Turn or burn — that’s the simple ultimatum posed by fundamentalist Christians protesting on the sidelines of Gay Pride marches. But the issue is anything but clear-cut: American Episcopalians have caused an uproar in the global Anglican community by supporting gay rights, and a similar clash of religious will exists among South Africa’s major Afrikaans churches.
Some of these churches are rethinking church policy to include gay congregants, while homosexuality remains anathema to others. Also, last year’s legalisation of same-sex unions means it’s not just about having gay people filling church benches any more — they may desire to be wed, too.
The Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, or NG Kerk) attracts the lion’s share of the Afrikaans faithful, boasting a flock of about 1,2-million. It has historically been reasonably tolerant towards gay people.
”The church has always taken being gay seriously,” says Dr Kobus Gerber, the church’s general secretary. ”We have very many gay members.”
At its 2004 general synod, it resolved that the church should accept gay people based solely on their religious beliefs. However, it did not mean that the church condoned a ”gay lifestyle”. Similarly, the church did not oppose gay marriages as firmly as other religious groups did, but it reserved the right not to support it theologically.
”If we take the Constitution seriously — then we have to grant gay people their rights in terms of marriage,” says Gerber.
This year brings the church’s next general synod, and Gerber expects fiery debate when a task team presents its recommendations regarding homosexuality in the church. It’s a controversial topic, he says, ”but it would be naive to deny it. There isn’t a church in the world that isn’t wrestling with this.”
Weighing in with far fewer members — about 120 000 — the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk also counts among them many gay congregants. At its 2004 synod, it conceded that the Bible’s perceived disapproval of gay behaviour had to be evaluated against the biblical cultural background.
”We are not fundamentalist about the Bible. God’s grace is good and enough for all people,” says Dr Johann Beukes, secretary of the church committee for the study of homosexuality.
The church also resolved not to be daunted by the challenge of providing pastoral care to all its congregants. Marriage was more of a stumbling block, though: the synod said it would protect heterosexual marriage as the only allowable space for sexual activity and family development.
Even so, the conversation continues, says Beukes. This September, at the church’s next synod, his committee will ask the church to reconsider its position on same-sex marriage. ”We have to make room for meaningful relationships for all people,” he says.
Despite such apparently positive developments for the gay, Afrikaans-speaking church-goer, some commandments are set in stone, it seems.
In 2004, Dr Isak Burger of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM, or Apostoliese Geloofsending) called gay marriages an insult to Christians. In 2007, he maintains: ”In these confusing times we do not want to leave any uncertainty with anybody as to where we stand. We confirm the AFM’s conviction that homosexuality is against the way God created man and that the practice thereof is unequivocally condemned in the Bible.
The AFM has between 350 000 and 400 000 Afrikaans-speaking members among its more than 1,2-million supporters.
”We refuse to twist and distort the Bible to conform to political correctness … While we acknowledge the moral choices of individuals, the church has the responsibility to express the will of the Creator as it is clearly revealed in scripture.”
Varying opinions of homosexuality are keeping people from the ”true solution” of God, he says. ”We have numerous cases in our church of people who can witness that Jesus Christ has set them free from a gay lifestyle.”
Also strongly opposed is the Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika (GKSA), which said last year that sex needs to remain within the heterosexual marriage, and that those with homosexual tendencies need to keep from acting on such impulses.
It also was concerned about children being raised in gay homes, ”because children need parents of both sexes”. Despite constitutional protection, gay people’s rights ”do not include entering into a homosexual relationship or marriage, because a marriage is a heterosexual commitment” — though the church does not approve of homophobia, it pointed out.
Enter the Reforming Church (Reformerende Kerk), with congregations in Johannesburg and Pretoria, boasts a following that is more than 90% gay and more than 80% Afrikaans. But Reverend Andre Muller says his church is not exclusively for gay people.
”Great advances have been made in accepting gay people,” he says, referring to developments in the Dutch Reformed Church and Hervormde Kerk. ”Gay people can’t summarily be rejected any more.”
However, the hurdle of full approval of same-sex unions stands in those churches, and disapproval may simply lead to an exodus to more accepting environs. Not many gay people remain in churches where they don’t feel welcome, Muller says — 30% of his church members come from the AFM and GKSA.
Even if the less fundamentalist Afrikaans churches ”throw the doors open” and become more accepting of gay people, Muller doesn’t believe most of his congregation would return to their former places of worship, adding: ”They’ve found a home in their new church.”