engaging in
communal prayer was usually one of the first activities they did. This action felt
threatening to the police officers who knew that such an act drew attention to the unjust
nature of South African society. The media also responded to images of priests under
arrest kneeling in prayer. While spiritually sustaining them as individuals, prayer as
22 Albert Nolan, God in South Africa: the challenge of the gospel (Cape Town: David Philip Press, 1988) 59. 23 Bishop Frederick Amoore, “Witness to Love of Neighbor” Guardian of the Light (Greyville: Archdiocese of Durban, 1989)49.
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protest also served as an act of defiance towards the repressive State. Desmond Tutu
remembers one incident in particular, in which a group of priests were arrested outside
the Union Buildings in Pretoria: “We just linked our hands and we tried to pray. In fact,
at the police station we said, ‘We would like to pray’. A policeman replied, ‘This is a
police station. You don’t pray here’”.24 The police man’s remark is telling - in order to
commit acts of senseless brutality and violence, the Security Branch needed to believe
that there was a deep divide between the actions they performed at work and the life of
spirituality. By bringing the sacred into the sphere of the profane, acts of prayer called
people to be accountable, at least to God, for their actions.
Nonetheless, prayer alone was not enough. As theologian Albert Nolan points
out, prayer must contain elements of both action and reflection in order to be effective.
“Prayer is sometimes used as a form of escape, as a substitute for action. Prayer without
action, as Jesus says, is like saying ‘Lord, Lord’ but not doing the will of God”.25
In my interviews with religious leaders in South Africa, I was surprised by the
number of them that claimed to have worked against apartheid and when asked what they
did, simply said they prayed. Pastor Josiah Donda Ngonyama of the Assembly of God -
Back to God (Africa) admitted that the Church often did not take a strong enough stand
against apartheid but wanted me to understand that they did act in their own way. “You
have to understand that everyone in the church was against apartheid. We were against
killing. We were against violence. Our ammunition was prayer”.26 Pastor Herman Noel
of the Lighthouse Christian Assemblies, a tiny tent church on the outskirts of Durban,
24 Tutu, 142. 25 Nolan, 207. 26 Pastor Josiah Donda Ngonyama, Interview by Emily Welty. January 30, 2001.
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told me, “An activist once asked me where my church was during the struggle. I told
him, ‘The Church was on its knees while you struggled. If we had not been on our knees,
your struggle would have been in vain’. Our prayers had to go up so that God could act.
God puts governments in power but if they misuse the power then God will take them out
of power”.27 This statement is a powerful echo of the same theme that Afrikaners often
argued to justify apartheid - namely that God was in charge and that the people were
merely instruments to God’s greater purposes.
Noel’s assessment of his own actions during apartheid is overwhelmingly
positive; he believes that, by praying, he contributed in a significant way to the struggle.
This may be true from the perspective of faith - the ethereal and incalculable nature of
faith makes it impossible to measure. Theological determinism such as this, makes
measuring the effectiveness of activities like prayer next to impossible. As a person of
faith, I want to believe that prayer does somehow make a difference. However, as a
social scientist, I must conclude that, for the purposes of research, religious leaders like
Noel and Ngonyama impacted the struggle much less than they might claim. Prayer in
this case may have been an example of spiritual reflection without the praxis of action
behind it.
In 1985, a campaign called A Day of Prayer for the End of Unjust Rule
spotlighted the idea of prayer as an avenue of anti-apartheid work. The South African
Council of Churches and the South African Catholic Bishop’s Conference led the effort
which called upon all Christians to pray against the South African government. June 16,
1985 (the nine year anniversary of the beginning of the Soweto student uprising) was
27 Pastor Herman Noel, Interview by Emily Welty. January 24, 2001.
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chosen as the date. This campaign marked a turning point in the SACC’s work against
apartheid since, by declaring that Christians should pray for the removal of the
government, the group officially declared the government to be tyrannical. The
theological rationale for the call stated:
We have prayed for our rulers, as is demanded of us in the Scriptures. We have entered into consultation with them as is required by our faith. We have taken the reluctant and drastic step of declaring apartheid to be contrary to the declared will of God, and some churches have declared its theological justification to be a heresy. We now pray that God will replace the present structures of oppression with ones that are just, and remove from power those who persist in defying his laws, installing in their place leaders who will govern with justice and mercy.28
While it is impossible to measure the efficacy of this day of prayer from the angle
of degree of divine intervention, it is clear that this campaign marked a change in
the way that the S ACC viewed its role in the struggle.
Announcements
Religious services regularly provide an opportunity for members to share
announcements about activities in the wider community. In a stable political
environment, these announcements tend to publicize local craft fairs or community
sporting events. However, in the volatile context of apartheid South Africa, the character
and content of such announcements changed. The announcement period became a safe
space to report on political activity or detentions in the community. Announcements also
informed the public about covert meetings to plan protest activities. The church became
one of the only safe places to make such announcements as postings or flyers in the
community were closely monitored by the security police.
28 South African Council of Churches. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. Volume 52, (September 1985) 58.
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Clergy often invited members of the congregation to share reports of what they
were seeing and experiencing in the community. This not only validated the experiences
of individuals but also provided a means of sharing information that might otherwise be
kept quiet. Some religious leaders chose to keep attention focused on the plight of
detainees in the community by listing them by name during announcements or prayers.
During the Vaal Triangle crisis in 1984, clergy like Father Patrick Noonan
utilized the pulpit to publicize the outcome of meetings between the township residents,
the black town council and the development board in the midst of a massive campaign to
decrease rent. He recalls, “At stake here was the way to inform half a million people in
five townships. It was Saturday evening at 5 pm. The residents had to be told the next
day...We decided that the pulpit was the only way. The next morning clergy in all the
churches across the townships were to tell the people where to go for a special report-
back in the afternoon”.29
Visiting Your Flock
As part of their regular duties as religious leaders, clergy are often called upon to
make periodic visits to the congregation in order to become better acquainted with them
and serve their spiritual needs. During apartheid, such visits took on another dimension
of both meaning as well as risk.
Detainees in prison were often not allowed visits with family members or friends
and thus religious leaders became their only connection with the outside world. Father
Patrick Noonan met regularly with the Sharpeville Six after they had been sentenced to
the death penalty and also visited the Vereeniging prison weekly. Noonan’s fluency in
29 Noonan, 65.
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Sesotho (an unusual skill for a white person at the time) allowed him to communicate in
an even deeper manner with those he visited.
In the Vereeniging prison, Noonan’s visits were supposed to be confined to
holding a service for the ordinary prisoners rather than the political detainees. However,
he soon found a way to do both. “I would arrange the service so it could take place under
the window of the detention room overlooking the square. Thusmapaniti (ordinary
prisoners) attending the service would stand or squat as a group, facing the prison square
with their backs to the detention room windows. In this way I could communicate with
the detainees behind the windows, giving them information from the outside and in turn
bringing messages (for example from Saul Tsotetsi) to their families or legal
representatives. My congregation understood as they respected the detainees above”.30
Noonan’s ability to speak Sesotho (which was not spoken by the prison guards) and his
visiting privileges as a priest allowed him to seamlessly weave his duties to minister to
people and also to share information with detainees.
On another occasion, Noonan communicated hope and encouragement to Theresa
Ramashamole (one of the Sharpeville Six) through the medium of prayer, right in front of
a prison warden. He began to pray fervently in English and then alternated with phrases
in Sesotho: ‘“Jesus we love you and praise your holy name.’ And then it was back to
Sesotho, ‘Theresa I hear you might be released soon’ and immediately to English again
as I nearly swooned in prayerful fervor. The warder wasn’t about to interrupt a church
minister prayerfully breaking the language rule”.31 This is also a compelling example of
30 Noonan, 191. 31 Noonan, 215.
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the way that religious leaders were able to use their position to further the cause of the
anti-apartheid movement. Though speaking in native languages was banned during most
visits with detainees, Noonan found ways to communicate secretly with them, often right
under the noses of prison guards.
Rod Van Zylen’s experience of visiting congregation members was less
successful but also shaped his ministry in demonstrable ways.32 During his time serving
a parish in the Cape Flats, he frequently visited congregants in order to understand and
serve them more fully. However, the Special Branch of the security forces began
following him, suspicious that he might be inciting people to resistance and violence.
They paid ominous visits to parishioners immediately after Van Zylen had been there and
warned people that the priest was a dangerous man who would get them into trouble.
Consequently, the congregation quickly closed Van Zylen out of their lives - refusing to
meet with him and avoiding his church services. This effectively ended his ability to be a
useful presence in the area and the Anglican Church moved him and his family to
Dundee.
Use of Church Space
In the absence of viable community space for non-whites in their own
communities, local churches often became the sites for holding political meetings. This
seemed a natural accommodation for such meetings, as the church has long been a site for
people gathering to voice concerns. In the 1970s, meetings related to culture or the arts
were held in the churches. Police often monitored these gatherings as plays were often an
outlet for veiled anti-governmental expression. During the Vaal Triangle conflict in the
32 Rod Van Zylen, Interview by Emily Welty. February 16, 2001.
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1980s, churches were most often the site for rent meetings - gatherings in which the local
residents strategized about how to resist the increase in rent and service charges in the
Vaal black townships.
Hostility between the church and state over the use of the church building for
political meetings was most evident in a series of meetings held between the Vaal
Triangle churches and local government authorities in 1983. The Orange-Vaal
Administration board informed all local churches that their deeds of lease would be
cancelled if meetings other than those of a strictly church nature were held within the
church. Local Catholic priest Father Patrick Noonan remembers the exchanges this way:
“As local pastors we ignored these instructions, indicating to the Board that they should
bring their concerns to the attention of our bishop in Johannesburg. A polite though
earnest letter debate ensued between the bishop and the board, on the meaning and
interpretation of expressions such as ‘non-church meetings’, ‘meetings of a political
nature’ and ‘meetings for non-church purposes’ - the theology of administrators versus
Christian social teaching”.33 Eventually Anglican and Catholic bishops of the area met
and concluded that to prohibit people who were denied a meeting space elsewhere in the
community from meeting in the church was a violation of church policy. Meetings
continued to be held in the Vaal churches and no deeds were revoked. The government
appeared to have backed down on this issue.
White churches were urged to create crisis centers in their areas where people
could come to escape the violence that often surged through the townships. White
churches were situated far from the areas where violence erupted and were seen as less
33 Noonan, 127.
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likely to be attacked with petrol bombs. In 1980, a group of women from the Crossroads
township sought sanctuary in St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town to protest the
continuous threat of re-settlement and harassment by the Security Police.34
Before becoming the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Lawrence Henry
served a parish in District Six before it was demolished. Henry was not a man to break
any of the laws of the apartheid government but at one point in his ministry there came a
time when he decided he must take a stand against the government with regards to the use
of his church: “There was a time that I was very involved in housing (issues). People had
lost their shacks because the authorities had just bulldozed their homes.... We had put up
tents to house the people and we were told to remove them because they were illegal
structures. I had no place to put these people except the church, so we put them in the
church... The house of God became the house of the people for four days.”35
Towards the end of the apartheid era, another dilemma regarding church use for
political meetings arose - this time between the competing ANC and IFP parties.
Churches found themselves in the awkward position of being asked by both parties for
use of the church for the purposes of political meetings. Realizing the great risk of
appearing to favor one party over the other, some clergy denied use of the church for any
political meetings. Others, like Don Shongwe of the Methodist church, clearly stated that
the church was open to all: “Our denomination gave a directive that our church buildings
should be used for political activities, and for all political groupings. If it is yes, it must
be yes to all, and if it is no, it must be no to all. If you allow any particular group, you
34 Dene Smuts and Shuana Westcott eds. The Purple Shall Govern/Cape Town: Centre for Intergroup Studies, 1991) 121. 35Archbishop Lawrence Henry. Interview by Emily Welty. January 12, 2005.
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will be seen as identifying with that particular group or taking sides...I called the leaders
of my congregation and reminded them that the entire congregation consisted of different
political groupings: UDF, IFP, AZAPO, PAC and non-aligned members...They were all
my children”.36
The Lived Example
The Diakonia Council of Churches in downtown Durban is perhaps the
best embodiment of using religious practices to oppose apartheid. Diakonia was
the brainchild of Archbishop Denis Hurley who wanted to see a more united
ecumenical movement addressing social concerns in Natal. Hurley described his
vision for the Center as “an effort to help the Church give practical expression to
the Gospel in some aspects of the social scene in and around Durban”.37
Hurley’s first choice for directing Diakonia was Paddy Kearney, who had
contributed to the anti-apartheid struggle under the auspices of the Catholic
Justice and Peace Commission. I had the honor of interviewing Paddy Kearney
one afternoon in Durban after his retirement in 2004.
Kearney saw two events as being pivotal in defining Diakonia’s role in
the community - flooding in Durban and the death of an ANC supporter, Joseph
Mlgule in detention in prison. The flooding was widely addressed and its victims
aided by community and churches in Durban. The death of Mlgule received little
to no attention. Diakonia saw this silence as emblematic of the silence that
surrounded apartheid’s victims. Rather than organizing a march or a protest, the
36 Don Shongwe. The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 80. 37 Amoore, 49.
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center decided to encourage churches to act by doing what they knew the best - a
church service. An evening of reflection on the life and death of Joseph Mlgule
was held and attended by over a thousand people. The evening had a prayerful
tone and was warmly received by many.
This first event represents the approach that Diakonia eventually took to
anti-apartheid organizing. Sponsored activities drew upon the skill sets that
religious people already possessed - liturgy, prayer, and ritual. Diakonia did not
attempt to become a political player but rather sought to influence the political
processes by drawing upon faith as a value system. The focus of Diakonia was
never to take over responsibility for addressing social justice issues from the
church but rather to help the church better take that responsibility. The
organization showed the church how to become more involved and to expand the
possibilities of what was possible. Kearney says, “We tried to avoid being an
agency that everyone would dump their responsibilities on while they got on with
what they saw to be the ‘real’ work of the church which was baptism, Catechism,
marriage and funerals. We tried to say that this work of justice is integral to the
church and the church really becomes the church when it does this work.”38
In response to Dingaan’s Day celebrations in the Afrikaner community,
which often represented the worst of Christian Nationalist expressions, Diakonia
organized a Day of Reconciliation to be celebrated on the same date. This event
was widely attended by people of all races and was a celebration of the
possibilities for reconciliation and a new covenant among the people.
38 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005.
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Understanding the tremendous power of liturgy and ritual, many of
Diakonia’s best and most stirring actions created connections between Biblical
stories and the present day in visual terms. In the 1980s, during the height of
fighting between Inkatha and the ANC, a cross was made from roof beams of
houses destroyed in the violence. “What we did on more than one Good Friday
was to make a cross out of wood beams of houses that had been burned down in
the violence. We took one beam from an Inkatha house and one beam from an
ANC house and we put those two beams together - as a cross and carried that
through the streets. We actually got the families from those homes to come and
carry those two beams into the cathedral and then right at the front to nail the two
pieces together... And then we took that cross at the end of the service to one of
the areas where there was the most conflict and they used it for their Good Friday
service. They put it on the boundary between the two areas of fighting as a sign of
the peace that God wanted for them.”39
During the Christmas season, to focus attention on issues of housing, the
eight member churches of Diakonia built a shack inside the Central Methodist
Church. This shack was identical to many of the decrepit housing units
surrounding Durban but inside the church it was used as the background to the
nativity scene. The message was clear - “if Jesus was bom in Durban today that
is where he would be bom”.40
39 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005. 40 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005.
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Like many churches and religious organizations at the time, Diakonia
wrestled with whether or not to characterize itself as political. Keamey
personally encouraged the organization not to claim that they weren’t political.
He thought that would have been dishonest. When Diakonia was accused of being
political, Kearney’s response to the accusation was that theyhad to be political
because Christians had to make choices for the right society. Politics in South
Africa involved the life changing decisions such as whether a community would
have access to water or not. To not be involved was to shun the opportunity to
work for the good of people.
During elections, Diakonia published sermon outlines to help ministers
address issues from the pulpit. These pamphlets never embraced particular
candidates but gave religious leaders an idea of how to direct their congregations
to think critically about the meaning of elections and how to channel their energy
to impact the process.
Today Diakonia continues to address the socio-political conditions in
Durban through a number of different initiatives.41 The Economic Empowerment
Program has sought to alleviate unemployment through the teaching of job skills.
