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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Muslims and Religious Pluralism in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Author:Omar, A. Rashied
Year:2002
Periodical:Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs
Volume:22
Issue:1
Period:April
Pages:219-224
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:Islam
plural society
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Religion and Witchcraft
Ethnic and Race Relations
interreligious relations
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/13602000220124926
Abstract:South Africans have experienced a unique history of interreligious solidarity in the struggle against apartheid. The first democratically elected government led by President Nelson Mandela committed itself to pursuing a public policy of religious pluralism. The author makes a distinction between religious plurality and religious pluralism, which relates to the quality of religious coexistence between the diverse religions within a specific context. He examines how this context has informed Muslim theology. The Islamic principle of freedom of belief challenges Muslims to develop clear ethics and find mechanisms to manage the differences of beliefs and theologies that exist in the world. How has this challenge been met in postapartheid South Africa? The option of a secular democratic South Africa, with active interaction between the State and all religious organizations, which not only have a constitutionally recognized sphere of autonomy, but collaborate with the State in tasks of mutual concern, was considered the most appropriate after the 1994 elections. Although religious pluralism has been one of the major beneficiaries of the postapartheid dispensation, the irony is that while in the past this religious pluralism was being driven by civil society from the ground, religious individuals who are too close to government are now driving it from the top. Another challenge confronting the interreligious movement is its lack of intrinsic motivations on the basis of which interfaith solidarity is sought. Ref.
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