Article: Racism talk campaign

Cape Town mayor, Patrica de Lille on Saturday marked Human Rights Day by launching the 'Inclusive City' campaign.

The campaign was aimed at creating public platforms for dialogue to confront what makes some residents feel excluded, while others felt entitled.
 
I only realised now that Saturday was a public holiday. I hate when that happens :mad:
 
On this topic, the NGK/DRC, 'NG Kerk', is in the process to vote Belhar into their 1st (article) synods. People isn't voting, only ~20% in the Western Cape pitched their vote by last week. In Gauteng and Mpumalanga they had less than two-thirds which are required to include Belhar into the synods. Those who didn't vote say that this wasn't communicated to them. At the current rate, Belhar won't be acknowledged in the synods.

I'm not here to turn this into an religious thread, but rather the action taken by the people to eradicate racism where possible.

This morning on the radio, RSG, they had this discussion, the people which called in was beyond my understanding. Interestingly enough, most callers was based in Krugersdorp, extremely upset with the DRC to allow this vote. Other people was in the position that they was lied to by the church and the NP... those in the Western Cape are more in agreement with the decision. Anyway, listening to the callers, the churchgoing people - West vs East in SA - are in opposing views to generally drop racism.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
On this topic, the NGK/DRC, 'NG Kerk', is in the process to vote Belhar into their 1st (article) synods. People isn't voting, only ~20% in the Western Cape pitched their vote by last week. In Gauteng and Mpumalanga they had less than two-thirds which are required to include Belhar into the synods. Those who didn't vote say that this wasn't communicated to them. At the current rate, Belhar won't be acknowledged in the synods.

I'm not here to turn this into an religious thread, but rather the action taken by the people to eradicate racism where possible.

This morning on the radio, RSG, they had this discussion, the people which called in was beyond my understanding. Interestingly enough, most callers was based in Krugersdorp, extremely upset with the DRC to allow this vote. Other people was in the position that they was lied to by the church and the NP... those in the Western Cape are more in agreement with the decision. Anyway, listening to the callers, the churchgoing people - West vs East in SA - are in opposing views to generally drop racism.
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What's a Belhar?
 
Ninja'd said:
What's a Belhar?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belhar_Confession

Themes in the Belhar Confession[edit]

According to the Belhar Confession, unity is both a gift and an obligation for the church.[1] This unity originally referred to non-segregation between Christians of different races, but after the formation of the URCSA in 1994, the word "unity" came to refer to administrative unity within the managerial structures of the URCSA.

Another key theme of the Belhar Confession is the dichotomy of reconciliation and the justice of God. According to the confession, God is the God of the destitute, the poor, and the wronged, and for this reason the church should stand by people in any form of suffering. It claims that individual, racial and social segregation is sin, and that all forms of segregation always lead to enmity and hatred.

Adoption by the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa[edit]

The URCSA (United Reformed Church in Southern Africa) has made it a prerequisite for the previously whites-only DRCSA (Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa) to join the united denomination that all of its members adopt the Belhar Confession. Although the DRCSA is eager to join the new denomination, it has decided not to compel existing members to submit to the confession. The DRCSA had offered to compel only new members of the DRCSA to submit to the confession, and to request existing members to submit to it voluntarily, but this offer was rejected by the URCSA. The URCSA's position was that all members of the DRCSA should be required to swear that the Belhar Confession is true, or face expulsion from the denomination.

The DRCSA's opinion of the Belhar Confession had varied over the years. Initially, the DRCSA rejected the confession as being a political document or as a statement of Liberation Theology. Some time later the DRCSA acknowledged that the document's contents were true, with the proviso that references in the Belhar Confession to "the poor" not be regarded as an implicit reference to non-whites. At the 2011 meeting of the General Assembly of the DRCSA, it was decided that processes to make the Belhar Confession part of the confessional base of the DRCSA should be initiated by its leadership.