Numerous community resource centers were established in the townships
surrounding Durban and Diakonia continues to support these centers by providing
funding, leadership, workshops and resources. International issues are also
41 The activities described here are only a small cross section of the activities in which Diakonia is involved today. These activities are described in full in the December 2004 issue of Inselelo - Diakonia’s official publication. In the interest of full disclosure, I must mention that I spent six months working as a volunteer for one of Diakonia’s initiatives to address xenophobia and violence against refugees in Durban. I directed and taught in a ESL program catered to the needs of Congolese, Burundian, Rwandan and Sudanese refugees in the area.
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addressed. In September of 2004, a breakfast briefing was held to discuss the
effects that American foreign policy and the “war on terror” might have for South
Africa’s social and economic needs. Stress and trauma workshops are held to
continue to help apartheid’s victims deal with psychological wounds. The
programs sponsored by Diakonia are flexible and reflect the changing needs and
capacities of Durban.
Diakonia is a particularly successful example of an organization that was
able to adapt after the change in government in 1996. They have retained their
original mandate to work with churches and have not attempted to become their
own religious or political organization. Diakonia is a shining example of the kind
of work that can be done under the paradigm of religiously based activism.
Without straying from their original purposes, Diakonia has continued to evolve
and meet the needs of the larger culture through the efforts of local churches.
As the example of Diakonia amply demonstrates, religious leaders were
able to use the most basic aspects of their profession to protest against the
apartheid government. It would be difficult to think of a single profession that had
more of an impact on the system in terms of their daily duties than clergy. The
clergy had the opportunity to participate in the struggle against apartheid by their
contribution to such events as funerals and marriages as well as the way they
chose to address the issue of race in sermons, liturgy and prayers. This role of
religious leaders is often over-looked in favor of a focus on the ways that they
participated in overt acts of protest and resistance as addressed in the next chapter.
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As addressed in the previous chapter, the jobs of religious leaders often led them
into resistance against the apartheid government. However, some leaders were led by
their faith to take even more drastic steps in the form of direct political activism. In this
chapter, I examine the ways that the Church took up the call to resist the government and
support the struggle against apartheid through mechanisms such as marches, monitoring,
reporting, protest actions and encouraging conscientious objection. Undertaking such
actions meant a reinterpretation of what it meant to be a person of faith in an unjust
society. The praxis of doing theology shifted and the relationship between politics and
faith was re-interpreted.
Spoke in the Wheel of the Machine
While Churches were often proactive about serving parishioners and working
against apartheid in a purely pastoral capacity, ultimately, this was not enough. In the
late eighties, some religious leaders began pushing their congregations and themselves to
go beyond just speaking out against apartheid. Archbishop Hurley noted, “Justice and
peace cannot flourish on a diet of theory and talk. We have not been short of words. But
to translate all these magnificent words into action has not been easy”.1 This was a
frequent condemnation of the Church as well as other religious organizations. Albertina
Sisulu voiced an even harsher criticism: “People are dying, while too many Christians are
content to remain inside their churches, read their Bibles and say their prayers. One
1 Archbishop Denis Hurley. “Passing on the Justice Mantle,” Challenge No. 44 (Oct/Nov 1997) 3. 129
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cannot claim to be a Christian without leaving the security of the Church and
participating in the struggles of the oppressed. If Jesus could go to the cross to defy the
unjust laws of his time, so must the Church”.
Theologians often think of theology as a two-part movement - reflection and
praxis. Praxis designates the kinds of actions that reflection prompts one to take.
Churches which decided that they needed to go beyond just talking about the evilness of
apartheid opted to generate a climate of activity or praxis in which the ideals they
believed in could take shape. To truly participate in the work of the world as a fellow
worker with God, people must engage in actions that attempt to change the injustice, the
violence and the evil in the world.
Yet worldwide the Church has often been content to sit back and claim that it
cannot or should not engage in direct political activism. The Church has been a site of
complacency where the work of social justice has too often been narrowly defined in
terms of charity. Paulo Freire saw such practices “anesthetic” or “aspirin” practices
which may help particular victims of suffering but which do nothing to end the structures
causing the suffering.3 Even while many Church leaders disapproved of actions of the
South African government, they did little more than speak timidly against it. Cosmas
Desmond noted: “It is no help or consolation to those who are dying of starvation or are
languishing in jail to know that some people in the privacy of their conscience strongly
disapprove of such injustice. All the time spend in trying quietly to persuade the
oppressor to change his mind without upsetting him by making too many demands is, in
2 Albertina Sisulu, interview by Charles Villa-Vicencio Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 251. 3 Cosmas Desmond, Christians or Capitalists? Christianity and Politics in South Africa (London: Bowerdean Press, 1978) 15.
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the eyes of the oppressed, time spent in being party to their oppression”.4 To refuse to
raise one’s voice was to be complicit in the oppression of others.
As a young priest, Desmond quickly grew frustrated as he observed the Church
providing material aid for people who needed much more. When he saw many of his
congregation members being relocated to the Bantustans, he was compelled to ask:
“What then was the obvious Christian response? To love one’s neighbor? But how? By
giving him a blanket to keep him warm in the barren veld? One would do that much for a
stray dog. These werepeople with human needs. No amount of material aid could mend
their broken hearts and spirits. There people were being, as people are still being, crushed
by a political machine. Could a Christian then say: the political factors are no concern of
mine; I’ll wait until the machine has ground the people into the dust, then I’ll do my
charitable work of picking up the pieces?”5 For Desmond and others like him, the only
logical and compassionate choice was to choose to become a spoke in the wheel of the
machine.
Politics as Church
When the Government banned political rallies, such gatherings often took place
under the guise of a church service. Such services, according to the clergy who presided
over them, were theologically correct because they were providing an outlet for
oppressed people to encourage one another. While political gatherings were illegal, it
was not illegal to gather for a prayer service. In the Vaal Triangle, clergy members
established the Vaal Ministers Solidarity Group, a group officially formed for the
4 Desmond, 55. 5 Desmond, 11.
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purposes of clergy information sharing, to provide a means for banned organizations to
meet.6 One of the benefits of such ruses was to establish greater trust between political
organizations and the Church. This was a subtle but significant way that the religious
leaders could exercise civil disobedience easily and with little risk. There were some
religious leaders who refused to allow their institutions to be used by activists who had
never supported or shown interest in the church in the past.
The Tyranny of Obedience
As an institution with an ancient history of teaching people to be obedient, the
Church found itself in a dilemma as the South African government used these same
teachings to silence the people. As religious groups became more actively involved in
resisting the oppression of the State, the State reminded the church of the teachings of the
13th chapter of Romans which states:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval.7
This text indicates that God has ordained the state and that obedience to the state is God’s
will. As such, many religious Christians felt compelled to refrain from challenging the
government or its oppression. This passage also indicates that those who disobey the
government will be punished and infers that anyone who fears the government, only does
so because they engage in ‘bad’ conduct.
Theologian Albert Nolan notes that disobedience to established laws feels
unsettling because we are taught throughout our lives to be submissive to authorities. He
6 Patrick Noonan, They’re Burning the Churches (Bellevue: Jacana Press, 2003) 72. 7 Romans 13:1-3.
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writes, “Disobedience is the so-called sin of not being submissive to every established
authority and every law, no matter what it might demand of us...We have been
conditioned to feel that we are holier, more spiritual and closer to God when we are
Q submissive”.
While conducting interviews in South Africa in 2001, I found that this same
reverence for government due to Romans 13 still exists in particular pockets of the
society. One such denomination is the Jehovah Witnesses. When asked about their
church’s role in the struggle against apartheid, Jacques and Thulsie Zuffour were c emphatic: “Jehovah Witnesses NEVER get involved in politics and ALWAYS obey the
law. It is written in Romans 13:1. We would not fight for political change because we
believe that if we wait, God will change things”.9
During the struggle against apartheid, reluctance to challenge authorities
presented a major obstacle for religious institutions that were encouraging members to
engage in direct political activism or acts of civil disobedience. From a theological
standpoint, the task at hand was to provide a more relevant interpretation or exegesis of
the Romans passage. When President P.W. Botha challenged church leaders by asking
whether they were acting on behalf of the kingdom of God or the kingdom promised by
the ANC and SACP, Desmond Tutu responded with a concise exegesis of Romans 13. In
a letter dated April 8, 1988, Tutu wrote: “We accept wholeheartedly St. Paul’s teaching
in Romans 13 - that we should submit ourselves to earthly rulers. Their authority,
however, is not absolute. They themselves also stand under God’s judgment as his
8 Albert Nolan, God in South Africa: the challenge of the gospel (Cape Town: David Philip Press, 1988)
101. 9 Jacques and Thulsie Zuffour. Interview by Emily Welty, February 6, 2001.
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servants. They are meant to instill fear only in those who do wrong, holding no terror for
those who do right (Romans 7:3-4)...The ruler rules for the benefit of the ruled. That
comes not out of a political manifesto but from the Holy Scriptures. The corollary is that
you must not submit yourself to a ruler who subverts your good”.10 The president did not
respond to this letter.
Christian leaders also emphasized that the gospel demands that when the laws of
God and the laws of a government clash, one must disregard the laws of the State. When
a regime becomes the enemy of the common good of the people, the Church has a moral
obligation to resist and oppose the regime. In acting against the well-being of the people,
the government forfeits its right to the people’s obedience. Governments who choose to
reward evil and punish good (such as the apartheid era government) lose the right to a
biblical mandate of governance. Thus, people who choose to obey an immoral law are
committing an immoral act. One important function of political theology in South
Africa was to justify dissent against unjust rule. In order to do this, theologians had to
draw upon theological and biblical traditions of dissent and civil disobedience. South
African theologians recalled the tradition of resisting“hostis boni communis” - the Latin
definition for tyrant or “enemy of the common good”. They reminded the Christian
community that a tyrannical government was not one that simply committed periodic or
occasional acts of injustice. A case ofhostis boni communis was a government that acted
against the common good repeatedly and irrevocably. Kairos theologians proclaimed,
“Such a government would be acting against the interests of the people as a whole and
permanently. This would be clearest in cases where the very policy of a government is
10 Desmond Tutu, The Rainbow People of God (New York: Doubleday Books, 1994) 152.
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hostile towards the common good and where the government has a mandate to rule in the
interests of some of the people rather than in the interests of all the people”.11 A
government who had violated its social contract with the people and failed to provide
them with a reciprocity of benefits was no longer acting in the best interest of the people.
In such cases, the Church had a theological right and obligation to resist.
On the evening August 6, 1989, a mass of more that 2,000 African Methodist
Episcopals from the AME church in Hazendal, Cape Town gathered in defiance of an
order restricting them from leaving their homes in the evenings and or attending large
gatherings. In applauding their efforts, Desmond Tutu addressed them saying, “This
book (the Bible) says when a ruler gives you unjust laws, disobey. You are not
disobeying the ruler, you are obeying God. It is a choice that we have”.12 He recalled to
them that Jesus himself had disobeyed the rulers of his time. The example of Jesus as
one who disobeys unjust rulers was periodically presented to the people to encourage
them to do likewise. Examples of Jesus’ disobedience included healing on the Sabbath
and refusing to answer to Pontius Pilate.
Ties to Political Organizations
For the most part, political parties such as the ANC or IFP seemed to have little
association with the growing resistance movement in churches. However, in the early
days of the struggle this was not the case. The ANC worked with the Church in the years
directly following the election of the National Party government in such campaigns as the
National Day of Prayer in 1949 and 1950. In these campaigns, people were urged to
11 Kairos Document. 12 Tutu, 171.
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remember Christ as the champion of the Freedom Charter.13 Revered leader Albert
Luthuli even went so far as to connect his ANC involvement with his faith. In his
autobiography, he wrote, “For myself I am in Congress preciselybecause I am a
Christian.. .My own urge,because I am a Christian, is to get into the thick of the
struggle.. .taking my Christianity with me and praying that it may be used to influence for
the good of the character of the resistance”14. Once the ANC was banned by the passage
of the Unlawful Organizations Act in 1961, this tie between the political party and the
churches was severed.
The World Council of Churches sponsored two conferences - one in Harare and
one in Lusaka - in order to strengthen the ties between exiled political groups and South
African Churches. The conference in Lusaka produced a document (The Lusaka
Statement) that affirmed the liberation movement and stated that the churches should
strengthen their ties with the exiled movements. It reads: “We affirm the right of the
people of Namibia and South Africa to secure justice and peace through the liberation
movements. While remaining committed to peaceful change, we recognize that the nature
of the South African regime, which wages war against its own inhabitants and neighbors,
compels the movements to the use of force along with other means to end oppression. We
call upon the churches and the international community to seek ways to give this
affirmation practical effect in the struggle for liberation in the region and to strengthen
their contacts with the liberation movements”.15 This statement had the double impact of
13 African Ministers Federation, Bantu World (August 5, 1950) 14 Albert Luthuli, Let Mv People Go. (London: Collins, 1962) 154-155. 15 World Council of Churches, Lusaka Statement, (May 1987).
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encouraging the churches to work more closely with political parties and legitimating the
use of violence.
While not many official ties existed, there were informal linkages, primarily in the
form of persons who had clear ties to both parties. One such person was Father Michael
Lapsley who served as a chaplain to the ANC. Even though the ANC may not have
openly associated or affiliated with religious leaders, the respect that the party had for
such people was evident. The ANC awarded Father Trevor Huddleston the party’s
highest honor Isitwalandwe/Seaparankwe (which means “the one who wears the plumes
of the rare bird”) in recognition for his work against apartheid in the 1950s.16 Despite the
fact that Beyers Naude never became a member of any political party, he was invited to
be on the ANC team for the momentous Groote Schuur meeting as a way of
acknowledging his contribution and sacrifice to the struggle.17
In 1983, a new political party was formed for the purposes of resisting the latest
version of the South African constitution. The United Democratic Front was a coalition
of community groups, women’s groups, trade unions, student caucuses and religious
groups that were determined to undermine and challenge the racist State. Supporters at
the forefront of the party were religious leaders such as Rev. Allan Boesak, Desmond
Tutu, Beyers Naude, and Rev. Smangoliso Mkhatshwa. The UDF filled part of the
political vacuum that was left by the banning of other political parties. The UDF
organized and participated in a number of effective campaigns against apartheid and was
subsequently banned in February 1988.
16 African National Congress, http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/awards. 17 Charles Villa-Vicencio, The Spirit of Freedom. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 230.
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Neutrality in Principle and Practice
As competition between in ANC, IFP, PAC and other political parties heated up
in the late eighties, churches began to emphasize the need for clergy to remain neutral
and not join or advocate membership in any particular party. In 1990, the synod of
Anglican bishops issued a statement declaring that no licensed, ordained clergy would be
allowed to be a member of a political association. Archbishop Tutu explained the
decision in this way: “Imagine when you have someone who is Inkatha and they want to
come to confession to a priest they know is ANC.. .Our decision does not mean, when the
time comes when you can vote - that you shouldn’t vote according to how you have
decided yourselves”.18
Other churches continued to stress that the Church must understand the difference
between itself as an institution and as a congregation. While the Church needed to
remain engaged in the political struggle, as an institution it could not support or endorse
any particular party. The Church needed to comment on political policies, distinguish
between good and evil, and continue the development of its prophetic voice in society.
The members of churches could be involved in party politics and the Church as an
institution could cultivate their involvement by encouraging them to do God’s work in
the world. However, supporting particular policies or party programs put the Church in
the position of overstepping its bounds and even endangering its clergy.
While some clergy worked in churches that were dominated by members of one
political party or another, most served mixed congregations. To openly support one
18 Desmond Tutu, Speech to Anglican Students’ Federation, National Conference, Federal Theological Seminary, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, (July 7, 1990)
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party, risked isolating the religious leader from part of the congregation. Church of the
Nazarene pastor Samuel Ndlovu explained his decision to be neutral: “When violence
began, I made a decision not to join any political party. There was great animosity
between members of different political parties. If I joined a party, how would the
members of the congregation feel about it? I did not know their political affiliation. My
stand was that I had no time for political meetings and activities. My duty was first and
foremost to preach the gospel”.19
Near the end of the apartheid era, fighting between Inkatha and the ANC cost
hundreds of lives and political affiliation could become deadly. Father Joseph Gumede
of the Anglican Church was serving in the town of Estcourt and found that even being
neutral could sometimes not be enough. “My house was situated on the line between the
ANC and IFP territories. I was pressured by both groups and I supported neither. One
morning I woke up and my house was surrounded by men with guns. At the time there
was a nun staying with my family and me for the Lent season. I had a feeling that we
shouldn’t leave the house. The sister went out to get into the car and she was shot and
killed. Later we found AK47 and 9mm bullets lying all around the outside of the
house”.20
Marches
One of the most visible actions of religious people against apartheid was their
involvement in public marches. These marches were among the most publicized and
19 Samuel Ndlovu, The Casspir and the Cross: voices of black clergy in the Natal Midlands (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1999) 68. 20 Father Joseph Gumede. Interview by Emily Welty. February 23, 2001.
