Johannesburg - There have been varied reactions to last week’s announcement that a cultural and religious activist group will be investigating the various religions around the country.
The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities has promised to probe the practices and financial affairs of various religious denominations.
This is as the commission attempts to root out some of the charlatan practices by some churches preying on unwitting congregants with the aim of enriching themselves.
On Thursday, Muslim Judicial Council spokeswoman Nabeweya Malick said the MJC supported the probe.
“It’s generally a good thing; we need order and a system in religion. Religion is supposed to be there to protect God and those who worship Him, not exploit them,” she said.
Also endorsing the commission’s
decision was the chief rabbi of the South African Jewish community, Rabbi Warren Goldstein.
“All institutions of our country must be held to the highest ethical and legal standards. This, of course, includes religious organisations.
“Transparency and accountability are very important biblical values, as the verse in the book of Numbers states: ‘And you shall be clean in the eyes of G-d and the eyes of people’,” he said.
However, not all religious institutions are in favour of the probe.
The Mahikeng Ministers Fellowship (MMF), an interdenominational pastors’ fellowship based in North West, believes the investigation is an “outrageous overreaction”.
“This has the potential to alienate churches from the state,” said MMF spokesman Pastor Lesiba Kgwele.
MMF chairman Apostle Reginald Zandisile Mpame said: “The commission has been mute about atrocities conducted in the name of culture, tradition and religion such as witchcraft, Satanism in schools, the scourge of rape of women and the violation of human rights.”
Mpame said that while most churches condemned practices such as feeding snakes and rats to congregants, the MMF’s main concern with the investigation was that religion would become state-controlled.
“We will not support being brought under the control of the state,” he said, accusing the investigation of trying to be politically correct.
The inquiry comes after the recent exposure of certain charismatic churches that forced congregants to eat snakes and drink petrol.
The Star
The Star