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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | A crisis of christian conscience: the interaction between Church and State in South Africa |
Author: | Villiers, Bruckner de |
Year: | 1983 |
Periodical: | Internationales Afrikaforum |
Volume: | 19 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 59-76 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | Calvinist churches Church and State |
Abstract: | Apartheid is implemented by the ruling South African all-White Nationalist Government through a host of restrictive laws and regulations such as the Mixed Marriage Act, Section 16 of the lmmorality Act, the Group Areas Act, the Population Registration Act and the Separate Reservation of Amenities Act. By 'Church' is meant, in the exclusive context of this article, the powerful and immeasurably influential Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK). The NGK practises, sanctions and condones Apartheid. In this year of turmoil within the Church, it was this church, the NGK, which has stood directly in the firing-line and which has attracted World-wide critical attention. The reasons for its uncomfortable occupation of the centre of the ecclesiastical stage lie in history but also in events and developments during the latter half of this century. After describing these reasons, the author concludes that the NGK 1) is steering towards self-isolation, 2) retarding genuine reform in South Africa, and 3) has added to the split in Afrikanerdom another split: one between Church and State. Notes. |