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famous nonviolent actions during the struggle. Religious leaders often led the marches
which usually began or ended with a worship service at a church.21
Many marches in Cape Town began at St. George’s Cathedral and ended at the
Parliament buildings. One of the most memorable marches took place on February 29,
1988 when hundreds of people led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Stephen
Naidoo, Rev. Allan Boesak, Rev. Khoza Mgojo and Rev. Frank Chikane. When the
police stopped the procession, the leaders knelt on the pavement and prayed while the
police moved in to arrest them. The remaining marchers were blasted with jets of water
by the SAPF. James Robbins, the BBC correspondent in South Africa, insightfully
noted, “South Africa entered a new era of protest today. The church has unmistakably
taken over the front line of anti-apartheid protest”.22
Some scholars have suggested that the churches were reticent in taking up such
anti-apartheid protest because they feared opposing authority. I disagree with this
conclusion. In my view, the churches nurtured anti-apartheid sentiments as early as the
late 1950s but church leaders decided that it was unnecessary for them to be at the
forefront of the struggle due to the prominence of political movements and leaders which
filled that role. However, in the late 1980s, with most of the political leadership and
infrastructure in exile, churches stepped up and led the movement. Leading marches was
a role that political parties would have naturally played. Indeed, most marches were led
by political figures until such political activity was banned. Church leaders became more
active in leading marches in the void that the bannings created.
21 Dene Smuts and Shuana Westcott eds. The Purple Shall Govern.(Cape Town: Centre for Intergroup Studies, 1991) 83-84. 22 Robbins, James, qtd in Rainbow People of God. 139.
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In 1989, two enormous marches took place - one in Cape Town and one in
Johannesburg. Desmond Tutu and the mayor of Cape Town, Gordon Oliver, led more
than 30,000 people in Cape Town while Rev. Frank Chikane led a march of more than
25,000 people in Johannesburg. These two marches were historic both because of their
size and because they were the first marches that were not stopped by police action.23
The Cape Times reported the Cape Town march in this way: “In Cape Town’s largest
protest march in 29 years, nearly 30,000 people yesterday filled five city streets from St.
George’s Cathedral to the City Hall without incident and without a single uniformed
policeman in attendance.”24 The Security Branch warned marchers beforehand not to
proceed but no arrests or punitive actions were taken against participants. The tide had
turned in South Africa.
Why didn’t the South African government take action against these massive
marches? The reasons for this appear to be two-fold. First, it was unseemly for the
government to appear in the foreign press as attacking or punishing large groups of
unarmed people led by religious leaders. Additionally, the numbers of people
participating in the marches had grown so large that it would have been logistically
difficult for the police to take action.
I believe that the inclusion of religious leaders at the forefront of these marches
expedited the efficiency of such action against the government. Participants in the
marches may have felt safer and braver because they were being led by people who had a
connection not only to their political lives but to their spiritual lives as well. The
23 Peter Storey “Remembering the Ecumenical Struggle Against Apartheid” Word and World. Volume XVIII, Number 2 (Spring 1998) 192. 24 “March for Peace: Tutu, Mayor Lead 30,000 in Massive Protest” Cane Times. (September 14, 1989) 1.
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presence of religious leaders was powerful and lent an air of sacredness to the march
itself.
Mediating and Monitoring
As violence from the government as well as between political parties escalated,
clergy regularly found themselves acting as mediators and human rights monitors. These
roles were not formal and happened in an impromptu manner as the need arose. As
clergy and religious leaders were viewed as relatively impartial in terms of politics, their
roles as mediators were particularly valuable in disputes or run-ins between different
political parties.
Funerals were frequently the sites of heightened violence between the Security
Forces and the people attending the funeral.25 Since clergy were already present and in a
leadership position at the gatherings, the role of mediator was a logical addition to their
duties. Ministers often appealed to the Security Forces to exercise restraint and respect
the right of the people to mourn during such times. However, particularly at mass
funerals, sometimes more drastic actions were required. On such occasions, clergy might
use their bodies to form a protective line between the police and the funeral attendees.
Religious leaders also appealed to the people to keep the proceedings nonviolent
during marches and other mass gatherings. Desmond Tutu’s instructions to marchers
after the September 2, 1989 Mass Democratic Movement march is a typical example of
such requests: “As we go out, some of us are going to try and stand around there. We
have negotiated with the police, for what it is worth. We have negotiated with them that
25 Noonan, 76-81. Tutu, 170, 172, 180, 194.
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you will not be molested if you go out singly, if you go out singly. Please do not give
them any excuse”.26
Father Joseph Gumede served a parish in the Estcourt area during some of the
particularly volatile years between the ANC and IFP.27 He attempted to unite the
ministers serving the Estcourt area in order to stem the tide of violence. He started a
township council and a local peace committee that tried to create channels of
communication between the police and local activist leaders. He invited peace monitors
into the area to monitor rallies by any political party. Anyone who wanted to have a
political rally was supposed to come to the peace committee to pledge that the event
would not be violent and to elicit the support of monitors. Gumede attempted to call off
rallies that seemed particularly likely to become violent.
Clergy served as human rights monitors as they collected information about
detainees and other missing persons. When mass arrests were made, families of those
arrested often came to places of worship to share information about the whereabouts of
their relatives. Pastors were catapulted into the role of information gatherers and were
entrusted by the people to use the information effectively. Names and addresses of those
arrested were usually collected by the leaders and given to lawyers who could pursue the
information further.
As religious leaders were much less likely to be stopped and searched for illegal
documents by the Security Police, they occasionally used this relative immunity to carry
such information. Father Patrick Noonan recalls carrying affidavits about criminal police
26 Tutu, 182. 27 Father Joseph Gumede. Interview by Emily Welty. February 23, 2001.
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activity hidden under Bibles, sometimes right under the noses of the police!28 Illegal
documents were usually carried out of the townships and into the hands of the media who
then made such information public.
Reporting the Margins
In the highly censored press environment of South Africa, accurate information
was often difficult to obtain. Researching and publishing reports about the human rights
violations that were perpetrated by the SADF was another task that religious people
undertook. The South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference was particularly active in
writing press statements, reports and pastoral letters. In such publications, the group
condemned the 1983 constitution, supported election boycotts, exposed police violence in
the townships, supported the Sharpeville Six, condemned the death sentence and
supported the ECC. As early as 1952, the SACBC had published a report that described
apartheid as “evil”.
One of the most groundbreaking reports was entitled “Police Conduct During
Townships Protest: August to November 1984”. The research for this report consisted of
affidavits collected from victims of police brutality. One of the unique aspects of this
report is that it defined brutality quite broadly and included instances of not only killings
and beatings but also addressed rape, humiliation and forms of verbal abuse used by the
police. At a time when even the physical violence of non-whites was not publicized, the
inclusion of other forms of violence was quite radical.
It may seem strange that the Church decided to undertake the role of reporting
brutalities, a job typically belonging to the media or to human rights organizations. The
28 Noonan, 93.
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introduction to the 1984 Police Conduct report stated the reasons that the Church decided
to adopt a new form of resistance against the government by publishing reports:
Our reason for focusing attention on police activities is that the media have generally not
made them public. On many occasions press people have been arrested, shot at, or had
their film confiscated. At times they have not been allowed into areas of unrest, or have
been too afraid to venture there. In view of the resulting lack of information, especially in
the white community, we intend that this report will make it easier to understand why
black people have responded to indignantly during this tragic period.29
This is another example of religious people stepping in to fill a void in the struggle. Just
as religious leaders became political leaders during the period of bannings and detentions,
religious people also filled the role of the media in many cases.
One of the religious people who collected the information, Father Patrick Noonan,
described the impact of the report: “It was the first time any church or institution had
publicly confronted the apartheid police force with evidence of its own lawlessness - an
encounter between the men of the mitre and the men in camouflage.”30 The international
media was presented with this report and published it, bringing the viciousness of the
apartheid regime into the forefront of the world’s consciousness again.
In 1984, the SACBC went so far as to publish its own newspaper The New
Nation.31 This • action • infuriated the government who censored the newspaper and
prohibited from being published for months at a time - another testament to the paper’s
effectiveness.
29 South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “Report on Police Conduct during Township Protests: August-November 1984” 2. 30 Noonan, 113. 31 Peter Walshe. Prophetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement in South Africa. (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1995) 115.
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Cosmas Desmond was also quite well known for publishing one of the first
reports on the forced removal system. His book, The Discarded People, detailed the
process as well as the impact of one of the apartheid government’s most distressing
policies. Though his research was informal (“I never had a questionnaire and I never
took notes!”) 32 , by visiting with people in his own parish and beyond, Desmond saw the
urgent need for the cruelty of this policy to be advertised to the world. Desmond used a
combination of the talents and skills that he had acquired in ministry - namely, his ability
to speak Zulu and his role as a marriage officer which allowed him freedom of movement
between black and white areas - to document the burgeoning damage of the forced
removals. In an interview with Desmond, I asked him why he decided to take up the
cause of forced removals and he simply said, “Everybody said that it couldn’t possibly be
done, and no one else would do it”.33
Standing for Truth Campaign
In May of 1998, the SACC launched the Standing for Truth Campaign - a public
movement to encourage people of faith to engage in acts of nonviolent direct action
against the apartheid government. Prominent religious people such as Desmond Tutu,
Frank Chikane and others spearheaded this movement. Clergy were encouraged to
ignore restrictions on funerals and more openly reject government interference in the
practices of the Church. While previous actions by local clergy had tended to be lower
profile and covert, this Campaign urged religious leaders to take prominent and public
stands in leading people towards social justice by means of nonviolent resistance.
32 Cosmas Desmond. Interview by Emily Welty, January 4, 2005. 33 Cosmas Desmond. Interview by Emily Welty, January 4, 2005.
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One of the most striking moments of the Campaign was the mass nonviolent
desegregation of the beaches in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London in
1989. People of all races arrived at whites-only beaches during the month of September
and reclaimed the beaches for all people. The beach protests started with short prayer
services and then continued with people simply enjoying the beach by walking or
playing. These protests had the joyful air of a picnic even though the action was very
serious. The Weekend Argus reported the September 30 Strand beach protest in this
way: “Dr. Boesak spent time on the beach with a group of supporters and later
Archbishop Tutu, wearing white tracksuit pants , a blue T-shirt bearing the words ‘Call
me Arch’ and a sailors cap, also arrived.”34 Some scholars have suggested that during
these actions, mass organizations effectively unbanned themselves.
Refusing to Serve
Conscientious objection became a way for people of faith to use their own bodies
to resist the repressive South African government. This was a movement that was largely
bom out of people with a religious objection to serving an illegitimate government. The
Union Defense Act of 1912 introduced conscription into South Africa and the Defense
Act of 1957 reinforced it.35
The South African Fellowship of Reconciliation undertook the first attempts at a
conscientious objector campaign in 1963 but the campaign did not begin to truly gain
momentum until the South African Council of Churches addressed the issue in 1974. At
the 1974 conference, members adopted the Hammanskraal Statement. This resolution
34 Weekend Argus. (September 30, 1989) 1. 35 Bemedette Muthien. Ed. Peace Heroes (Cape Town: Quaker Peace Centre, 1998) 64-66.
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urged: “member churches to consider.. .whether Christ’s call to take up the Cross and
follow him in identifying with the oppressed does not, in our situation, involve becoming
conscientious objectors”.36 This was not strictly a pacifist position but rather was based
on advocacy of selective opposition to war - not all wars but a particular war that the
objector does not believe is justified. Selective opposition is another form of just war
theory. However, the adoption of this resolution was controversial, in part, because it
was an initiative that did not directly affect blacks. It was an action that would be taken
on entirely by whites to challenge the moral legitimacy of the government.
In South Africa there were basically three types of conscientious objectors: those
who were willing to serve in the SADF but would not use weapons, those who would
work for the civil service but not in the military and those who refused to be conscripted
to serve in the government in any capacity. The religious objectors tended to fall
primarily into this third category.
The first person to go to prison for conscientious objection was a Presbyterian
named Anton Ebhard in 1977.37 He was soon followed by Richard Steele and Peter Moll
who each spent a year in detention during which they refused to wear the SADF uniform
and consequently spent long periods in solitary confinement. They fasted in protest and
in the end were allowed to wear civilian clothing.
I interviewed Richard Steele to find out to what extent his religious beliefs
influenced his decision to become a conscientious objector. Steele was originally a
Baptist but experienced a disconnect between his faith and the church when the church
36 Marjorie Hope and James Young South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983) 92. 37 Muthien, 65.
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refused to support his stand on conscientious objection. “I was being very Baptist
because they believe in the freedom of conscience so they had to agree that - they
couldn’t say that I was doing a wrong thing. But the major problem was that I was
disobeying the government. That was their major issue. It was a theological issue at the
-}Q end of the day actually - various interpretations of Romans 13”. This lack of support
from the Baptist Church eventually led him to embrace the Quaker faith.
Steele’s decision to refuse service in the military was a product of the thought of
his student days in the Student Christian Association. “The focusing of thoughts and
theology was around conscription and white males being conscripted made you really
think deeply because you couldn’t just take a theoretical position on it or a theological
position - you needed to really put your body on one line or the other. So I refused on
the basis of universal religious pacifism. I did it as a Christian and as a challenge to a
government which called itself Christian. I was very critical of the role which religion
played in the military to support and rationalize the military establishment.”39
While Steele was a conscientious objector on religious grounds, he does not
conceive of his decision as a particularly theological one. He was involved in groups that
examined the impact their faith had on practical issues and he was extremely well versed
in the Bible. However, the thinking that led him to embrace a stance of resistance bears
much more resemblance to what he defines as the non-theology of Quakers. “It was a
very simple thing - this is what I believed, therefore this is what to do. I never thought of
it as a theological campaign as such. What attracted me to the Quaker tradition is that
38 Richard Steele. Interview by Emily Welty. January 7, 2005 39 Richard Steele. Interview by Emily Welty. January 7, 2005
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there is no theology in Quakerism. Your life is it. It’s an ethical, philosophical
totality.. .In a sense, everything is theological”.40
The End Conscription Campaign (ECC) was an ecumenical movement
established for the purposes of supporting men who chose to resist conscription and to
encourage others to do likewise. Sue Brittion was at the forefront of this movement
which was officially formed at a conference in Durban in which CO support groups were
established. The ECC was a broad based initiative including members who were
religious pacifists and also nonviolent pragmatists who believed that the best way to
undermine the South African state was to undermine the South African army.41 A lesser
known accomplishment of the ECC was their work with the ANC while still in exile to
get the party to agree that they would never conscript if in power. The ANC did promise
this but made a provision that under extreme circumstances conscription would be
allowed.
In 1980, proposals to the Defense Act were made that allowed for a wider
recognition of the rights of conscientious objectors. These included: recognition of CO
status on the basis of religious pacifism, six years of alternative service as a choice
instead of service with the SADF (for those unable to prove CO status on the grounds of
religious pacifism), a predominantly civilian board to determine who qualified as an
objector and a once only jail sentence for objectors.42 These goals were accomplished
largely thanks to the ECC and the powerful statements of resistance by a small group of
40 Richard Steele. Interview by Emily Welty. January 7, 2005 41 Sue Brittion, Interview by Emily Welty. January 7, 2005. 42 Rob Robertson, “Three Studies in Nonviolent Action” Peace Heroes. Ed. Bemedette Muthien (Cape Town: Quaker Peace Centre, 1998) 66.
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men. In the following years, more than six hundred men did alternative service rather
than serve in the SADF.
Paving the price
Antiapartheid activists frequently paid a price for their work in the form of
humiliation, torture and sometimes even death. The work of religious leaders opened
them up to the same kinds of consequences. However, the very nature of their role had
varying impacts on the kinds of consequences that they suffered.
