Respecting religious beliefs is paramount

In a letter dated 27 May 2019 De Waveren Primary School in Ruyterwacht sent out a letter to parents that should have sent shockwaves down the spines of anyone who embraces the terms of our young democracy.

The principal announced that “Due to the fact that the majority of the school’s learners are of the Christian faith, we will be closed on the 30th of May 2019 for Ascension Day”.

The announcement fell a few days short of April Fools’ Day so I knew this was no joke.

Then, to add un-Christian spite to an unlawful act, the letter continues with this unbelievable sentence that “we also respect the Muslim faith and understand that Eid is on the 5th of June. We suggest that the learners attend the exams at 9am and then leave to celebrate after completing the paper if it is at all possible”.

In other words, Christian students can take a Christian holiday that does not exist on the school calendar but Muslim students, on one of their most sacred days, must show up and write an examination after which they might go and celebrate Eid.

As a Christian, this letter makes my blood boil. Most South Africans, however, would find this illegal act completely acceptable.

And before a minority jumps down the throat of De Waveren Primary, let me remind you that the school leadership is taking their cue directly from no lesser figure than Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. It was he who last week transformed parliament into a religious spectacle, falling on his knees to pray while, like De Waveren, giving the option to non-Christians to “meditate” in their own special way.

I made it known on twitter that this behaviour by the Chief Justice was tantamount to “playing with fire” in a constitutional democracy.

“What’s the fire?” asked a twitter follower; De Waveren, would be my answer.

Why does such an outrageous act not bother most South Africans? The principal’s letter gives the first cue: “the majority”. Since most learners are Christian, the majority rules. How un-Christian but how typically South African.

Since the earliest days of colonial rule in the Cape through the decades of apartheid, it was the Christian prayer and Bible that was imposed on all citizens because the majority was deemed to be of one faith. Forget the fact the government was completely illegitimate then and deeply corrupt now, the majority faith rules.

Christian scripture is replete with stories that teach the complete opposite – that Christian faith is inclusive, that it welcomes the stranger, that it cares for the downtrodden and that it reaches out to the minority. In the blood of our Christians like our politicians, however, is the desire to dominate by virtue of sheer demographic might.

Blame all of this religious performance on a lack of education. We have failed to teach our citizens that this is a constitutional democracy that is rightly wary of the relationship between church and state.

When those lines blur we need to take a hard look at what happens in nations where the religious beliefs of one group organises the state and regulates the behaviour of its citizens.

The parliament represents all citizens of all faiths, including those who do not follow organised religion. A public school is called “public” precisely because it invites through its doors children from diverse families of every race, religion and culture.

And when the Chief Justice or the Principal make special arrangements to “include” others – meditation and Eid after the exams – it invariably favours the dominant Christian faith in the exercise of a public duty.

I like the fact that we are a multi-faith society. Even the smallest Karoo town has a church spire and in this Holy Month of Ramadaan our mosques are filled with believers. More and more Christians, Jews and Muslims invite each other to their ceremonies on holy days – in fact as the son of evangelical parents of fundamentalist persuasion (Abraham and Sarah, no less), I have been invited to the Wynberg Synagogue next Friday and to the Open Mosque every other week. This is the beauty of South Africa.

But we play with fire when we make public institutions the site for religious observance. These spaces must remain open to all without the coercion, direct or indirect, of the Christian majority for such observance can never be equitable or fair.

What I do believe, however, is that our values as believers of all faiths (and non-religious beliefs) should infuse our institutions with basic things like respect for other opinions and the inclusion of the poorest among us. And yet you know, as well as I do, that the incoming parliament will be as violent as the last one and that our privileged schools with their banners of faith will remain majority white and unequal for years to come. If only we mean what we pray.

This behaviour by the Chief Justice was tantamount to ‘playing with fire’