Adoption by non-South African churches[edit]

The Evangelical Reformed Church in Africa in Namibia (ERCA) adopted the Belhar Confession in 1997 and in so doing became the first non-South African Church which adopted the Belhar Confession. Apart from the URCSA, the Belhar Confession was also adopted by the United Protestant Church in Belgium in 1998.[2]

The Reformed Church in America (RCA) adopted the Belhar Confession as a fourth Standard of Unity (or confession; alongside the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort) at its 2010 meeting of the General Synod, having adopted it provisionally in 2007.[3]

The 2009 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) proposed to the 2012 Synod that the Belhar Confession be adopted as their fourth confession of faith.[4] Instead, the CRCNA created a new, less-binding category for the Belhar, and adopted it as an "Ecumenical Faith Declaration"[5]

The confession was also instrumental in the RCA's efforts to found the Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic.[6]

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) considered adopting the Belhar Confession. In 2008 a Committee from the 218th General Assembly requested that a committee begin the formal process of including the Belhar in its Book of Confessions.[7] That committee recommended adoption of the Belhar Confession to the 219th General Assembly in 2010.[8] The General Assembly approved the recommendation and referred adoption to a vote of the Presbyteries.[9] The Belhar Confession fell 8 votes short of the 116 necessary for adoption.[10] In 2012, the 220th General Assembly began this process anew,[11] and in 2014, the 221st General Assembly approved the new committee's recommendation to refer adoption to a new vote by the Presbyteries.[12]
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Namibia DRC recently voted no to the inclusion.

I'm discussion the people’s viewpoint on this, religion set aside.
 
We're having our Belhar vote soon. I think, judging from talks in our congregation, the vote will pass.
 
EtienneK said:
We're having our Belhar vote soon. I think, judging from talks in our congregation, the vote will pass.
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The thing with Belhar, the DRC already acknowledge Belhar, but don’t recognise it in the synods. Should the vote pass or not, it won’t change church and will continue as normal. The vote however is a message a recognition by the DRC members. The recognition in the synods is an acknowledgement that the church played a political role, this is which upsets many people.

I'm glad that the church (DRC) and government is pursuing a resolution to racism in our society.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
On this topic, the NGK/DRC, 'NG Kerk', is in the process to vote Belhar into their 1st (article) synods. People isn't voting, only ~20% in the Western Cape pitched their vote by last week. In Gauteng and Mpumalanga they had less than two-thirds which are required to include Belhar into the synods. Those who didn't vote say that this wasn't communicated to them. At the current rate, Belhar won't be acknowledged in the synods.

I'm not here to turn this into an religious thread, but rather the action taken by the people to eradicate racism where possible.

This morning on the radio, RSG, they had this discussion, the people which called in was beyond my understanding. Interestingly enough, most callers was based in Krugersdorp, extremely upset with the DRC to allow this vote. Other people was in the position that they was lied to by the church and the NP... those in the Western Cape are more in agreement with the decision. Anyway, listening to the callers, the churchgoing people - West vs East in SA - are in opposing views to generally drop racism.
Click to expand...

Only Belhar I knew before today...was suburb close to CPT International Airport....
 
The vote in the DRC/NGK is not about whether we agree/support Belhar, but whether, and how, we should include it as one of our "belydenisskrifte" (sorry for the Afrikaans - in English probably translated as Confessions?).

The way the current amendment to Article 1 of the synods read, Belhar will be optional to the members of the church. This is one of issues with the current amendment - it doesn't really make sense to try to create unity with a Article that basically say that some members will believe this, and others that.

Furthermore, the politics behind the amendment to Article 1 is an issue. Including Belhar will strengthen ties with the URCSA, which in turn will damage unity with some of the other churches.

In short, please don't see the whole Belhar debate as being about how DRC/NGK members feel about racism or unity between black and white churches.
 
Interesting discussion on early-morning Cape Talk this morning where the point was also made that people are trying to paint the cape as 'owning racism', whereas it rears its ugly head right across SA.

Fulcrum29 reinforces this - much of the Belhar opposition comes from Krugersdorp. I am sure there are many other places too
 
Chris.Geerdts said:
Interesting discussion on early-morning Cape Talk this morning where the point was also made that people are trying to paint the cape as 'owning racism', whereas it rears its ugly head right across SA.

Fulcrum29 reinforces this - much of the Belhar opposition comes from Krugersdorp. I am sure there are many other places too
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That is what I was getting to - while there are certainly people opposing the Article change because of racism, there are people who are opposing it for other reasons that has nothing to do with racism. There are many people in support of the Belhar Confession, who opposed the Article change. This issue is far wider and deeper reaching than racism. Racism is part of it, but it is certainly not all there is to it.
 
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