Bishops in South Africa have said that a recommendation that new laws be introduced forcing all religious practitioners to register under state-approved umbrella organisations is a response “that one would expect more from a totalitarian state than a constitutional democracy."
According to recommendations made to South Africa’s Parliament by the ‘Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural‚ Religious and Linguistic Communities’ on 11 July, each umbrella organisation must be recognised by the state and would be subject to peer-review committees responsible for “religious self-regulation and accountability.”
The peer-review committees would also act as “the final mediator in all disputes within their own religion.”
The commission’s recommendations were the result of an investigation into the “Commercialisation of Religion and Abuse of People’s Belief Systems.”
The commission was responding to media coverage of congregants being endangered in places of worship. These included reports of religious leaders feeding congregants snakes and inviting others to drink paraffin in demonstrations of faith.
"We fully understand and share government’s unhappiness with certain practices done in the name of religion, said Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town and President of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).
“However, we believe that there is sufficient existing legislation that can be evoked to deal with most of these harmful practices", he continued.
“We will oppose the recommendation and will make submissions to the appropriate bodies in due course,” said the archbishop.
The aim of the investigation is to protect the congregants, commission chairwoman, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, told press on 11 July.
She said the investigation found that there was no comprehensive database of religious leaders and there were a high number of unregistered institutions.
It also found that there were “cult-like” religious organisations that carried out “controversial practices” that harmed followers.
South Africa’s constitution safeguards freedom of religious association. Critics of the recommendations say they represent a direct violation of that constitutional commitment.
The director of Freedom of Religion South Africa, Michael Swain, said that the organisation “is not persuaded that licensing practitioners is the way to go.”
He added that government had no business “meddling with religion.”
Swain said the proposal that peer-review committees should advise the commission was the clearest indication that the commission‚ an institution of the state‚ wanted to intervene in religious affairs. He said that the country had laws which dealt with every abuse that the commission had identified.
“You cannot hide behind freedom of religion and then commit a criminal act. The law must be enforced‚” Swain said.
PICTURE: Church leaders pray for South African President Jacob Zuma during a prayer service held in Durban, South Africa, 14 May
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