Some religious leaders felt that their status as religious leaders protected them
from receiving the same kinds of punishments as non-leaders received. Presbyterian
minister Rob Robertson commented, “I had a certain secure position being a minister. We
found out later that the prosecution against me (in a case of civil disobedience regarding
forced removals) was withdrawn because they were scared of the repercussions of
prosecuting an English speaking minister.”43 Father Ron Hureld always made a point of
wearing his clerical collar when he engaged in any kind of social justice work with his
parish in Soweto. “From the government there was a sort of respect for priests even
though they didn’t like what you were doing. I think there was a certain respect for the
Church. The government was nominally Christian - they used Christianity.”44
Religious leaders needed to be aware of the way that their position protected them
in a way that it did not protect their congregations. This dynamic meant that clergy
carefully considered the consequences that others might face when planning any sort of
action. Desmond Tutu acknowledged his position in this way, “I am very conscious of the
43 Rob Robertson, Interview by Emily Welty, January 13, 2005. 44 Father Ron Hureld. Interview by Emily Welty, December 29, 2004.
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fact that I am a protected species. That is a dilemma, that when I say perhaps we ought to
take a particular action, on the whole this protected species will be treated differently
from others of you.. ..I could say let us march and the chances are that I could march for a
few yards and they would pick me up, remove me from the scene, and then deal brutally
with other people.”45
The apartheid government was not unaware of the fact that the religious leaders
were often protected because of their position. President Botha famously challenged
Desmond Tutu in a 1988 letter: “The question must be posed whether you are acting on
behalf of the kingdom of God or the kingdom promised by the ANC and the SACP? If it
is the latter, say so, but do not then hide behind the structures of the cloth and the
Christian Church, because Christianity and Marxism are irreconcilable opposites.”46
While the role of religious leaders may have protected them at times, they were
not immune from much of the same suffering that other activists suffered. However,
religious leaders tended to approach the concept of suffering differently. Some, like
Islamic activist Fatima Meer and Anglican Archbishop Rubin Phillip, told me that
punishment was an accolade of sorts - proof that one was making progress against the
forces of apartheid 47 Frank Chikane wryly noted: “You get detained even if you don’t do
anything, so you rather better do something to be able to justify your detention.”48
45 Tutu, 182. 46 Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. Number 63, (June 1988) 73. 47 Fatima Meer, Interview by Emily Welty, March 22, 2001. Rubin Philipp, Interview by Emily Welty, January 7, 2005. 48 David Goodman, Fault Lines: ioumevs into the new South Africa. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999) 6.
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Others drew parallels with the suffering of Christ, claiming that the cost of the
liberation of South Africa was suffering. Albert Nolan observed the crucified Christ in
the people around him, writing:
The gospel is about Christ being crucified today. It is about the crucifixion of the people of South Africa. This does not mean that we are simply comparing the suffering of our people with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion of God in Jesus Christ is, for us, the crucifixion of the oppressed people in our country. Nor can we say that it is merely ‘as i f God is being crucified in South Africa today.. ..There is no ‘as i f about it.49
From the point of view of a contextual theologian like Nolan, the crucifixion happened
regularly in South Africa. Nonetheless, this did not normalize or justify the suffering of
the people. Other theologians worried that drawing a parallel with Christ’s suffering
would justify the way that people suffered and argued that no one should accept torture
and death as punishment just because Christ was tortured and died.
The response from some religious leaders reflected their grounding in religious
life. Rob Robertson retells his experience in this way:
We were harassed a little bit in our dwelling. I got letters threatening to throw acid in my children’s faces and phone calls. But I would just start praying for the guy who was phoning! With the acids and the bombs and so on we bought a fire extinguisher. In Johannesburg in the 80s we had about 15 attacks on the house - not serious - just stones thrown through the windows. The last one was a shotgun through my study window and through my daughter’s window. But it wasn’t aimed to injure anybody just to intimidate and you knew that. I put up a little sign in the broken window (because these guys would come around the next day to see what they had done) and I put up “peace to you brother” in the window.
Archbishop Hurley’s house was petrol bombed in the 1960s. When I asked him how he
had reacted to the bombing, he made light of the incident: “The bombers did such an
unprofessional job! The police managed to show up to investigate eventually but I am
sure they already knew all about it!”50
49 Nolan, 66-67. 50 Archbishop Denis Hurley. Interview by Emily Welty, March 17, 2005.
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For some religious leaders, the way that they suffered could not be separated from
their religious life. Frank Chikane was suspended from the ministry for one year due to
his political involvement. At the end of that year, his license was revoked entirely and it
was not reinstated for ten years.51 Even more horrifically, a deacon in his own church
tortured Chikane. This particular atrocity has no equivalent. To be tortured by someone
you know or someone you work with is appalling. But to be tortured by someone with
whom you have professed a common faith and shared a religious life is almost
unimaginable. During the course of the torture, Chikane was threatened with death by his
interrogators and he replied: “If I die now, I will be with the Lord. This is gain for me and
for the Kingdom. But if you let me live, I will still live for Christ, and I will continue to
challenge your evil apartheid system.”52
Father Michael Lapsley received a mail bomb in 1990 that blew off both of his
arms and caused him to lose an eye. His reflection on the incident reflects the faith that
led him before the bombing and allowed him to remain strong in its aftermath. He felt
that when he was bombed, God was bombed as well and that God was particularly
present in those moments of suffering. Three days after the event, Lapsley said to those at
his bedside, “The Boers are stupid. They got it wrong again. They have taken away my
hands but I never really used my hands against them. I’m no good at shooting. I never
was an MK soldier. But I’ve still got my voice and that was always my weapon.”53 And
use his voice he did. After the incident, Lapsley continued to speak out for peace and
justice in a way that was even more powerful than before the accident. In a letter written
51 Frank Chikane, interview by Charles Villa-Vicencio Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 64. 52 Goodman, 3. 53 Michael Worsnip. Priest and Partisan (Melbourne: Ocean Press, 1996) 14-15.
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three months after the bombing, he writes: “Whilst I will permanently bear in my body
the marks of disfigurement and disability, I do believe that I have gained through what I
have experienced which will add new dimensions to what I can contribute as a priest and
as a freedom fighter, particularly in the long task of helping to rebuild the lives and
communities which have been shattered by apartheid.”54
Example: South African Council of Churches
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) was one of the foremost
ecumenical organizations in the struggle against apartheid. During the height of its work,
it consisted of twenty member churches and a number of organizations that had observer
status. The purpose of the SACC was to give visible expression to the unity of Christians
in South Africa. This unity was often expressed in campaigns of religious defiance and
civil disobedience against the structures of apartheid.
The SACC’s history can be traced back to 1904 when the DRC and the English
churches formed the General Missionary Conference (GMC).55 The GMC was founded to
further interdenominational activities in South Africa. In 1936, the GMC was re
organized into the Christian Council of South Africa. The Christian Council took a
decidedly apolitical stance during most of its existence. It made efforts to reach out to the
Afrikaner community but the DRC pulled out of the Council in 1939, fearing that the
organization was becoming too dominated by the British. The Christian Council was a
tepid organization that did not take any drastic or bold steps towards ending apartheid in
54 Worsnip, 31. 55 Hope, 86.
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the country. However, at a conference in 1949 the Council did produce a booklet “Race-
what does the Bible say?” that questioned segregation in churches.
In 1968, the Christian Council became the South African Council of Churches
and entered a new era of activism. During most of the 1960s, the Christian Institute was
at the center of most church activism, occasionally sharing the spotlight with the SACC
on joint projects. However, after the banning of the Christian Institute in 1977, the SACC
chose to become more radicalized. The progressive shift of the SACC in the years
following could also be linked to the fact that Desmond Tutu served as secretary general
of the organization between 1978 and 1985.56
The SACC’s demographics were dramatically different than its GMC roots. By
1970, blacks made up 85% of the membership and 90% of the observer churches in the
e-y SACC. In 1972, the SACC was declared a black organization by the South African
government since it had more black than white executive members.
Church historians Marjorie Hope and James Young describe the work of the
SACC as threefold: “declaration of church opposition to institutionalized injustice,
.. .education of white members to the moral implications of apartheid and mobilization of
the resources of the black majority by means of education and self-help projects”.58
One of the most memorable and important activities of the SACC was the
publication of A Message to the People of South Africa in 1968. This declaration was
unveiled at the first meeting of the SACC and denounced apartheid as contrary to the
56 Lyn Graybill, Religion and Resistance Politics in South Africa (Westport: Praeger, 1995)106. 57 Hope, 87-88. 58 Hope, 93.
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message of Christian life. Apartheid was labeled a pseudo-gospel that required
ideological obedience to the government rather than to God.
The year after the publication of A Message to the People of South Africa, the
SACC and the Christian Institute co-sponsored six commissions to investigate particular
political issues in greater depth. This was called the Study Project on Christianity in
Apartheid Society (SPRO-CAS) and looked at the issues of: education, social change,
power and privilege; the church; law and justice; and political alternatives to apartheid.59
SPRO-CAS published their findings and also helped to launch the Black Community
Programs project which increased empowerment activities for black people in the
townships. The SPRO-CAS II initiative continued to support the BCP project but also
included a white conscientization project.
The SACC undertook a number of development projects aimed at improving the
quality of life for people living under the strain of apartheid. Some projects involved
providing legal assistance or emergency aid to detained persons and their families. The
Dependents’ Conference provided legal aid and helped families contact and visit
incarcerated family members. The SACC also provided financial assistance and logistical
support to numerous community development projects such as schools, job training and
improvement of infrastructure. The Asingeni Fund provided financial assistance for
funeral expenses for families who lost loved ones in the 1976 uprisings. The Fund also
paid legal aid expenses for activists.
In 1979, at the annual SACC conference, Allan Boesak gave a stirring speech
calling on all member churches to engage in a campaign of civil disobedience to resist the
59 Hope, 80.
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apartheid state. A resolution was drawn up that directed churches to not cooperate with
the government “in all those areas in the ordering of our society where the law violates
the justice of God.”60
The most striking aspect of the SACC’s work was the integrated atmosphere of
the organization. This was one of the first and largest organizations in which blacks and
whites were able to meet together and openly organize. Hope and Young wrote: “For
whites, it is one of the few places where they can become more familiar with black
opinions and experiences. For blacks, it is almost the only forum where they can air their
aspirations and frustrations.”61 In 1970, John Rees was elected as secretary general of the
SACC and he instituted some radical new policies with regards to race. Equal salaries
were paid to whites and blacks. Toilets were de-segregated. Black administrators were all
given white secretaries and white administrators were given black secretaries.62 Desmond
Tutu described the SACC as “a living example of a community in which black-white
relations contradict the spirit of apartheid, a place where persons of different races,
cultures and sexes work well together. We have tensions, but they’re not racial tensions -
they arise from the fact that people are people.”63 Within the SACC, whites and blacks
worked as equals -arguably more than they did anywhere else in South Africa.
The SACC was unique because although much of their work was political in
nature, they continued to practice a shared life of religious devotion and spirituality. Staff
gathered daily for prayers at 8:30 every morning.64 In a time in which most churches
60 South African Council of Chinches, 1979 National Conference Declaration. 61 Hope, 86. 62 Hope, 88. 63 Hope, 110. 64 Tutu, 30-31,76.
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remained segregated, shared worship was nothing less than revolutionary. Every
Thursday, staff members shared a fast to pray for justice and reconciliation. These
spiritual practices reminded the SACC that they were led to political action not by their
political convictions but by their religious beliefs.
The unity and significance of the SACC’s work did not go unnoticed by the South
African government. In 1982, the Eloff Commission was appointed to investigate the
organization and determine if it posed a threat to the government. The Commission
scrutinized the history, purpose and finances of the SACC. The very fact that the
government took the SACC’s work so seriously is a testament to the merits and strength
of the organization. In the end, the Eloff Commission concluded that all political
theology should be rejected by all organizations and that the church must only concern
itself with spiritual matters. This ruling, of course, contradicted everything that had
happened in South Africa since the arrival of the Dutch.
In 1995, the SACC reorganized itself in order to be more effective in the changing
post-apartheid environment. Activities were decentralized to fall under nine provincial
councils.65 Unfortunately, even today the SACC struggles to find ways to be relevant to
the new political situation in South Africa. When I conducted an informal poll of local
pastors and asked them what the work of the SACC was today - almost all of them had
no idea. The few that did know shook their heads and expressed dismay that such a
powerful organization had lost its sense of purpose.
65 “New Face of the SACC” Challenge Number 33. (December 1995/January 1996) 23.
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The religious leaders who chose to be active in the anti-apartheid struggle in more
political ways influenced others to join them. Their positions in society as leaders gave
them a credibility and trustworthiness. When the major political parties were banned and
the major political leaders in detention or exile, the religious leaders were the logical
choice to step forward and lead the struggle. These leaders spearheaded campaigns such
as the End Conscription Campaign and the Standing for Truth Campaign as well as
organizing marches, serving as monitors and other political activities. Church leaders
maintained their religious role while arguing for the need for religion to directly address
and interact with politics.
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The concepts of community, fellowship and unity are at the heart of what it means
to be South African in South Africa. These concepts transcend the categories of political
versus religious and strike at the heart of identity and belonging. While apartheid might
be classified as a religious phenomenon, so too might the concept of ubuntu. Ubuntu is
the fundamental opposite of apartheid - while apartheid defined the world in terms of
division and separation, ubuntu defines the world in terms of unity and fellowship. These
values guided the actions of the religious anti-apartheid struggle and also aided in the
healing process. Even during the darkest days of apartheid, unity was sought and found in
the actions of people willing to take a chance for peace. In this chapter, I examine the
significance and implications of the concepts of ubuntu, unity and fellowship..
One humanity in the place of two
While the Afrikaner establishment argued that separation was a core biblical
value, the anti-apartheid leaders embraced the opposite stance. They argued that unity is
one of the core articles of faith in the Christian tradition and that to impede unity meant
impeding God’s intentions for humankind. Numerous scriptural references were given to
back this position particularly from the book of Ephesians. Ephesians utilizes a consistent
161
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theme of alienation and separation as God’s punishment for sin and unity as the optimal
state of human existence.1 Ephesians 2:13-15 reads:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in the place of two, thus making peace.
These verses read like a vision of the new South Africa. It was this unity, this
reconciliation through God that was at the heart of the hopes of the anti-apartheid
struggle.
During Desmond Tutu’s defense of the SACC before the Eloff Commission, he
used unity in this way: “I want to stress that this concern for unity is not something that
was introduced by the ecumenical movement from its inception. No, the scriptures
declare that unity, the unity of the entire creation was God’s intention from the very
• • 9 beginning of creation.” Apartheid’s intent to deny the unity of creation made it
unmistakably contrary to the will of God. It is important to note that unity did not mean
uniformity. The anti-apartheid struggle never reduced its argument to the premise that all
people were the same. The diversity of people was acknowledged and celebrated but the
unity of humanity was a core value as well.
While Cosmas Desmond firmly believed in the power of theology to topple a
corrupt regime, he felt that biblical scholarship was not sufficient to reinforce the need
for unity and reconciliation among the people. He writes:
We know that the Gospel tells us to love our neighbor - so there is no need to ask what it says. But it does not tell us how to do it here and now. We can only learn that from the people we are supposed to be loving. It is not the Gospel message of loving our neighbor
1 Arie Brouwer, “Summons to South Africa” Ecumenical Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991) 68- 69. 2 Desmond Tutu, The Rainbow People of God (New York: Doubleday Books, 1994) 59.
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that is challenged by events such as the rioting; it is our understanding and practice of it that is being rejected. The Gospel cannot tell us how we have failed the people; but the people can tell us that we have failed the Gospel.3
Here Desmond simultaneously acknowledges unity and fellowship as theological,
biblically based concepts while also criticizing the ways in which the people of South
Africa have failed to embrace these concepts. He exercises a prophetic role in
acknowledging the shortcomings of the people and calling them back into relationship
with one another. This is the modem echo of the call in Ephesians to embrace “one new
humanity in the place of two.”
If you are standing on my neck, neither one of us is free
One of the strongest arguments of the liberation movement was that when
freedom was achieved, it would be an accomplishment not only for blacks but for all
South Africans. Black liberation liberated whites as well as blacks. By identifying white
liberation as part of the goal of black liberation, the scope of the struggle widened. Until
blacks were free, no one was truly free.
Whites needed freedom from the constraints of apartheid as well. Beyers Naude
remarked, “Whites need liberating. It can only come through black liberation and a
willingness on the part of whites to accept blacks as their unqualified equals.”4 Despite
all the power that the white establishment appeared to have, they could not truly
experience security and freedom until the blacks had freedom as well.
