The constitutionality of religious observances in South African public schools

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The right to freedom of religion is one of the oldest of the internationally recognised freedoms and is entrenched in section 15(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 ('Constitution). It is the hallmark of an open and democratic society and provides everyone with the right to practise their religion in the public sphere and to manifest their beliefs by way of religious dress, teaching, or the conducting of religious observances. Section 15(2) of the Constitution makes specific provision for religious observances to be conducted at state and state-aided institutions provided that (a) those observances follow rules made by the appropriate public authorities, (b) they are conducted on an equitable basis, and (c) attendance at them is free and voluntary. The Constitution has created a peculiar tension with the inclusion of section 15(2). On the one hand, it allows for the practice of religion in the public sphere, while on the other hand guaranteeing the right to religious freedom and freedom from religious coercion.In South Africa, religious observances are often conducted in the public school system. Public schools make provision for religious observances like prayer, worship, or the reading and interpretation of religious texts, while some schools even identify themselves as having a particular religious character or religious ethos. The South African Schools Act 84 of 1997 ('Schools Act) delegates the power to determine rules on religious observances in public schools to the governing body of the school. In a country with a diverse citizenry it is often difficult for governing bodies to formulate rules that afford all learners an equitable right to religious observances, while being free from any religious coercion. What, from one perspective, would constitute a school community's legitimate practice of their constitutionally guaranteed right to religion, might, from another, amount to a limitation of an individual learner's right to be free to choose and practise his own religion or abstain from religious observances at all.The object of this study is to determine how the requirements for religious observances in state and state-aided institutions, as stipulated in section 15(2) of the Constitution and reiterated in section 7 of the Schools Act, must be interpreted within the context of public schools, to strike a constitutionally appropriate balance between the powers of school governing bodies and the right of learners to be free from religious coercion.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University