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A Disunited Country—What Is the Solution?Awake!—1986 | July 22
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The Boers were Calvinists of the Dutch Reformed Church. They read the Bible frequently, yet they believed they were superior to the blacks—many believed that blacks were under a curse from God.
The Church Endorses Apartheid
The increase in non-white converts during the 19th century made many whites feel uneasy. As a result, the Church Synod made a historic decision in 1857: “Because of the weakness of some [whites] . . . the congregation from among the heathens [non-whites] . . . would enjoy its Christian privileges in a separate building or institution.” So the church endorsed separation.
The process of division continued. Today there are separate Dutch Reformed Churches for whites, blacks, Coloureds, and Indians.
The late 19th century saw a further separatist trend. By then many religious missions, mainly of British origin and firmly in white control, had been established. According to James Kiernan, Professor of Social Anthropology of the University of Natal, “the African clergy in these white-dominated churches took this exclusion [of African clergy from leadership] to be based on discrimination and reacted against it by setting up churches of their own.” The first was formed in Johannesburg in 1892. Today, there are some 4,000 religious groups in South Africa, mostly black.
The 20th century began with “Christian” whites, British imperialists and Boer nationalists, fighting for supremacy. By sheer weight of numbers, Britain took over the Boer Republics, and together they later formed the Union of South Africa.
But the Boers, now called Afrikaners, gained a political victory when, as the National Party, they won an election in 1948 and came to power on the strength of their apartheid (separateness) policy. A comment in Die Transvaler, an Afrikaner daily, said: “We have the policy of apartheid . . . based on Christian principles of justice and fairness.” A stream of laws and regulations followed to consolidate the segregation of races.
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A Disunited Country—What Is the Solution?Awake!—1986 | July 22
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What solutions do the churches offer? Spiritual ones? The Kingdom of God? No, they have entered the political arena. Some clergymen even advocate civil disobedience and negotiate with leaders of liberation movements known for their violence. As a result, many church-goers complain that they hear ‘too much about politics and too little about God.’
Compounding the confusion is the dissension in the churches. Among the different branches of the Dutch Reformed Church, there is now much criticism of apartheid. Many ministers both black and white have condemned it. The Western Cape Synod decreed in October 1983 that racial discrimination is “sinful” and that henceforth the church should be open to people of all races.
On August 29, 1985, the Presbytery of Stellenbosch, another Dutch Reformed Church regional body, officially recognized that racial discrimination “is contrary to the Biblical principles of love of one’s neighbour and justice” and that “apartheid” has “led to human misery.” Dissension on racial matters also plagues some of the English Churches. For sincere people who grew up believing that apartheid is “God’s will,” this is puzzling and confusing.
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