In an ironic way, whites could not force blacks to liberate them. This idea was
best expressed in religious language - it was the non-white people of South Africa who
3 Cosmas Desmond, Christians or Capitalists? Christianity and Politics in South Africa (London: Bowerdean Press, 1978) 26-27. 4 Beyers Naude, interview by Charles Villa-Vicencio Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 221.
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had to bring the gospel to the white people, despite the fact that it was the white people
who first brought it to them. The blacks had to evangelize the whites - to call them back
to the fundamental principles of love and compassion in their own religion.
Black theologian Adam Small suggested that blacks were in a better position to
educate whites about liberation than vice versa. “Whites know and approach us from the
outside; even where their intentions are as pure as possible, they are on the outside. From
the inside we know them well enough. The non-privileged of a society always know the
privileged of that society better than the other way around.”5 The use of liberation
theology by blacks was far more accurate and stirring than its use by whites in apartheid
South Africa because the black people were using the experience of their own oppression
as an interpretive lens.
Cosmas Desmond went as far as arguing that white people could not change other
white people’s minds: “The oppressor cannot be persuaded by other members of the
oppressing class to stop being an oppressor, because, generally speaking, he does not
believe that he is an oppressor and this belief cannot really be changed so long as the
oppressed themselves remain silent and acquiescent.”6 This statement contradicts the
mission of such organizations as the Christian Institute led by anti-apartheid Afrikaner
Beyers Naude and others. Nonetheless, Desmond seems to have a valid point - the power
of black people to reveal the injustice of the system to whites was indisputable.
5Adam Small, “Blackness versus Nihilism: black racism rejected” The Challenge of Black Theology in South Africa ed. Basil Moore, (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1973) 16. 6 Desmond, 81.
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Lessons in Loving Your Neighbor
Achieving unity and equality in South Africa was not just a preferable alternative
to the status quo for religious people engaged in the struggle - one of the bedrocks of the
Christian faith was to love one another. Ultimately, love of God was expressed in love for
other people, particularly people whom one might consider an enemy. It was not an
option for the different races to love one another - it was a mandate. Tutu exhorted
people to love by saying: “...if you say you love God whom you have not seen and hate
your brother whom you have, the Bible does not use delicate language; it does not say
you are guilty of a terminological inexactitude. It says bluntly you are a liar. For he who
would love God must love his brother also.
The crisis of South Africa was a crisis of love. The privileged white class of South
Africa was guilty of a failure to fully love their neighbor, and, by extension, their God.
Cosmas Desmond succinctly wrote: “The Black neighbors of the White adherents (of the
Gospel) have made it quite clear that they do not consider themselves to be loved.”7
For the non-white South Africans to love the whites was also no easy task. Manas
Buthelezi felt that black Christians had a responsibility to proselytize love to racist white
Christians. “As far as the racist is concerned, I take this to mean that I should try to be
one with him in love, even if it is unilateral, unreciprocated love and to continue to
minister to him even while he carves for himself a racist church.”8
The impetus to love is one of the characteristics of the religious struggle against
apartheid that most clearly delineates it from its secular counterparts. To imagine PAC or
7 Desmond, 8. 8 Manas Buthelezi, Black Theology USA and South Africa (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990) 101.
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ANC or Inkatha leaders urging their followers to love the oppressors would be
unimaginable. Yet this is exactly what many black religious leaders did while also
encouraging their congregations to be strong and believe in their own worth.
A Person is a Person through Other People
One aspect that characterizes both the struggle against apartheid as well as the re
building of South Africa in apartheid’s wake, is the significance placed on community
and fellowship. As epitomized by the concept of ubuntu, the strength of an individual was
viewed as being anchored in his or her connection to their community. Desmond Tutu
defined ubuntu in this way: “It has to do with what it means to be truly human, it refers to
gentleness, to compassion, to hospitality, to openness to others, to vulnerability, to be
available for others and to know that you are bound up with them in the bundle of life, for
a person is only a person through other persons”.9
Ubuntu meant that one was part of a corporate community - a community that had
existed long before one’s birth and would continue to exist long after one’s death.
Participation in this community was not optional; it was a fact of existence. The humanity
of each person in the community was permanently bound to all other members. When
one member is humiliated, injured or dehumanized, all of the community experience this.
Ubuntu was rooted in both African culture as well as religion. Black
theologians embraced ubuntu as an authentic expression of African spirituality and
theologians such as Buthelezi and Simon Maimela emphasized the role of corporate
community as part of their theological critique of apartheid. Contextual theology likewise
acknowledged the significance of ubuntu which was often revealed in a community’s
9 Tutu, 125.
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collective interpretation of the Bible. Writing as a contextual theologian Albert Nolan
observes, “It is true that on rare occasions reference is made to an individual who is
persecuted (like some of the prophets) or who fall on hard times (like Job) or who are
betrayed by a friend (like David), but for the most part, passages about suffering in the
Old Testament scriptures are depicting the sufferings of an oppressed people.”10 The
suffering of those under apartheid was a pain experience by collective groups - families,
communities, and churches. It was only when enough of the entire community felt this
suffering (including those not directly affected by apartheid) that the system began to
crumble. Ubuntu and the communal suffering of the people were the powers that
eventually brought the apartheid system to its knees.
Simon Maimela argued that in a corporate community, sin is also a primarily
collective phenomenon rather than an individual one. Sin in South Africa was present
wherever there was division and separation between groups of people. Apartheid was the
antithesis of community, unity and ubuntu. Sin was “a collective concept, a refusal by
one group to have interpersonal relations with another group....A breach in human
fellowship, then, enacts a grave disobedience against God and against the created
order.”11
Ubuntu and fellowship could not be possible without contact between the races.
Apartheid and policies of separate development aimed to create distance and detachment.
For theologians like Manas Buthelezi, separation contradicted the heart of the Christian
gospel: “Fellowship is by definition a situation of contact. It follows that there can never
10Albert Nolan, God in South Africa: the challenge of the gospel (Cape Town: David Philip Press, 1988) 62. 11 Dwight Hopkins, Black Theology USA and South Africa (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1990) 110-111.
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be a Christian fellowship without human contact. Any deliberate elimination of points of
human contact is a calculated sabotage of the essence of Christian fellowship.”12
Ubuntu means being related to one another even when one might prefer isolation.
This is especially true within the context of a religious community. The language of
Christianity often employs the metaphor of family - stressing that even when we do not
like one another, we are still commanded to care for one another. Tutu remarked in
astonishment: “Can you imagine what would happen in this land if we accepted that
theological fact about ourselves - that whether we like it or not we are members of one
family? Whether I like it or not, whether he likes it or not, as I have said before, P.W.
Botha is my brother and I must desire and pray for the best for him. The wonderful thing
about family is that you are not expected to agree about everything under the sun.”13
Even after Father Michael Lapsley lost both of his arms in a mail bomb from the
government, he still remarked, “The gospel of Jesus Christ forces me (as only love can
force me) to believe that the Prime Minister and his government are my brothers for
whom Christ died.”14
Exposure as Transformative
While theoretical imperatives to love one’s neighbor or to accept others as part of
one’s family might have carried theological weight, it was actual exposure to ‘the other’
that changed people’s lives. Desmond explained the power of experience this way: “I do
not believe that it is possible simply to argue people into such a commitment (to oppose
12 Hopkins, 99. 13 Tutu, 119. 14 Michael Lapsley, “Hope After Soweto?” Speech delivered to the University of Witswatersrand, September 23, 1976.
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injustice). This can only arise as the result of experience - the experience of the evilness
of the system and of the inadequacy of our present attempts to change it.”15
One of the programs that Diakonia found to be most successful was their
immersion programs. Director Paddy Kearney said: “Exposure and immersion are very
powerful methodologies for helping people to be involved. When they actually see the
problems then they feel they want to do something.”16 However, this exposure could not
be too overwhelming for the white people involved, many of whom had never seen the
extent of poverty and suffering in the townships. If these people were shown too much at
once, the well meaning guide risked overwhelming them and making them feel that there
was nothing they could do to alleviate the suffering. “You’ve got to plan those exposures
very carefully because an exposure can misfire....So you’ve got to give people entry
points and empower them so that they see something that is manageable and they come
away and they make a commitment to do something in which they can succeed and they
• 17 gam energy to go on and do other things.” While it might seem patronizing to not show
people too much at once, on a practical level, this was the method that proved most
effective in mobilizing people.
The Diakonia office closed once a year for two weeks so that staff members could
all engage in an immersion activity. “All of us went out to a congregation of a member
church, not our own church, in a different community, preferably in a different race
group. The goal was to actually live there; just be an observer - seeing what happens in
15 Desmond, 7. 16 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005. 17 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005.
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an ordinary congregation, seeing what happens in a local community.”18 Keamey
remembers this as one of the best, most powerful experiences that Diakonia put on.
The Catholic Church had a campaign called the Call to Conscience Movement
that brought non-white priests and parishioners into white churches simply to describe
their life experiences. While this may seem like a simplistic approach to dismantling
stereotypes, it was reasonably effective. Archbishop Lawrence Henry was one of the
priests that went to speak to white Catholic congregations about his experience as a
colored man and about the experience of his black and colored parishioners.
The whites needed to understand that there were certain wrongs in the country that could not be tolerated in a Christian context. My people used to go and work in the white area nearby as domestic servants. They would have to be there, at their place of employment, at 7 am or so for the white family and they would come back late at night, after 7 pm to their homes. The impact of that kind of employment did a lot to you to interrupt your own family life. One had to talk to people about this. (I said to the white people) because my parishioners are serving you at 7 o’clock with your coffee, do you know what impact that has on their own family life?19
It is important to remember that whites in South Africa had little to no contract with non
whites for most of their private as well as public lives. For some whites, the only non
white people they spoke to were their domestic servants or others in the service industry.
To hear an educated colored or black person describe what it felt like to be a member of
the oppressed class in South African society was powerful.
The Pain of Good Intentions
While examining the impacts and effectiveness of increased exposure between
whites and blacks in South African society, a word should be said about the occasional
uncomfortable nature of such encounters. For the most part, non-white people were
extremely familiar with the culture of white people in South Africa because they did not
18 Paddy Keamey, Interview by Emily Welty, January 3, 2005. 19 Archbishop Lawrence Henry, Interview by Emily Welty, January 12, 2005.
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have any other choice. Familiarity was not a choice - it was a survival necessity. Like
people living as a minority culture anywhere in the world, the dominant culture was
painfully well-known. However, those whites who chose to cross the color line as an
effort to oppose apartheid found the transition to be occasionally embarrassing, painful
and confusing.
Most of the religious boundary crossing was done in the context of a white priest
or pastor choosing to serve a black congregation in a township. These whites often found
themselves without the resources to adequately understand or deal with their new
surroundings. For some this eventually spelled a life of isolation and detachment while
for others it simply presented a challenge to engage their new community more fully.
Father Patrick Noonan’s move to the Vaal Triangle illustrates how even good intentions
were often not enough to be culturally competent in another society. In his memoirs, he
writes:
I had to unlearn all my Eurocentric assumptions. That was difficult. And I was a slow learner. In the area of community development I had to leam to stay in the background, to enable the leadership role of the people to emerge, to express itself, to develop and finally to take charge....During church meetings as a white priest I needed to refrain from fulfilling a perceived South African white role of dominating, deciding for, telling or directing the participants how things should be done.20
White priest, Father Chris Townsend, continues to serve the black parish of St.
Anthony’s in Soweto today. He is constantly aware of the dynamics of his race in relation
to his congregation and realizes that he has to cater his homilies to suit the context of
Soweto. While he deeply enjoys his job in the area, he also realizes his limitations as a
white person. “You always play the outsider. In both of my parishes I still play the
outsider. It affects the way that I communicate with the parish. English and to some
20 Patrick Noonan, Burning the Churches (Durban: Jacana Books, 2003) 226.
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extent Afrikaans are much more literal languages....You are always an outsider. But also
the work I do makes me an outsider. Religion is an outsider’s role.”21 Townsend has
become a specialist in stress and trauma healing which is deeply needed by so many
people in the wake of apartheid.
Nico Smith and the Koinonia Movement
The Koinonia movement was a small, localized campaign in Pretoria and
Pietermaritzburg that encouraged cross-racial friendship and understanding. Nico Smith,
an Afrikaner and former Broederbund member, started this movement. In April 2001, I
had the chance to sit down with this extraordinary man and hear the story of his
conversion to social justice and the exposure movement that it sparked. I have included
excerpts from that interview here, as I believe that Smith tells his own story far better
than I could by simply describing it.
Welty: Tell me about the experience of being in the Broederbund and then coming
to the realization that apartheid was wrong.
Smith: We were 20,000 at the time I was in it. All the top leaders belonged to the
organization because all the members of Parliament were Afrikaners and all the
presidents and ministers, they were all members. But the year when I became a member,
I also visited Germany and Europe because I wanted to know what was going on with a
few of the missions at that time. It so happened that I also visited the theologian Karl
Barth. It was very interesting when I met with him that day.
21 Chris Townsend, Interview by Emily Welty, December 29, 2004.
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He first said to me, “You know it is interesting that you come from South Africa
because only last week I read a speech made by your prime minister in which he was
explaining the racial problems you have. You know that what your minister president
said was almost exactly what a certain president Davis of the Southern States of America
said about their racial problems 100 years ago. Must I now take it that you people in
South Africa are living 100 years behind the times?”
I didn’t want to argue because I knew that he would be very much against me and
I went to him to discuss theology. So I just said to him, “Yes but I don’t want to discuss
South Africa. I want to talk about the future of theology in Europe.” We were discussing
for an hour and a half on theology in Europe.
He said, “Before you leave, can I ask you a very personal question?” I said yes.
He said, “Are you free in South Africa to preach the gospel?”
I said, “Yes! We are free!”
He said, “No look, that is not the type of free I am talking about. I want to know
if you are studying the bible and you come across things which are against what your
family and friends think, are you free to preach about it?”
I said, “I don’t know, I’ve never been in such a situation.”
Then he said, “Even more difficult, what if you come across things which are
against what the government expects, are you free to preach about it?”
I felt very embarrassed that he asked me three times if I was free. I was
questioning my conscience. But nevertheless, the question “are you free?” never slipped
my mind again. It was ten years after my discussion with him, that in a meeting of the
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Broederbund one night that I had to admit to myself one night that I wasn’t free. That
night we had to take a decision that was completely at odds with my conscience.
Welty: What did you decide to do?
Smith: I had to admit to myself that I can’t speak out about what I think and what I feel. I
had to conform to what others were thinking and saying and that night I just stood up and
walked out. I knew it was going to be disastrous. From 1973-1982, I really had a very
tough time. I was bounced from place to place, used and abused, called to answer for
different things by the DRC. But by the end of 1981 I realized that I wasn’t going to
make a difference in Stellenbosch. It was deeply esteemed as the university of the
Afrikaner people. I realized that I was not going to make any difference. I resigned as
professor there. I came to Pretoria to serve a black congregation. I eventually went to
live in a black township, Mamelodi, which of course was in that time considered to be
something that only a mad person would do.
Welty: How did you make the decision to move to Mamelodi?
Smith: In my discussions with people living in the black townships I realized that, unless
I came to live amongst them, I would never really understand what it means to be black
in South Africa. And the whole concept of the incarnation from the Christian point of
view became a very strong reality to me. Becoming flesh amongst the people, to
experience who they are and what they experience... So, we then moved to the
township. My wife and I were the only two whites in the township of 350,000 people.
The blacks found it strange but they welcomed us. So then we stayed there for 5 years
and I started a new DRC congregation for black people.
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Welty: What price did you have to pay for breaking away from what you were
expected to do? How did other people react to your decision? Were there
consequences?
Smith: Enormous consequences...I lost almost everything, financially, socially.I got
totally ousted, outside and looked upon as a deserter, a dissenter. ButI am not sorry
about it. WhatI gained I would never have wanted to miss.I have been enriched in such
an enormous way by African people, by my contact with them.I have learned so much
from them. I have lost my Afrikaner friends butI gained tens, hundreds of black friends.
And I feel at home, I feel that I have finally become an African, not a European anymore.
I feel at home with African people.
Welty: Can you tell me more about the Koinonia movement? When did it begin?
Smith: That was in 1982. When I started to work in the black township, groups of white
people kept inviting me to come and talk to them and tell them what life was like in a
black township. Some of them got interested when I moved there and they wanted to
know what was happening. So I usually accepted the invitations but one day I thought,
why don’t I challenge them?
I told a group, “You say you are Christians, evangelical Christians most of all,
and you claim you have a very special relationship with God. Why do you want me to
come and tell you about the people in Mamelodi? Why don’t you come yourself? Learn
to know the African!” So I challenged them that day, there were 17 of them.
