Die NG Kerk, apartheid en die Christelike instituut van Suidelike Afrika

[摘要] Apartheid had long been an everyday practice in South Africa whenthe NG Kerk threw its weight behind it during the third decade ofthe twentieth century. However, it did not take long before thechurch began playing a leading role in this respect. During thefourth and fifth decades many decisions and publications underscoredthe church's conviction that the policy of separatedevelopment was based on Scripture. The South African Governmentand the National Party Government, in particular, were certain ofthe co-operation of the NG Kerk not only in the establishment ofthis policy but also in the extension thereof to cover all thefacets of social, economical and political life.Although the NG Kerk, on many occasions, reiterated that thepolicy should be implemented with justice and compassion, it wasalways clear that apartheid as a policy that was based on colourcould only result in discrimination against, and injustice to,people of colour. This resulted in growing resistance by blacks,coloureds and Indians since the beginning of the century. Theresistance increased rapidly after the National Party took overthe government of the country in 1948 and proceeded to intensifythis policy by applying it to all levels of the political andsocietal life.On March 21 1960 thousands of blacks marched to the policestation in Sharpeville to protest against the pass laws. Thisresulted in the police killing 69 blacks and wounding 180 in apanic reaction which caused not only a worldwide wave ofindignation and protest but also increased racial tension inSouth Africa. The World Council of Churches in conjunction withthe local member churches immediately arranged the CottesloeConference to discuss possible solutions to the racial problems.The proposals of this conference which was held in December 1960met with strong opposition from Government and were eventuallycompletely smothered by the Church leadership. The proposalswere unacceptable because they smacked too much of criticism ofapartheid. Notwithstanding the strong political and ecclesiasticalrejection of Cottesloe, a group of church leaders neverthelessdecided to establish the publication Pro Veritate, and soonafterwards the Christian Institute of Southern Africa was foundedin an effort to give scriptural witness in South Africa.Pro Veritate, which later served as the mouthpiece of the ChristianInstitute (CI) and the CI itself, were - since their inception- seen as contentious issues by both the NG Kerk andGovernment because of the challenge to apartheid. The churchimmediately instituted strong measures to suppress Pro Veritateand the Christian Institute initiatives. This was applauded fromthe political side, particularly in the Transvaal, where certainAfrikaans newspapers gave their full support to it. Decisionswere taken by the Southern Transvaal Synod to discourage ministersfrom contributing to Pro Veri tate and to prevent them frombecoming members of the CI. The CI leaders, in particular, hadto be silenced. After the General Synod finally rejected theChristian Institute, a long and heart-rending history of churchpersecution of Naude as leader and Engelbrecht as theologian ofthe CI followed. It all took place within the boundaries of theParkhurst parish, of which the Naude and Engelbrecht familieswere members. Parkhurst parish was part of the circuit ofJohannesburg. Strong pressure was exerted on the church councilof Parkhurst and the circuit of Johannesburg to censure thesemembers in order to silence them. Disciplinary measures had tobe employed to get rid of these voices against the policy ofseparateness. The church leadership played a prominent role inthese efforts. In the intensity with which the campaign waswaged in and through the circuit of Johannesburg and the Parkhurstparish, it became evident - as nowhere else - how strongthe NG Kerk felt about apartheid. When eventually the Governmentinvestigated and banned the CI and confined Dr Naude to his home,the church silently acclaimed what was being done. After all,the NG Kerk had from the very beginning not differed from theGovernment with regard to the CI.The biblical protest of the CI against apartheid was, ofnecessity, also a protest against the close ties of the NG Kerkwith the Government and National Party. With time, however, theCI also moved into a process of politicisation. Black power andblack political aspirations became the major driving forcesbehind the CI. In the middle seventies it became increasinglyclear that a strong relationship had developed between the CI andthe African National Congress (ANC).The history of the CI ended in immense irony. This organisationwhich took its stand on Scripture and courageously warned againstthe support by the church of a political party and structuralviolence in serving apartheid, ended in close co-operation withthe ANC as a political party which committed itself to the armedstruggle to overthrow the Government.There was also the irony that in their struggle against theali gnment of the NG Kerk wi th the politicaltheology to theright, the CI and its director aligned themselves to a SouthAfrican version of the theology of liberation - a politicaltheology to the left in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ isstruck in the heart. And just as the NG Kerk in its politicalalignment remained silent about the violence of apartheid - sothe CI eventually became silent about the violence of the politicalparty in its struggle against apartheid.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand