Maimane’s religious puzzle
DO I want Christians to be in charge of our nation? Yes, I do. So says Liberty Church pastor and elder Aloysias Maimane, towards the beginning of a deeply passionate sermon on politics and religion a week or so ago.
“As a church we are apolitical; in other words we don’t associate with any political party,” Maimane says.
“Politics is about two things: it’s about government and it’s about influence” and, regarding the latter, “the only way they (Christians) will become in charge of the nation is if the nation votes for them.
“Let me tell you,” Maimane continues, energised and enthused, “leaders need to hear God’s word. I know of Christian leaders who are involved with the president and their main job is to go to the president and say ‘thus sayeth the Lord’. That’s influence, prophetically!”
Liberty Church is all about orthopraxy – that is, demonstrating best Christian religious practice through good conduct.
It is deeply conservative and much time is spent on the evils of adultery, pornography and homosexuality, as well as championing the virtues of monogamy and marriage.
Outside of politics, DA parliamentary leader and party federal leadership favourite Mmusi Maimane serves as the campus pastor for the Liberty Church’s discovery branch at Cosmo City. In this role he uses his first name, Aloysias, having dropped it for his second, political life. The Liberty Church website says that “Aloysias Maimane” also serves on the church’s “eldership, executive team and teaching team”.
Later, in the same sermon, Maimane tells the story of how he came into politics.
“DJ [general manager and senior pastor of Liberty Church SA, DJ McPhail] and I were at a conference together and we were speaking and as we left that conference, DJ said to me, ‘You know, I don’t think your calling is to one (politics) or the other (the church), I think it is to both.’
“And, I tell you what, I have been so privileged to serve in a church that has allowed us to fulfil both. And here’s the thing, it is not anything special: it’s that our church actually believes this one truth – that God is able to influence all areas.”
And so the pastor-politician was born. It was, from Maimane’s perspective, a marriage made in heaven.
In a June 2012 sermon titled, “God out there”, Maimane advocates that believers have a duty to take their principles out of church. He says one’s “mission field” is “out there”.
“The greatest privilege I have is that I have the best opportunity to take what I believe into a world and times of non-believers.”
Despite his meteoric rise in the DA, no journalist has ever paid much attention to the church at which Maimane preaches, its positions and those of Maimane himself.
I ask Mmusi Maimane, the politician, whether Aloysias Maimane, the pastor, subscribed to his church’s view that homosexuality was a sin.
His initial response was to point to his constitutional obligations, which he suggested superseded any personal, religious view he might hold.
“When I was sworn in as a member of parliament, I swore before God to uphold and defend the constitution of the Republic of SA and the Bill of Rights. In matters of my personal decision-making, the constitution protects my right and the right of millions of other South Africans to hold beliefs based on our respective and varied faiths.”
That seemed evasive. I wrote back and pushed harder as to what those “beliefs” actually were. In response he says “no”, he does not believe homosexuality is a sin: “My conviction is, one can no more choose one’s sexual orientation than one’s eye colour or place of birth.”
It is curious that he chooses to associate himself with Liberty Church given his contrary position on this highly sensitive issue.
More curious still that, inside or outside church, there exists no record of him ever taking issue with the church’s position. Quite the opposite, he only ever has good things to say about it.
He says Liberty Church will not marry same-sex couples, although he personally would be willing to do so. He makes no mention of ever having done so.
While he believes that “if the law offers some benefit and legal status to some people, it must offer the same benefit and legal status to all people”, he also says “I still hold the view that marriage and civil unions are distinct”.
And what of the obligation to a higher power and divine kingdom? Maimane presents something of a double-edged sword in response: “As citizens before the law, and in all matters of public policy, all religious South Africans recognise that the constitution is the supreme law of the land and no person or thing can trump it.” However, from the pulpit, his position is slightly different. Less ambiguous too.
From there he says: “The ultimate authority here on the earth is God. So if there are principles here on the earth that violate God’s word and God’s kingdom, how many of you know that we submit to the highest authority?”
According to the Pew Research Centre, 75% of the country believes morality comes from God. Maimane, politician or pastor, is on popular ground here. Whatever you make of his views, they will resonate deeply with many South Africans.
Indeed, in the past 10 years and particularly with the rise of Jacob Zuma, Christian doctrine has begun systematically to seep into public business. Whether it be the ostensibly divine blessing the ANC believes God has bestowed on that party or the Chief Justice’s opinion that God gave him his judicial mandate, religion is becoming more and more at home in South African politics.
Zuma is, of course, himself an ordained pastor. He says of his own religiosity: “I start from basic Christian principles. Christianity is part of what I am; in a way it was the foundation for all my political beliefs.”
In turn, he believes that, “People who love God must not play with their votes; they must vote for the ANC.”
His counterpart across the parliamentary floor will soon also be a man of God, chosen by God to pursue the “calling”. He too has a Christian mission. And so the scene is set for great informal battle about right and wrong in SA.
Two men of the Christian church, each firmly of the view that they are doing God’s work; both sworn to uphold the constitution, and both ultimately loyal to the Bible and their interpretation of it.
The real winner in the now seemingly inevitable election of Mmusi Maimane as DA leader is the Liberty Church. As much as McPhail might smart at Maimane’s condemnation of his views for the sake of political expediency, that church now has its own man right at the heart of the DA.
It would be interesting to know what gay and lesbians inside the DA make of Maimane’s approach; and many other committed liberals too.
Towards the end of my interview with Maimane, he said: “I think it is important to mention that I will soon no longer be serving as a pastor and a marriage officer. I’m transitioning out of those roles.”
One can only live two lives for so long. If he is elected, for the first time the two, like the traditional marriage Liberty Church is so keen on, will become one flesh.