I said, “You know what I’d like to do? I am going to arrange for two white
couples and two black couples to come together in one of the houses in Mamelodi and I
will take you there in the evening for a meal. Sit down with them, eat with them, talk to
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them.” They had never thought of something like that and they said that I must give them
one month’s time to think about it.
Welty: What was their response?
Smith: They were frightened by the idea.I went back after a month andI took along a
black friend from Mamelodi. I asked the group what their decision was.
One white man said that what he knows about a black township is that it is a very
dangerous place and they will cut your throat for ten cents. And he is a father of children
and he has got to be responsible, he can’t just go in there and lose his life. So he doesn’t
want to go.
Another one says, “Ja, you know, Dr. Smith you say we must have a mealI there.
don’t eat porridge and marock and I know that is the basic food of African people andI
can’t eat it. So it will be a real embarrassment ifI sit there andI can’t eat their food. We
can’t go.”
The third one stood up and said, “Dr. Smith, you say we must talk to them, we
must communicate with them but what are we going to talk about? We are living in such
different worlds! What are we going to talk about? So to think that we can go and
communicate in the normal way, I don’t believe that is possible.”
My black friend said, “Can I answer these questions?”
I said, “Please do - it would be much more effective if you would.”
He said, “You are talking about the danger of the townships and how they will cut
your throat. But ifI come to the white areas every morning andI read about all the
murder in the white communityI always thinkI am so happy thatI don’t live in the white
community. But you know,I have been living in Mamelodi all my life and they have
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never taken my life. By the way, it is strange that you can believe it is so dangerous and
you were never concerned about your fellow Christians living there. We are Christians
just like you are Christians! But you never did something to say why are they living in a
place where they cut your throat for ten cents? You never did anything about it, is that
the type of Christianity that we have?
Secondly, this thing of food - almost all black women have worked at some point
in the houses of white families. They have prepared their food for them. They know
exactly what white people eat! When you come that night, we will tell our wives to
prepare white food. We won’t eat porridge and marock, we will eat white food.
About the problem of communication, look, you needn’t talk; we have a lot to tell
you! We will do all the talking, you just listen!”
My friend neutralized them in such a way that they had no argument to say that
they did not want to come. So they started to come.
Welty: That is an incredible story. What happened when the first group of whites
took you up on your offer?
Smith: When I took the first four whites the first night, they were scared to death. And
when they experienced it and I came to take them home again, they were totally changed
people. That is when I realized there is a dynamic in personal things which I must use.
They were so enthusiastic afterwards that they wanted to take their friends. So this thing
started growing and growing and growing.
I chose that they must eat together because whites in South Africa always think
that blacks are dirty and that whites can’t eat their food. If you think of Jesus, he ate with
the people that people said you can’t eat with. If they were Christians then they must
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share a meal. Sharing a meal puts you at an equal level. You sit around a table, you look
eye to eye, you speak. Sharing a meal is something sacred, like holy Communion. So
Koinonia started.
Welty: Where is Koinonia today? It seems like this kind of movement is still needed.
Smith: When apartheid ended, our overseas donors said that the whole situation has
changed and it is not necessary anymore. But I realize today that it’s actually more
necessary today. I wish there were young people who would say that we are going to
start this all over again. You know Emily, those people who participated in Koinonia, I
could almost see the difference between them and other whites. Africans were not
strangers to them anymore. Koinonia was preparing white people for what was coming.
Welty: Did the people who met each other maintain the relationship on their own
after you introduced them?
Smith: They had to continue with it on their own. It spread to Johannesburg,
Pietermaritzburg, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town... I believe that
Koinonia has played a major role in making whites aware of the blacks in this country. I
don’t know how many people exactly participated but I think we reached thousands of
people. We had weekend encounters where white people would go to the black township
and live there for the weekend or black people would go to white areas.
Welty: Wasn’t that illegal at the time?
Smith: Ja, when we first started it was illegal. But we considered it as an act of civil
disobedience. I remember we sent mixed groups of young people into restaurants and
they were very often thrown out and the police were called. But there is a time when you
have to say, we must follow civil disobedience.
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Welty: That is very powerful.
Smith: That was Koinonia. I really hope that much more will be done to get people
together now. Emily - that is the most important thing. People have to talk to one
another.
Welty: Thank you for talking to me.
Smith: Pleasure.
Nico Smith’s experiences deftly illustrate the complex connections between
religion, politics and the dynamics of reconciliatory exposure during the apartheid years.
It is significant that it was only when Smith understood that, even as a white Afrikaner
man, he was not completely free as long as the apartheid system had power that he began
to work for apartheid’s disintegration. Karl Barth’s questions to him affected him deeply
and caused him to see his own liberty and life as connected to the lives of non-white
South Africans. Once Smith understood that his own freedom was bound up in the
freedom of others, he began to advocate reconciliation initiatives.
Smith, like other religious activists, suffered social isolation and stigmatization as
a result of his work against apartheid. Yet, he is also confident that the rewards and
friendships that he gained were infinitely valuable and worth the price that he paid.
Smith’s story is compelling because it is simultaneously simple and courageous. The idea
to create small encounter groups that share dinner is not a grand scheme. Yet it was
revolutionary because it required courage and because it dramatically changed the
perceptions that people had of one another.
I am struck particularly by the way that Nico Smith integrated his faith and his
activism. He did not spearhead Koinonia simply because he believed in the ideals of
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peace or unity. He was driven to create this movement because his religious faith led him
to believe that fellowship and unity were mandates of religious belief. Thus, he uses
terms such as “incarnation” or “communion” to describe his experiences.
The strong ties of fellowship and community and the philosophical tradition of
ubuntu eased the transition between the apartheid era and democracy. The desire to know
and understand one another that was shared by so many South Africans enabled the
country to unify more quickly in the aftermath of the oppression that had rocked the
country. Encounters like the Koinonia Movement developed the beginnings of
relationships that superceded the color line. As we shall see in the next chapter, the roles
of religious leaders and organizations in the socio-political sphere did not end with
apartheid. Luckily, the spirit of ubuntu has also continued.
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The role of churches, religious organizations and religious leaders did not
evaporate after the end of apartheid. When the political organizations such as the ANC
were unbanned in 1990, many thought that the religious movement might fade into the
background. However, they were called upon to participate in the National Peace
Accords as well as the CODES A negotiations. In this chapter, I explore the ways in
which the politically active religious figures have had to adjust to the new context in
South Africa as well as the directions that their work is taking today.
Into retirement?
After 1990, many religious people believed that their significant contribution to
political life was over. Church leaders decided that it was time to return to their
traditional roles within the communities they served and to leave the politics to the newly
un-banned political parties.
The morning after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, Desmond Tutu prayed
with him and then made the famous remark to reporters, “I can now get on with the work
of the church.”1 This remark upset hundreds of church activists who had been arguing for
years that the work of the churchwas the work of politics, of being with people in their
pain. For Tutu to suggest that his previous work was somehow not essentially the work of
1 Desmond Tutu, interview by Charles Villa-Vicencio Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) 276. 181
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the church essentially invalidated many deep convictions for these activists. It also raised
the difficult question of what the role of the churches was to be in the new South Africa.
Tutu later clarified his remark by saying, “I am going to adopt a lower profile. We had to
fulfill a role and I kept saying that I was an interim leader, because our real leaders were
either in jail or in exile.. ..But that does not mean that we will not still be wanting to be
vigilant and seeking to be prophetic”.2
For the first few years after apartheid ended, it seemed as if the role of religion in
political life might have ended altogether. The churches were seduced into thinking that
their work would be strictly pastoral and that the new government would address and
solve all of their previous concerns. Much of the international money that had been
financing organizations such as the South African Council of Churches and the South
African Catholic Bishops Conference was suddenly re-directed to other areas of the
world leaving these organizations with little funding.
The direction that the struggle against apartheid had given some congregations
had also ended. Father Albert Danker of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Durban told me,
“I don’t know if we mainline churches sufficiently give people things that go beyond
liturgy and ritual. The Pentecostals are advocating a personal relationship with the Savior
and that seems to be really appealing to people.”3
The TRC and Faith Communities
The fullest account of the role of religion in apartheid arrived with the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission hearings. Forty-one different faith communities made
2 Desmond Tutu, The Rainbow People of God (New York: Doubleday Books, 1994) 203. 3 Father Albert Danker, Interview by Emily Welty, March 5, 2001.
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submissions to the TRC ranging from large denominations to small groups of African
Independence Churches. Over five hundred pages of written submissions were sent for
the commission to review. Each faith community answered the following questions:
• In which way, if any, did the theology and activities of your denomination
contribute to the formation of the motives and perspectives of those
individuals, organizations and institutions responsible for gross human
rights violations, either in upholding the previous system or in opposing
it?
• What was the contribution of your community or organization in creating
a climate of justification for gross human rights violations to be
committed?
• In which ways, through acts of commission and acts of omission, did your
community or organization contribute to the conflict of the past?
• In which ways did you fail to live up to those principles of your faith
which oppose human rights violations?
• In which ways did your community or organization actively oppose gross
human rights violations?4
Almost all of the submissions received presented some sort of a confession or apology for
the organization’s behavior during apartheid with most confessing to acts of omission.
The Research Institute on Christianity in South Africa, the organization responsible for
compiling a summary of the submissions, noted that the submissions should be
4 Research Institute on Christianity in South Africa. Faith Communities and Apartheid. 3.
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considered as a report of “not so much what the faith communities did, but rather what
they said they did during the years under consideration.”5
As part of my own research, I also went back to the original transcripts of the
faith communities’ hearings before the TRC. It was this experience that showed me how
very little analysis has been done in retrospect about the role of religious communities in
both supporting and struggling against apartheid. In examining the transcripts, one is
struck by the number of churches who claim to have opposed apartheid but do not
provide any details of what this opposition involved. Testimonies from some individuals
who worked tirelessly in their struggle against apartheid presented confessions that
seemed to take more responsibility for supporting apartheid than was realistic. I am
thinking here in particular of the testimony of Dr. Nico Smith, a former Broederbund
member who started the Koinonia movement and worked passionately against apartheid.
His presentation confessed that, “we (pastors) had failed to spell out the consequences of
the gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore we didn’t touch the conscience either of the
members of the government or the willing executioners of their plans...We have failed
the gospel and we have failed the Lord of the Church.”6
On the other side of the spectrum, there were organizations and faith communities that
failed to apologize for anything or to confess any degree of complicity. These churches
included the United Methodist Church, the Zion Christian Church, the Moravian church
and the Bahai’i faith.
5 Research Institute on Christianity in South Africa. 2. 6 Dr. Nico Smith, TRC submission. November 19, 1999.
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Observers of the TRC noted that it bore a close resemblance to a religious
organization itself. The hearings opened each day with a prayer by Desmond Tutu. Tutu
had retired from his position as archbishop of Cape Town at this time but presided over
the hearings wearing his full vestments. In addition to Tutu, there were also three other
pastors among the TRC Commissioners. In Ebrahim Moosa’s recounting of the
significance of the TRC, he wrote: “It requires a faith in themysterium of the event, a
faith in the rite of reconciliation, a belief in the rituals of confession, rather than an
expectation in the outcome of the process.”7 Periodically during the hearings, groups of
people attending or testifying burst into prayer or began singing hymns. These hymns
and prayers guided people through the traumatic and harrowing experience of reliving
some of the most brutal parts of apartheid. It cannot come as a surprise that in a country
where religion played such a fundamental role in the struggle, that religion was also used
in the healing process.
Critical tension vs. co-option
What happens to a revolutionary movement when they achieve their goals? What
ideological shift must be made when opposition to the government becomes the
government? These are the kinds of questions that confront the anti-apartheid movement
today. The religious leaders that fervently led the fight against apartheid are friends and
former comrades with the leaders of the government. Yet they still want to avoid a
7 Ebrahim Moosa, “Truth and Reconciliation as performance: specters of Eucharistic redemption” Looking Back. Reaching Forward: reflections on the Tmth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa eds. Charles Villa-Vicencio and Wilhelm Verwoerd. (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2000) 117- 118. 8 Piet Meiring, “The baruti versus the lawyers: the role of religion in the TRC process” ” Looking Back. Reaching Forward: reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa eds. Charles Villa-Vicencio and Wilhelm Verwoerd. (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2000) 124,126.
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blending of Church and state. Engagement in politics has become a tricky proposition and
even those leaders who urged that religion must engage politics seem to have fallen
silent. Archbishop Rubin Phillip is particularly concerned with issues of church
independence:
We need to retain our sense of autonomy and independence....We need to work in partnership with government and other agencies which are involved in issues of transformation. The government is no longer our enemy - they are our friends. We know these chaps - we voted for them. We know them by first name. So we need a partnership. However, we also need to retain our prophetic voice. We should talk about critical solidarity... Otherwise we will get absorbed into government policy.9
Critical solidarity means retained the right and responsibility to act as the conscience of
the government and to still create political space in which to criticize its actions if it does
not live up to its promises.
Many are concerned that precisely because the church was so deeply involved in
the struggle against apartheid, that it will be easily co-opted by the government now.
Interestingly, this worry is not expressed so much by lay people as it is by religious
leaders themselves. Many are wary of being seen as part of the government.
I have had a concern, a great concern, since our democracy started ten years ago that the church has lost its way - its role in transforming society. I think many church leaders have become co-opted by some government leaders to accept and to follow government’s program in how the church should behave in our society. The President has a religious council which he called into being and our own Premier here in Kwa-Zulu Natal is starting something like this.10
Religious councils run by the government are a particularly tricky issue for religious
leaders. On one hand, their friends in official positions of power are convening such
councils with good intentions. However, on the other hand, religious leaders are wary of
being co-opted and losing the distinction between Church and state.
9 Archbishop Rubin Phillip, Interview by Emily Welty, January 7, 2005. 10 Archbishop Rubin Phillip, Interview by Emily Welty, January 7, 2005.
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The Church maintains that their primary mandate must be religious teachings and
not the propaganda or agenda of the government. At the same time, a partnership with the
government is strategically useful and at the same time easy to accomplish. The
temptation to no longer criticize political leaders is strong. In my interview with Cardinal
Napier, I was struck by the fact that he referred to President Mbeki simply as Thabo - a
testament to the close relationship that many political and religious leaders had shared
during the struggle. However, the Cardinal is also apprehensive about the existence of
religious consultations with the government.
I have never seen a government that has the president and the members of his cabinet meeting twice a year with religious leaders. We’ve got to keep asking ourselves questions. If the secular agenda is being forced us and being rammed down our throats - why then is the government wanting this close cozy relationship, this partnership (that’s their favorite term) with religious leaders? I think more and more people are starting to ask the question - is this a mode of co-option? Increasingly my understanding of it is that. While on one hand we are told it is an open meeting and you can bring up what you like, say what you like - there seems to be resentment when certain questions are brought up."
There seem to be no easy answers about how to stay loyal to both one’s ideology as well
as one’s friends.
The tension between ideology and loyalty was demonstrated by an incident in the
news during the last months of 2004. On November 23, 2004 Desmond Tutu gave the
Nelson Mandela Foundation lecture in Johannesburg in which he addressed the successes
and challenges that the new South African government had faced in its first ten years. As
a part of this speech, he criticized Thabo Mbeki’s comments on the HIV/AIDS crisis,
saying:
In the struggle days, it was exhilarating because they spoke of a mandate - you had to justify your position in vigorous exchanges. That seems no longer to be the case. It seems sycophancy is coming into its own. I would have wished to see far more open debate for instance of the HIV/AIDS views of the President in the ANC. Truth cannot suffer from
11 Cardinal Napier, Interview by Emily Welty, January 6, 2005.
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being challenged and examined. There surely can’t have been unanimity from the outset. I did not agree with the President but that did not make me his enemy. He knows that I hold him in high regard but none of us is infallible and that is why we are a democracy and not a dictatorship.12
Even despite Tutu’s caveat about Mbeki as an ally and not an enemy, Mbeki still reacted
with anger. Mbeki used his weekly online ANC column to blast Tutu’s comments,
writing: “It would be good if those that present themselves as the greatest defenders of
the poor should also demonstrate decent respect for the truth.”13 Tutu replied by saying
that he would pray for Mbeki and his government “as I did even for the apartheid
government.”14 After a week of exchanged barbs, the archbishop and the president called
a truce and issued apologies. Nonetheless, the fact that Mbeki reacted so strongly to a
rather mild criticism by Tutu is an indication of the ways in which prominent leaders are
still very interconnected and prone to expect loyalty and not criticism from one another.
