Faith registry plan divides
Some welcome it, others vow resistance
FRIDAY JULY 14 2017
RELIGIOUS organisations have expressed mixed feelings about a recommendation to have all religious practitioners registered with a multifaith peer review committee through their accredited umbrella organisations.
The recommendation is one of the solutions suggested by the Cultural Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission in the report it tabled to Parliament on its investigation into the commercialisation of religion. The onus is now on Parliament to pass the commission’s recommendations for the regulation process to start.
While some religious organisations welcomed the recommendations, others vowed to oppose the report and dared the government to interfere with religion.
One thing they agreed on was that religion was an independent sector and no-one had a right to interfere with spirituality.
The commission recommended that no religious leader be allowed to operate without registration.
This would include any place people gathered to express their religion, whether a church building, open field, classroom, mosque, temple or synagogue.
The umbrella organisations would have to submit a governance framework of the church’s code of conduct and disciplinary procedures to be accredited. They would have to reach a stipulated number of affiliates, and after vetting they would receive an operating licence.
Bishop Samuel Ndlovu, chairperson of the Alliance of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of South Africa, said traditionally religion was independent from government.His organisation was against the exploitation of religion by bogus leaders and encouraged pastors to register with the Department of Social Development.
He said if the commission wanted to regulate foreign pastors operating in the country illegally, it should tackle the matter with the departments of Social Development and Home Affairs.
“Church is God and religion is a calling and no-one but God himself has the mandate.
“How do you regulate a calling and how do you measure it to arrive at a decision of whether to award a licence or not?” Ndlovu asked.
He said there was no mechanism to measure spirituality. “If we allow the government to regulate us, then the next thing the state is going to dictate to us what to preach,” he said.
“Anything that interferes with religious bodies we will oppose in our submissions in Parliament.”
Reverend Ian Booth, Diakonia Council of Churches chairperson, said they fully supported the recommendations: “All our member churches have such measures in place for those who serve in the ministry, which is regarded as a sacred calling.”
Paseka Motsoeneng, popularly known as Pastor Mboro, yesterday threatened to take legal action against the commission.
Mboro said religious leaders could not be regulated.
He vowed to go to court to make sure the commission’s recommendations were not implemented.
Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the Hindu Maha Sabha, said they welcomed the recommendations and hoped the move would instil control, order and discipline.
Nadas Pillay, deputy president of the South African Tamil Association, said principles for the regulations within the Tamil religion had always been in place, but there was never a law.
“Most of our priests belong to a formal organisation. To become a guru one has to be understudied by senior gurus in India and be anointed and come back to be registered. We applaud the commission for wanting to make this a law. It is long overdue,” he said.