In the words of President Thabo Mbeki, South Africa has entered an age of hope. And, indeed, there are numerous signs to warrant such a bold claim. The nagging question is whether Christianity in South Africa today has likewise entered an age of hope — or has retreated into an era of despair. It is particularly appropriate to probe this question on the eve of Holy Week, which reaches its climactic moment on Good Friday. Indeed, beginning on Palm Sunday, millions of Christians and Church followers will be taking part in pilgrimages of all sorts, making the next week the most religious time in our national calendar.
A cursory look at the vital signs of Christianity in South Africa at this time gives cause for concern. We seem to have entered a new era of Christianity premised on majoritarian power models, rather than on the power of value systems. There is an overwhelming obsession with being large, with building mega churches, and with the staging of gatherings for thousands of followers as a vindication of self-importance.
One of the oft-repeated refrains in church circles is that since Christianity represents close to 80% of the population, the Christian lobby ought to be given preference by the government. Following this line of thinking, we are witnessing a growth of mass gatherings at major cities, bringing together crowds that can be the envy of political parties. We seem to have entered an era that says: if you are to be taken seriously as an organised religion in present-day South Africa you have to demonstrate the power of your numbers.
In our view these developments are a cause for concern about the state of vitality of Christianity. And, worse still, they represent the emergence of a conservative tradition of Christianity, which poses a serious evangelical backlash against our democracy. There are indications that the Christianity of today is more inward-looking than it was in the pre-democracy era, when the Church was intentionally forging relationships with others. Compared with the older tradition within which the Church sought to promote the national good, the Christianity of today appears to be more self-serving. More disconcerting is that the Church tends to over-react to national proposals to move away from an exclusively Christian state that was the hallmark of the Calvinist National Party government, to an interfaith state where diverse faith communities can live side by side.
Christianity in South Africa today is having to learn to live and work in an environment within which it is not the official religion. Part of this lesson means having to live without state privileges. This is a bitter lesson for a religion that has for centuries been a beneficiary of state affirmative action. Unfortunately this new reality of a secular multi-faith democracy has led to a sense of victimhood within Christian communities. There is a dominant view that the new South Africa is hostile to Christianity, primarily because it has embraced a dispensation under which no single religion is accorded official status. Indeed, many Christians in the black community lament the fact that the previous government — despite its abhorrent policies — was at least giving them respect and recognition.
Examples that support this view include: the status that Christian holidays enjoyed as official public holidays, the levies raised by municipalities to subsidise rates for places of worship, and the integral place of Christian teaching, prayer and ceremony within the school day. The list is longer, but even these few examples seek to express the view that whereas Christianity was located at the centre of our daily lives during the apartheid era, democracy has consigned it to the margins of life where it is, at best, tolerated and, at worst, ridiculed. As a result of this perception, a majority of Christians consider themselves to be victims of the democratic dispensation.
This sense of victimhood — real or imagined — has lead many within the Christian community to withdraw from public engagement. The dominant belief is that there is no space for religion in public spaces, be it television, radio, schools or workplace. And so a new tradition of Christianity is emerging and taking root. It is combative, traditionalist, conservative, and ill-prepared for a South Africa that is seeking to engage in matters of science, gender equity, social justice and an open democratic agenda.
With this kind of Christianity typifying South Africa, there is reason to despair. The gains made in producing a kind of Christianity that was capable of identifying with the struggles of the poor has been overtaken by emerging churches which preach the gospel of the power of the Christian majority and the prosperity of believers. Where in the past we experienced a Christianity crafted from the prophetic tradition of protest and activism, we are today witnessing the emergence of a Christianity with a strong conservative political agenda informed by traditionalism. Where gender equity has been advanced in all social sectors, we see a growing male dominance in the hierarchy of many denominations and an outright rejection of the ordination of women, contrary to tradition.
Far from being ready for the age of hope, therefore, it can be said that Christianity in South Africa has entered an age of despair. The irony is that the churches are fuller, the crowds at rallies are getting bigger, and the flock is growing. But the agenda has become doctrinal rather than action for change. And this is where the source of my concern lies. If the Church is to enter the new age of hope, it must adopt a new mission. Surprisingly, this mission is not entirely foreign to the Church — indeed it can even be said to be its original mission. The core of that mission is to become a community that promotes the full realisation of the ideal of a humane life characterised by dignity and by respect for others, and within which members live a life of servanthood to others.
Sadly, Christianity in its current state, obsessed as it is with its self-importance and self-righteousness, concerned with its glory and greatness, misses the point of its existence. The source of its greatness, and indeed of its hope, is in returning to the simple message of its teacher.
Rev Dr Molefe Tsele is former general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. He is the political adviser of the premier of the North West, but writes in his personal capacity