We had a common cause
What happened to the social justice movement that was so deeply rooted in
religious organizations and churches during apartheid? Why couldn’t that energy be re
directed towards other causes? Cardinal Wilfred Napier explains it this way: “We owned
the experience. We were fired up about it. I think that would mark where the change took
place. In the middle 1980s, a real consciousness developed - you were talking about your
brother next to you who was suffering. Now today we have sort of lost the focus of the
common enemy, the enemy that was up in your face all the time, like apartheid was up in
your face all the time. We have to adjust from that period.”15
12 Desmond Tutu. Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture. November 23, 2004. 13 BBC News, “Tutu and Mbeki in a war of words” November 29, 2004. 14 BBC News, “Tutu and Mbeki in a war o f words” November 29, 2004. 15 Cardinal Wilfred Napier, Interview by Emily Welty, January 5, 2005.
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Contextual theology today
While many of the issues changed with the election of the ANC in 1994, the basic
theological issues that had been raised during the struggle against apartheid did not. Some
people feel that liberation theologies such as black and contextual theology are no longer
needed today. There is a heightened focus on reconciliation and such theologies are seen
as irrelevant to the cause of rebuilding a new non-racial South Africa. Nonetheless,
theological modalities such as black theology and contextual theology remain though
they continue to struggle to adjust to the new environment.
Black theology today is not as prevalent as it was during the apartheid era. With
black people filling most of the most powerful seats in the government, there is less of a
perceived need to empower through theology. Many of the most prominent black
theologians have now passed away, retired or taken seats in the government. raison The
d ’etre for black theology - black empowerment is not seen as a primary goal by the
blacks themselves. I predict that in coming years, once the fervor surrounding the change
in government has died down entirely, the topic of black theology will resurface.. Rather
than being reactive to a situation of oppression, black theology coming out of South
Africa could prove to be proactive.
Naturally, contextual theology also lost much of its focus when the government
shifted. However, because the methodology of contextual theology was a bit broader than
black theology, it managed to stay more relevant. In the introduction to a retrospective on
Albert Nolan’s contributions to contextual theology, editors McGlory Speckman and
Larry Kaufmann pose these questions:
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Contextual theology is South Africa is undergoing a major transition. This is reflected in its silence and in the kind of questions it wrestles with. Of concern among the questions asked from within is whether it should at all exist, rather than what kind of activities it should engage in, given its new socio-political context. It appears that its proponents from a particular phase of our struggle understood it only in terms of that phase. With its passing, they expected Contextual Theology to also disappear. Yet by its nature, it is a dynamic theology and it mutates according to the dictates of every new context it finds itself in.16
During the struggle, contextual theologians found themselves engaging primarily in
oppositional theology and continually positioning themselves against the government.
However, now that the government is no longer adversarial, there is no longer a need to
stay in this mode of thinking. The struggle for contextual theologians is how to still
critically engage and critique the government in a time when the government is
fundamentally friendly to one’s goals.
The way forward seems to be a concentration on contextual theology as a form of
prophetic theology. Even though most of the contextual theology movement’s goals were
realized, there is still a need for a prophetic voice in South Africa. The poor and the
struggling still exist in the country. They still need people to help their voices be heard
and to speak on their behalf. There is still a need for theology that speaks to and from the
context of people’s daily lives.
A New Kairos
One of the ways that contextual theology and religious leaders are adapting to the
new situation in South Africa is by transferring the energy and momentum that had been
gathered in the struggle against apartheid and using it to address new issues. In a place
where millions struggle in poverty and the HIV/AIDS rate is among the highest in the
16 McGlory Speckman and Larry Kaufmann. Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 1.
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world, there are ample opportunities for religion to continue its prophetic role with
regards to public policy.
Contextual theologian Tinyiko Maluleke writes: “...the HIV/AIDS pandemic is
the new kairos facing the African church. So many of our proud theological traditions are
guilty of continuing to pursue their established agendas - important as these may be - in
isolation from the calamity and challenge of HIV/AIDS”.17
In part exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS crisis, poverty in parts of South Africa
continues to be incapacitating. Before his death in 2004, Archbishop Denis Hurley
identified this as one of the church’s next obstacles to tackle. In an interview with him in
2001, he told me, “Today the issue has to be poverty and unemployment. This struggle is
harder than the struggle against apartheid because the target is much narrower. We must
change from a mentality of profits before people to a mentality of people before profits. It
will take tremendous effort to change this.”18
One group of theologians (many of whom were also involved in authoring the
Kairos Document) is working on addressing poverty and economics in much the same
way apartheid was tackled. They are writing a new kind of kairos-type document called
the Oikos Journey. The word ‘oikos’ means “household” and has been used theologically
to mean “the household of God”. The word ‘oikos’ also is drawn from a root word that
means economy, which makes it a particularly fitting title for this new effort. This new
effort draws upon the strengths of the ecumenical movement. The writers include clergy,
academics and others concerned with theology and poverty. The document seeks to retain
17 Tinyiko Maluleke, “Theology in (South) Africa: How the Future has Changed” Towards an Agenda for Contextual Theology (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2001) 378. 18 Archbishop Denis Hurley, Interview by Emily Welty, March 17, 2001.
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autonomy and independence from the government while still exhibiting a critical
solidarity with those who were comrades and friends in the struggle. Sue Brittion, who
was also involved with authoring the KAIROS Document, commented: “KAIROS was a
model for what the church could do in a crisis. Those of us who are thinking about the
economy agree that there is a crisis with the rich getting richer and the poor getting
poorer. Nobody really is asking ‘why?’ Those of us who are asking ‘why?’ are irritating
just like those of us who asked ‘why?’ during apartheid in our own establishments. And
we plan to get a lot more irritating. We can start to get people thinking about the
economy the same way that we got people thinking about reconciliation.”19
Some are less optimistic about the ability of religious organizations to switch their
focuses to highlight other socio-political issues. Activist and pastor Rob Robertson said:
If they (churches) identify with the status quo and are not in creative tension with it, they are going to be left behind. The churches here have been left behind - they hardly know what to do now. They are doing quite a bit of what I would call band-aid work....We don’t tackle the gigantic causes of things like AIDS and the prison system - poverty, the capitalist system, the freedom it gives to people who have gotten an advantage over other to make a lot of money and accumulate a lot of wealth... .20
The number of people I interviewed in South Africa who shared Robertson’s view
disappointed me. Many religious leaders seem burnt out by their activities during the
struggle or simply do not see the relevance of political theology or social justice work in
today’s context the way they did during the apartheid era.
Father Rod VanZylen, an outspoken Anglican critic of apartheid, finds that his
newest congregation resists any of his attempts to involve them in social justice work.
“This assignment at St. James’s is the most difficult one I have ever had. How do you sell
faith to people who have everything? This congregation is frightfully nice and terribly
19 Sue Brittion, Interview by Emily Welty, January 7, 2005. 20 Rob Robertson, Interview by Emily Welty, January 13, 2005.
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gentile. I sometimes feel like I have been dumped in a tank of white sharks who are
circling for the kill. My teaching here mainly emphasizes that the church should not be a
cozy Durban country club. I was initially viewed quite suspiciously by the congregation
and it took about five years for them to trust me and believe that I was not going to
demand activism out of them.”21
Secularization
One of the most notable differences between the apartheid government era and
South Africa today is the separation of church and state. The new South African
constitution scarcely mentions religion except to guarantee all citizens freedom of
religion. The only time God is mentioned is at the end of the Preamble which reads: May
God protect our people. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Morena boloka stjhaba sa heso. God seen
Suid-Afrika. God bless South Africa. Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. Hosi katekisa
Afrika.” It seems almost impossible that this country has gone from having a
constitution that officially records God’s blessing and ordination of one group of people
to a constitution in which the only mention of God is “God bless South Africa” in six
different languages.
For some people this change is a welcome respite from years of enforced
religiosity while for others it is an upsetting turn. While the Catholic Church was very
progressive in its stance against apartheid, the church as a whole maintains a more
conservative stance on certain social issues. The legalization of abortion by the new
South African government represented a major disappointment to the Catholic Church
21 Father Rod Van Zylen, Interview by Emily Welty, February 16, 2001. 22 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Act 108 of 1996.
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who firmly opposes such procedures. The increasing secularism in South Africa may be
an attempt on the part of the new government to overcompensate for the deep religious
nature of the previous apartheid regime.
Two of secularization’s discontents explained their view of the current situation to
me in more detail. Indian pastor Clive Gopaul of the World Prayer Center in Durban saw
the secularization of South Africa as one of the most unfortunate outcomes of the new
democratic situation. He told me, “Democracy has led to a more liberal view of God. I
think Western influence is to blame for secularization. When people came out of exile
from apartheid and returned to South Africa, they brought all this ‘junk’ back with
them.” Pastor Reg Courtney of St. Olav’s Church (a member of the Church of England
in South Africa) was even more specific in his criticisms of the new government.
Courtney shocked me by saying, “Mandela is the cause for the immoral constitution of
South Africa which legalized abortion, banned prayer in school, legalized pornography
and is working to legalize drugs and prostitution.”24
Courtney’s attitude is not an uncommon one, particularly among more
theologically conservative traditions. Many people today associate the rise in
secularization with the end of apartheid. However, it is important to note that the end of
the apartheid state was not the only cause of the increase in secularization. Secularism is
on the rise in a large number of Western countries and, in many senses, South Africa
today is preoccupied with ‘catching up’ with Europe and North America. The increase in
23 Pastor Clive Gopaul, Interview by Emily Welty, January 31, 2001. 24 Pastor Reg Courtney, Interview by Emily Welty, February 9, 2001.
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globalization both in South Africa and worldwide has most often been connected with an
increase in secularism.
Integrating the Churches
In my interviews with local pastors in and around the Durban area, it became
clear to me that church integration was one of the most difficult parts of the transition for
many local congregations.
Reverend Carol Walsh moved to Durban in 1997 to serve the Manning Road
Methodist Church. She observed that this predominately white church struggled with the
increasing numbers of non-white people attending the church services. “It is as if some
people saw the church as the last place that they could be together as white people. This
was not a church that had white political activists in it.”25 This new mixing of races in
church led to uncomfortable moments that periodically revealed the wounds that
apartheid left behind. One woman from Zambia who holds a PhD was assumed to be a
domestic worker by members of the congregation. In the midst of such painful moments
of naive racism, Walsh also sees a church with good intentions. “We have young people
in this church who are praying that God will send them some black friends.”26
Lutherkirche pastor Gilbert Filter’s experience was even more dramatic.27 He was
serving a congregation in Estcourt at the end of apartheid and there were two black
people who wanted to attend the church. The congregation was vehemently opposed to
their presence and a few members told Filter that if black people showed up, they would
be thrown out. Filter stood up to the congregation and told them that if anyone was
25 Rev. Carol Walsh, Interview by Emily Welty, January 10, 2001. 26 Rev. Carol Walsh, Interview by Emily Welty, January 10, 2001. 27 Pastor Gilbert Filter, Interview by Emily Welty, January 18, 2001.
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refused entry, he would hold the church services outside under a tree so that everyone
could attend. This apparently made an impression on the congregants who reluctantly
agreed to allow non-white attendance. Soon after that incident, Filter began doing the
entire church service in both Zulu and English.
Some churches took much longer to integrate than others. The Full Gospel
Tabernacle, an evangelical denomination, responded to the end of apartheid by dividing
into two associations - one for whites and one for non-whites.28 Up until 1997, the few
churches that were integrated still had segregated seating; in the Durban congregation,
the non-white people all had to sit in the balcony.
Reverend Elijah Thwala of the Ekuvukeni Anglican church in KwaMashu
experiences continued racism even within the church’s institutions. Thwala recounts that
often white priests will not come to regional meetings if they are held in black townships.
He told me, “It makes me mad. A fellow pastor from Umhlanga Rocks (a wealthy white
suburb of Durban) won’t ever come to our meetings if they are held out here. He’s too
scared. When there was a party for him in Umhlanga Rocks recently I refused to go. I
sent a note telling him that I was too scared to go. It made a point I think.”29
The effects of apartheid as well as the struggle against it can be seen in South
Africa today. The churches and religious leaders continue to discern how to remain
involved and relevant in the changed political and social environment. For some, the
victory of democracy in 1994 gave them energy and momentum to redirect their efforts to
28 Graham Botha, Interview by Emily Welty, January 17, 2001. 29 Reverend Elijah Thwala, Interview by Emily Welty, April 24, 2001.
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other issues. Others retired from public life or took up positions in the new government.
As South Africa’s democracy continues to mature, it will be important for scholars to
continue to examine the role of religious actors in civil society to see how earlier activism
evolves.
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What relevance does reflection on South Africa have for us today? Is it merely a
historical or scholarly pursuit to understand the role that religion played in both
constructing as well as opposing apartheid? I believe it is not. My hope is that
understanding the particularly religious aspects of the apartheid era can contribute to the
great learning curve of justice and peace movements worldwide. It is important to
understand the way apartheid was constructed using religious concepts so that we can be
wary of such a movement being resurrected some place else in the world. It is vital that
we understand the religious resources for resistance that people utilized in South Africa
so that we can employ those skills elsewhere to struggle against oppression. In this final
chapter, I examine the lessons learned from South Africa in hopes that these lessons
might aid others in the pursuit of social justice and peace.
Warning Signs:
The case of the apartheid government in South Africa provides concerned citizens
of the world with a set of warning signs to avoid the rise of another such tyrannical
government. Particularly with regards to religion, there were early warning signs of the
regime’s intent to dominate and oppress other citizens of South Africa.
Merging of Church and State
For the Afrikaans people, religion dominated every sphere of their life as a result
of their Calvinist belief system. The separation of Church and State was not a relevant
concept for them and the permeation of one realm into another was prevalent. The result 198
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of these permeations was an indistinguishable boundary between the sacred and the
secular, the political and the religious. The private faith lives of citizens were public and
the public civil society was laden with symbols of private faith. This allowed easy
intervention into the affairs of the government by the church and vice versa. Actions that
the government undertook were provided with theological justifications by the Church
and the Church relied on government support for its survival. The overlap between
church leaders and state leaders further facilitated the powerful, ideological machine of
the Afrikaans people.
Religion=Culture=Duty
As the implementation of apartheid became more imminent, a rise in civil religion
could be observed in the Afrikaner society. The accoutrements of culture were treated as
religious phenomenon and participating in an Afrikaner way of life became a religious
duty. Sacred moments in history began to be reenacted and critics of the government
were treated as religious heretics. The silencing of critics using religiously based threats
should also be seen as a warning sign of an oppressive regime like the apartheid
government.
Even those who claimed to have only the best intentions in implementing
apartheid still suffered from ignorance and cruelty backed by a religious cover. Christian
guardianship was the excuse used by many for the implementation of apartheid. This
paternalistic worldview claimed that Christians had a religious and moral duty to create
laws to govern those fellow humans who were lesser than themselves. In the case of
South Africa, this meant that the whites had a justification to rule over the non-whites and
claim that it was for their own good.
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Notions of Chosen-ness
The apartheid government possessed a siege mentality that had been cultivated by
the Afrikaner people for many years before the government came to power. The people
perceived themselves as a threatened species in a hostile terrain. The brand of Christian
Nationalism that arose in response to this privileged the Afrikaner people by highlighting
God’s favor upon them. This was meant to reassure the people that despite the threat they
perceived around them, God would protect and provide for them.
The belief in divine election can be seen as another warning sign of an oppressive
government like the National Party in South Africa. Long before 1948, the Afrikaner
politicians and ministers encouraged the people to believe in the divine election of the
Afrikaner people. Covenant theology was employed to reaffirm this belief. Divine
election creates a hierarchy between those destined to rule and those destined to be ruled.
By developing a justification for the special status of certain people, seeds of superiority
and inferiority were planted amongst the people. If one believes that she is special simply
because she has been chosen by God as more privileged than other people, her acting out
that superiority and oppressing others is no surprise. Notions of chosen-ness are
dangerous as they lead to the spiritualization of a political agenda. This is the death knell
for democracy and equality under the law.
Based upon my findings with regard to the apartheid government, I find it
worrisome that the United States appears to be positioning itself to also proclaim the
doctrine of divine election. As political leaders use language that indicates that the United
States has a special mission from God to spread democracy in the Middle East, a new
kind of covenant theology is created. If the US has been divinely elected by God, then it
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has a divine right to dictate the foreign as well as domestic policy of other countries. I
cannot believe this is true and I fear our democracy if this persistent dogma of chosen-
ness continues.
