Have you ever wondered what role religion has in South Africa? I have always had this question in my mind because apparently 90% +/- of people in South Africa are Christians yet it has never occurred to anyone to form a Christian nationalist party, get rid of the mess that is the current SA government, and restore some order into the country. After all the only forthrightly Christian party in SA, a.k.a the ACDP (African democratic Christian party) still receives less than 1% of the seats in the national assembly. Why can’t SAns put their differences aside and have a crusade against the NDR (National democratic revolution) of the ANC( African national congress) and the petty and obviously useless DA(Democratic Alliance)-led opposition coalition that is supposedly going to save our South African butt in the coming 2024 national elections?
There’s currently a lot of debate in SA about what future we are supposed to pursue as a country. Some people say the Western cape and other groupings such as the Zulu kingdom and others like them should break away from SA and form independent states and then you have others that are still keen on the “Rainbow Nation” which is failing. I’m of the opinion that the former would work (smaller more homogeneous units governing themselves), but I don’t see it happening, and if it does, it will be very bloody and difficult to pull off (in my opinion, others have their own take). The “ Rainbow Nation” on the other hand is a failed idea and was doomed to fail from its inception. I mean building a Nation on a weak creed such as the “ Rain Nation” i.e pluralism/multiculturalism under a highly centralised government in a land mass larger than the whole of Western Europe is just obviously stupid especially given the fact that we have dozens of ethnolinguistic groups, or maybe it would have worked if SA had maintained the economic growth of the Mbeki years, increasing the black(anglicised) intermingling middle-class/ bourgeoisie 5, 8 or 10 fold. Who knows what could have happened?
My question is what role do the religious people play in all of this? Religious communities as it seems don’t seem to have much influence in all of these discussions. Religious leaders seldom have any say about the political situation in SA. There aren’t any relevant religious and in particular Christian institutions or organisations that are raising their voice. We do have an Oom Angus Buchan prayer service once in a while, which I think is great. Christians should enquire of their Lord, so like other religious communities (Muslims etc), they should be living out their convictions and shaping the environment around them. But religious communities are told to keep their beliefs to themselves. The business of politics and the economy have nothing to do with religion or faith( We see this with the push back against the former Chief Justice Mogoeng praying or mentioning God), hence I’ve titled my newsletter “ A tale of two kingdoms”, meaning the kingdom of God(confined to the hearts and church/mosque/synagogue and a limited number of institutions) and the Kingdom of the World ( The public square, where the real decisions that affect the country are made).
Am I crazy or do I have a point? Should religious communities play a more important role in the direction of the country? How long will we sideline the religions that have stood the test of time in favour of the failed religion of communism/socialism and other isms that we can think of? Not to say the catholic priests, pastors or imams should be presidents, but they should have more influence on the attitudes of the people running for office or even in the shaping of the conversation going forward.