Mogoeng: religion comments ‘misconstrued’

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng defends a speech he gave in Stellenbosch last week about religion and the law during a news conference in Johannesburg, Wednesday, 4 June 2014.He caused a stir by suggesting religion could be used to strengthen legislation and lead to a better society. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng defends a speech he gave in Stellenbosch last week about religion and the law during a news conference in Johannesburg, Wednesday, 4 June 2014.He caused a stir by suggesting religion could be used to strengthen legislation and lead to a better society. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Published Jun 20, 2014

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Cape Town - Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Friday said his comments on religion, made at a conference in Stellenbosch last month, were misconstrued.

“People write the way they want to write,” he said, adding that the media should take accuracy closer to their hearts.

“The bottom line is, I said if there is nothing you can get from all these religious groupings put together, then obviously there is nothing to factor into the legislation-making process.

“But if there is something, you again do not reject it just because it comes from people who believe.

“But South Africa is pluralistic. There are those who seem to get incensed at the mere mention of the word religion...”

At an international conference held at Stellenbosch University last month, Mogoeng was reported to have said that religion could be used to strengthen legislation.

He subsequently denied he was trying to push religion down South Africans' throats.

Responding to a question on the matter at the SA National Editors Forum AGM in Cape Town, he said there had been people from many different religions at the Stellenbosch conference.

“Just as the person who does not believe in anything is entitled to express their views in relation to law-making processes, it can never be that you are disqualified as an individual or as a collective of people who happen to believe in something called religion.”

Sapa

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