The Church vs The State (Regulation of religion)

The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) is an independent chapter 9 institution that was established to protect and promote the rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities in South Africa.

In 2017, the commission released a report titled, Report of the hearings on the Commercialisation of religion and people's belief systems (2017). In the report, the commission recommended that the state should regulate religious communities in South Africa to Curb the commercialisation of religion and the people's belief systems after carrying out its investigative study on the subject. 

While Some religious people welcomed the Commission's recommendations, many Christians expressed serious concerns that the recommendations, if implemented, would erode the freedom of religion. The purpose of this article is to analyze the Commission's recommendation for the state to regulate religious communities.

I am against the regulation of religion. In my view, the CRL Rights Commission is pushing an agenda against the church.

In 2016, the Commission issued a preliminary report which contained drastic proposals, For example, Section 18.1 proposed the drafting of a new parliamentary act to set some criteria for a religion to qualify as a religion and also that no religion be accredited if it had practices deemed to have a harmful effect on the physical and mental well being of its followers or if deemed exploitative of those practising it. The main objective of the proposal was to give the state the power to stop certain preachers from preaching. 

All this is done to create a platform for Christian persecution. In 2017, The Mail and Guardian newspaper reporter, Phillip de Wet, quoted the commission's chairperson, Thoko Mkhwazi-Xaluva, as saying the commission's:

Point of departure is that, as a PASTOR, you must be licenced: We must register you, So that when your elders say 'You are no longer fit to be one of us' then we can say that we are revoking your licence, YOU CAN'T PREACH ANYMORE, GO FIND ANOTHER JOB SOMEWHERE. 

It is important to reference the bible, for the purpose of this study, simply because the church is based and built upon a philosophy passed by a man called Jesus Christ. The Pastoral ministry is unique and special. Pastors are called into ministry by God (Acts 20:28), therefore, the process of issuing and invoking the licence to preach is totally against the principles of God, and if implemented, the state would have assumed the position of God. This must never be allowed in a democratic state as it infringes on the right to freedom of religion as enshrined by our Constitution. 

Although the 2017 investigation was conducted in response to media reports of controversial activities in some charismatic and Pentecostal churches, The report uncritically and unfairly potrays the whole religious landscape in South Africa as so rotten that it need urgent intervention of the state [Banda 2019]. We have enough legal institutions and laws to deal with the transgressions that were identified by the commission. I am not promoting unlawfulness but rather i am against the establishment of extra definitions of crime in our society. 

The government should never be allowed to police what people believe, especially in a country that protects the right to freedom of religion. As far as our constitution is concerned, it does not matter how bizarre, unconventional or strange one's religious practice is, as long as nothing unlawful and harmful is done. In essence, this implies that i can wake up and decide that i am going to start worshiping Cassper Nyovest, It is my right, as long as it is within the confinements of the law. 

For example, Kgabola church in Vaal congregates around alcohol, They believe in opening the bible and drinking beer. They are excercing their right to believe, However, those who understand the principles and ways of God will call it "a sin against God" to drink alcohol (Ephesians 5:18). Therefore if it is a sin against God to drink alcohol, why should a sicular state that does not care whether there is God or not, intervene on behalf of God?. It is completely foolishness for anyone to call for the state to regulate Religion. 

There are different traditions within the Christian community. Some Christians may believe that saturday is the day of the Lord while others believe that sunday is. Pastors have different doctrines, depending on the community that they come from, some believe in Polygamy while others don't, some believe that ministers of the gospel should not marry while others encourage marriage. Therefore, if the peer review committee that the commission is proposing to set up is  made up of people with different doctrines, which doctrine will regulate the other?. The CRL Right Commission is operating outside it's mandate because it is not recognised anywhere as a law enforcement agency. 

"Regulation of religion is a misnomer. They are not concerned about any other religion, neither are they concerned about the Christian religion in general. They are concerned about the … independent charismatic churches, especially those who are opposed to the idea of Interfaith peer review committees" Dr Shimmy Kotu.

According to an article by News24, in established democracies, the common practice is that the state remain secular and allows the church to exist independently. In USA, the topic of the separation of the state from the church has been a debate since the 17th century. It's 18th President ulysses Grant declared in 1875 that "..keep church and state forever separated".

The Church should be treated like any other legal institution that is subject to the country's laws. The introduction of extra regulation will only erode the freedom of religion that is protected by our Constitution. Once the state attains the power to regulate, control and discipline religious communities, automatically a state religion is created. 

"It is foolishness for anybody to call for the church to be regulated" Dr Shimmy Kotu. 

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References:

NewzroomAfrika 'Thabo Mdluli is joined by Joshua Maponga and Dr Shimmy Kotu' http://Youtube.com

 

eNCA LHIO 'Should churches be regulated' Sep 2018 http://Youtube.com

CRL Annual Report 2017/18 pdf 

News24 'Churches don't need regulation' Mar 2018  https://www.news24.com/amp/citypress/voices/churches-dont-need-regulation-20180313

Mark Hill 'The regulation of Christian churches: Ecclesiology, law and polity' 2016  http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222016000100039

Banda, C., 2019, ‘Redefining religion? A critical Christian reflection on CRL Rights Commission’s proposal to regulate religion in South Africa’, Verbum et Ecclesia40(1), a1948. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v40i1.1948