Religion During Apartheid

During the time of apartheid, there were many different types of religion in South Africa. Christians are often times blamed for apartheid and what it has done to the natives and the surrounding area. What people don’t know is that there were multiple religions that also were around during the time of apartheid. For example, senior officials within the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa opposed apartheid, but a group of Catholics formed the South African Catholic Defense League to condemn the church's political involvement and, in particular, to denounce school integration. However, Christianity was the main religion. This religion became a powerful influence uniting people for the same cause. In the twentieth century, some Christian churches began to promote racial segregation and the beliefs of the apartheid.

The Christian church was made up of the Dutch Reformed Church, along with many other denominations. This church arrived in South Africa in the 17^th century. They believed that God is eternal, infinite, wise, and just, and the Creator of the universe. He has planned the life and the fate of each individual on earth; the "chosen" are saved, as long as they adhere to the church's teachings. The Bible--both the Old Testament and the New Testament--is the final authority on religious matters. Once the natives and people of mixed race started to join the church, the whites started to think about racial segregation. Some black members of the church debated for their own churches and congregations. In 1881 the Dutch Reformed Church established a separate church for colored people.

Social and spiritual survival became a thought in the twentieth century and people began to widely accept the idea of racial segregation. As the system of apartheid was called into question throughout the country in the 1970s and the 1980s, church leaders were mostly more committed to apartheid than many of their followers, and the church became an impediment to political reform. Some church clergy’s however, greatly opposed apartheid. One of which is Reverend Beyers Naude. He left his white-only Dutch Reformed Church to join a colored church.

Many individuals that were of faith rose to power in the antiapartheid movement. Together, they all believed that apartheid was morally and ethically indefensible – a grave injustice, or a "sin." They worked privately and publicly in the hopes of getting rid of apartheid. One of them was Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Today, is continues to be one of South Africa’s beloved people. He has said before, "Faith is a highly political thing... As followers of God we too must be politically engaged.” Tutu and other religious leaders spoke out and said that apartheid was wrong and a crime against humanity. 

I personally think apartheid is inhumane and immoral. I am a Christian and believe that god wouldn’t have wanted us to treat people this poorly just because of the color of their skin. I think that during this time, people who were Christians were scared into believing different thing (like apartheid). If they had spoken out about their true beliefs and said how they truly feel about the different races, they would have been thrown in jail. People were scared to think any differently than they were supposed to. I also highly recommend that people read further into religion during apartheid and religion in South Africa now. People have a preconceived though about all Christians and that we still believe in racial segregation, yet I’ve never met one Christian that does. Reading about the work the Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and many other activists was very inspirational and I highly suggest that people research them more often and learn about what they fought for.

Morgan Katz 2A

• "South Africa-Religion and Apartheid." South Africa-Religion and Apartheid. N.p., n.d. Web.