Other warning signs of an oppressive regime like the South African National
Party can also be observed in the United States. After September 11, 2001, patriotism
became the new national religion. Anyone who was not seen as adhering to and
supporting this ideological movement was seen as an outcast or even a potentially
criminal member of society. The American civil religion grew more pervasive with
outward manifestations of patriotism such as flags, car decals, patriotic clothing and even
patriotic toys for children. Supporting the American government and in particular the
current administration began to be treated as a mandate and requirement for citizenship.
Religious language was used both to describe the holiness of the United States as well as
the evil nature of our enemies. When the US began a series of war campaigns, beginning
with Afghanistan, the first offensive was given the name “Shock and Awe” - two
disturbingly religious words to describe military action.
Resources for Resistance:
Opportunities to Encounter One Another
One of the effective initiatives undertaken by a number of different religious
organizations (such as Diakonia, the Catholic Church and Koinonia) was the creation of
opportunities for people of different races to encounter one another. The most successful
encounters were the ones that took place in an atmosphere that made all parties feel
comfortable and that facilitated the development of relationships. It is not coincidental
that so many of the encounters were initiated by people of faith. In the case of Koinonia,
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all of the participants came from a Christian background and knew that they were going
to be meeting other Christians across the color line. Their commonality as Christians
served as a point of connection as well as motivation. The emphasis on unity and
fellowship within Christianity would have made it difficult to decline an invitation
without appearing to be a hypocrite. Encounter groups sparked the consciousness of the
white people who participated in them. In many cases, the suffering of the non-white
population was an abstraction to the whites until the races met one another face to face in
a setting of equality.
Ubuntu as Religion
Drawing upon the culturally based theme of ubuntu provided an effective way to
link religious ideals and political action. Ubuntu was both the path as well as the goal.
The South African society desperately needed to hear the mandate of religion to love one
another and live in fellowship with one’s community. Ubuntu provided this call. The
concept of ubuntu is not exclusive to South Africa and appears as a bedrock value in
many other societies. Drawing on culturally appropriate themes like ubuntu succeeds in
furthering the welfare of the community without imposing a Western framework. Rather
than being told that conflict must end because it is not in the interest of the global
community, ubuntu can be cited to show that conflict is not in the interest of the local
community either and is contrary to long held community values. The legacy of
colonialism makes the import of Western rationales or pleas to end conflict sound
distinctly like the cultural imperialism that has exacerbated the conflict from the start.
Local people seem much more likely to heed the call to community if it is based in their
own cultural milieu as was the case with ubuntu.
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Religious Ritual as Resistance
The religious resources that clergy used to resist apartheid present a model for
politically engaged clergy around the world. Even without going beyond the bounds of
their occupational duties, religious leaders in South Africa managed to resist apartheid in
ways that were resourceful and creative. They preached against apartheid from their
pulpits and allowed the churches to be used as gathering places for political activists to
organize. They created liturgy that spoke to the condition of the people and raised their
hopes in liberation. Religious leaders used the people’s faith in religion to guide them
towards effective ways to resist apartheid. This created an avenue for people who
desperately wanted to join the struggle but who were not able to risk the exposure that
more visible activists faced. Participation in religious expressions of resistance to
apartheid provided the people with a method of opposition that was powerful and
effective.
Encourage Disobedience
Religious authorities throughout history have most often encouraged obedience to
God, the Church and the State. However, during periods of repression, religious leaders
have a responsibility to encourage disobedience to unjust authorities. If the state is the
primary source of oppression, then promoting non-compliance with national laws may be
most effective. One of the forms of resistance that was particularly powerful in South
Africa was the campaign against army conscription. This action gained media visibility
and was unique in part because it challenged white men. The white men were able to
enjoy all of apartheid’s benefits without being affected by any of its cruelty; so resistance
from them was especially dramatic.
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Keep it Separate
Preserving the political neutrality of the religious resistance was another of the
wise strategies that emerged during religious resistance to apartheid. By not openly
affiliating with any of the major political parties, the religious movement retained its
independent voice. This voice was not compromised by the need for compliance with a
political party’s agenda. Non-affiliation allowed civil disobedience to be prophetic
instead of a furtherance of the goals of a political party. At one point, people wondered if
the religious leaders were going to establish their own political party because they were
so active in the struggle. However, the decision not to become an independent political
entity actually added to the religious movement’s influence. Unlike a political party, no
one accused the religious leaders of participating in the struggle for their own personal
gain and prominence.
Stay Together
As part of the learning curve of apartheid resistance, religious people learned that
making their events as large and ecumenical as possible increased the efficacy of any
action. In the later years of apartheid, more actions were coordinated through
international ecumenical bodies such as the World Council of Churches. Affiliation with
international organizations increased both the funding as well as the prominence of
resistance activities. Religious leaders also discovered that the formation of religious
organizations that did not have a particular denominational tie were also particularly
capable of organizing larger scale anti-apartheid activities. The relevance and strength of
organizations such as the South African Council of Churches, the Diakonia Council of
Churches, the Koinonia Movement and the Vaal Ministers Solidarity Group were a
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testament to the strength of ecumenical action. Perhaps such partnership would have been
even more effective if it had drawn more heavily on non-Christian religious groups such
as the Muslims, Hindus and Jews.
Take advantage of status and position
The reverence and respect that religious leaders enjoy in most societies can
become a resource for a resistance movement. Clergy are often more implicitly trusted by
the masses and thus have a special capability to rally people around a cause. This power
must be wielded with care however as history has also provided many cases of religious
leaders taking advantage of this devotion and trust.
With discernment and care, religious people can use their status in society to
promote an ethic of compassion and advocacy for the oppressed. In South Africa, clergy
naturally fell into roles of mediation and monitoring during major clashes between the
South African police and protesters. Such positions did not come naturally however and
still required preparation and training on the part of religious leaders.
Keep it Public
Wide scale actions such as marches, demonstrations and strikes kept the struggle
in the spotlight both locally and internationally. Any large gathering was an opportunity
for the media to remind the greater public that apartheid was continuing its cruel reign in
South Africa. Such activities were not aimed so much at persuading the government as
they were at increasing and maintaining visibility. Marches, demonstrations and boycotts
also provided relatively easy ways for the masses to participate in the struggle. People
realized that together they could accomplish far more than any single person acting alone.
In fact, I argue that the credit for the victory against apartheid should not go to any one
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leader such as Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko or even Desmond Tutu but rather to the
masses of South African civilians who rose up and made their voices heard.
Keep the struggle theological
Perhaps the most important way in which religion can be used to resist oppression
is by formulating a liberation theology of the oppressed. In South Africa, liberation
theology manifested itself in the form of black theology and contextual theology.
Black theology strengthened the resolve of the black people to resist the
oppressive government by focusing on the very quality which the government most
despised - their blackness. Black theologians reclaimed the idea of imago dei by
proclaiming that they too were created in the image of God. God did not and could not
belong exclusively to the whites of the country. This reinforced the innate goodness of
the people who were hated and discarded by the apartheid system. This model of
theology is replicated today worldwide by other groups shut out of the mainstream such
as people with disabilities and gays/lesbians/bisexuals.
Contextual theology centered on empowering the masses to create and interpret
theology for themselves. Theologians in this movement generated connections between
the lived reality of the people in South Africa and biblical themes. They used a reflective
praxis - fluctuating between action and reflection. This model examined parallels
between the social location of the oppressed in South Africa and the social location of
biblical figures. This theology returned power to the people and gave them courage to
resist the government.
The liberation theologies of South Africa gained power and local legitimacy by
seeking to extricate the trappings of Western civilization from Christianity.
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Distinguishing what was Western from what was authentically Christian helped to
strengthen the people’s identity as African Christians. This, in turn, reinforced their will
to use authentic Christianity to reclaim their country from the hands of the National
Party.
Theology was most effective at resisting apartheid when it exercised its prophetic
function. Prophetic forms of theology allowed people to speak truth to power. The
oppressors of South Africa were challenged and the theological justification of apartheid
was denounced. Instead of simply calling the government corrupt or evil, prophetic
theologians framed the issue religiously by denouncing the government as idolatrous. By
speaking to a particular time and place, prophetic theology felt both relevant and
powerful.
One of the strategies that was quite effective in South Africa was the use of a
theological framework to condemn apartheid. When the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches declared apartheid as a heresy, international attention was directed once again
to the insidiousness of the system. Declarations issued by international or ecumenical
religious bodies also held weight. Regardless of the increasing secularization of the
modem world, the churches are not irrelevant and the opinions of religious leaders still
matter. Declarations like the KAIROS document, the Belhar Declaration and others kept
the issue of apartheid in public view.
Further Research:
Conducting this study of the impact of religion upon apartheid era South Africa
raised several ideas for further research in this discipline. The role of other faiths in the
religious struggle against apartheid needs to be addressed. There were a few active
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Muslim organizations, such as the Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal, Call to Islam and the
Muslim Judicial Council, which actively resisted apartheid and their activities as well as
their theologies should be incorporated into a study such as this one. Many individual
anti-apartheid activists such as Franz Auerbach and Ray Alexander were Jewish. The
South African Hindu Maha Sabha and the South African Bahai’i community both issued
testimonies to the TRC which detailed their faith’s contributions to the struggle against
apartheid. My study focused on Christian leadership since the majority of South Africa is
Christian but the diverse face of the religious landscape should also be addressed.
Further research should be done to compare the efficacy of local, national and
international religious organizations in their approach to apartheid. I presented detailed
examples of two local organizations (Diakonia Council of Churches and the Koinonia
Movement) and two national organizations (South African Council of Churches and the
Institute for Contextual Theology). I did not, however, address in depth any of the
international involvement such as the World Council of Churches or the Fellowship of
Reconciliation - both of which supported the anti-apartheid struggle.
During the course of my study, I began to question how the religious training of
leaders affected the degree to which they participated in the struggle. While I briefly
addressed this issue within this study, I feel it warrants more examination. I noticed that
most of the vocal religious opponents of the government were also the people who had
been partially trained outside of South Africa. I wondered if their boldness might, in part,
be related to their training. This would be another excellent avenue for further research.
I believe that further examples of the Afrikaners who resisted apartheid would
also expand the scope and clarity of my thesis. Individuals like Beyers Naude and Nico
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Smith had a qualitatively different experience as insiders who had chosen to step outside
of the Afrikaner religious community. I hope that my inclusion of Smith’s story
demonstrates the importance of this theme. Nonetheless, more investigation into this
aspect of religious resistance would strengthen my overall argument.
Final Thoughts:
In an effort to allow the voices of South Africans to articulate their own best
practices learned from the apartheid struggle, I asked several of my interviewees what
they wanted to share with the rest of the world. Here are their responses:
Lawrence Henry, Catholic Archbishop of Cape Town: “I struggled as a young priest
because I was one of the first colored priests. There were certain things we could not do
together. I could not go to the beach with my other friends who were priests. But there
were things that we could do. We could go mountain climbing together; we could get in a
car and have a picnic on our own. But some of these things did not happen because the
hand of friendship was not extended. I think we have to reach out to each other and have
the respect of the other.”
Sue Brittion, Anglican priest, activist: “We have to ask the question ‘why?’ in any
situation and not allow institutions of religion to become the place where truth is
dispensed down to people. Its about trying to say we in the church are, in a very real way,
a reflection of the society. We have to be - we are part of that society and we spend much
more time in that society than we do gathering as church. What we do out there from the
time we leave worship on Sunday until we come back together a week later - what we do
is saying something to the people we interact with.”
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Albert Nolan, author, theologian: “When it is Christians on either side of the struggle,
then you must try to convert the other. You meet them on the road to Damascus. We were
able to say (to the Afrikaner establishment), ‘we are both Christians but your theology is
wrong. It’s not right, that’s not what the Bible is about and you must convert.’”
Rob Robertson, retired Presbyterian pastor, community activist: “You must never treat
your enemy as an enemy. Your purpose is to make friends with them and to win their
cooperation in the end. And that means that any nonviolent action has to start with an
attempt to get into dialogue with the people you’re opposing. You don’t go to the
newspapers, you don’t have a demonstration unless you have dialogued or at least tried to
dialogue with them...I haven’t always stuck to that unfortunately. The essence of
nonviolence is putting your body in the way. Try to think, with any injustice you are
opposing, not how you can talk against it or how you can write about it in the newspapers
but think how you can put your body in the way.”
Chris Townsend, local Catholic priest, stress and trauma healing specialist: “Anyone in
the religious field - it doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Jewish or Muslim - has to
continuously stimulate -even overstimulate - the conscience. Because that’s our greatest
role - to conscientize people. We don’t allow people to slip back to the old reality that we
left behind.
Wilfred Napier, Cardinal of the Catholic Church: “You’ve got to formulate your
thinking and the way that helped us was see-judge-act, the combination of analysis and
reflection, particularly theological reflection. I don’t think just social theory analysis or
social theory reflection would be sufficient. We have to justify from scripture and from
the Church’s teaching our analysis and use the Church’s teaching and scripture to help us
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in our analysis. From there you can move on to action and then that action needs to be
well planned.. .You must involve those who you are trying to assist.”
Paddy Kearney, retired director of the Diakonia Council of Churches: “I think it’s very
important to make sure action for justice is not marginalized and that it doesn’t become a
kind of fringe activity for a small elite or some special group that is given that
responsibility. Then everyone else is let off the hook. I think it’s important to keep it
integral to the work of the church. Keep it right in the center of things. Make sure that
you are constantly explaining what you are doing to people and helping them to be
involved - mobilizing them and organizing them.”
Rubin Phillip, Anglican Archbishop of Durban: “The people, the oppressed must own
the project. If you leave it in the hands of the professionals and experts, they are going to
diminish the sharpness of the critical theological thinking. It’s got to be in the hands of
the victims. The great strength of the theological project in this country has been its depth
of spirituality which hasn’t always been present in other theologies of liberation. Within
the South African context, there was a deep, deep spirituality. We prayed together and we
sang together and we acknowledged God’s presence. It wasn’t just a theological
exercise.”
Spending time in South Africa today is an overwhelmingly experience for the
student of international peace and conflict resolution. As I walk through the streets of any
township or city, I am constantly aware that I am brushing shoulders with both sides of
the legacy of apartheid. Ten years ago, the grocer who today gives me fresh produce
might have been overseeing the brutalities of the apartheid system. The woman who sits
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next to me on the bus might have been the one of the victims of such brutalities. Today in
South Africa, the oppressed and the oppressor mix more freely and cannot be
distinguished from one another, except perhaps, by the color of their skin. Even that
racial division is becoming more arbitrary as the rainbow nation becomes ever
increasingly more diverse. The history of apartheid feels both ancient and fresh at the
same time. I feel privileged that so many people shared their observations and
experiences about religion in South Africa with me and I hope that I have done these
stories justice with my research and analysis. Ultimately, this thesis is just one more story
in a world filled with an infinite variety of narratives and accounts of efforts at
peacemaking. But this story is also important because it tells of the incredible political
and social power of religion for both domestication and liberation and, in doing so,
provides a path forward. Amandla!
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1652 Led by Jan van Riebeeck, commander of the Dutch East India Company, a group of Dutch settle in Table Bay, Cape Town.
1836 Beginning of the Great Trek
1838 Boers defeat the Zulu at the Battle of Blood River, Day of the Covenant.
1880 First Boer-Anglo War, Boer victory.
1899-1902 Second Boer-Anglo War, British victory
1948 Nationalist Party elected
1949 Prohibition of Mixed Marriage Act passed, first of apartheid laws.
1952 Pass laws enacted.
1957 Church clause prohibiting blacks from worshiping in white areas passed.
1958 Dr. Henrik Verwoerd elected, apartheid intensifies.
1960 Sharpeville massacre; banning of the ANC and PAC, Cottesloe Consultation.
1961 Federal Seminary founded.
1976 Soweto uprising
1977 Lutheran Church declares apartheid as status confessionis.
1982 World Alliance of Reformed Churches declares apartheid as status confessionis.
1984 New bicameral parliament, new constitution.
213
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1985 State of Emergency declared
1990 Unbanning of political organizations (ANC, PAC, SACP), Mandela released from prison, Rustenburg Conference.
1991 CODES A negotiations.
1994 Democratic elections, Mandela elected president.
1994-1999 Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings
1999 Second democratic election, Thabo Mbeki elected President.
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