South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
On March 7 2019, the Pretoria High Court delivered judgment in the case of Gaum and others v Janse van Rensburg and others. In terms of the Court Order, the decision on same-sex relationships adopted during the extraordinary meeting of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) from […]
By Adv Nadene L Badenhorst, Legal Counsel of FOR SA With relations between the CRL Rights Commission (CRL) and the religious community in South Africa severely strained, the religious sector is hoping that President Ramaphosa will carefully consider who he appoints to serve on the commission for the next five […]
A recent article in Die Burger regarding the settlement agreement concluded between Christian author Gretha Wiid and the Human Rights Commission (HRC), states as follows: “You may be a Christian and practise your religion, but you cannot use it to discriminate against others”. This statement is an over-simplification and therefore […]
At Parliament on May 30 2018, Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) attended a briefing by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice regarding the proposed Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill (“the Bill”). This briefing followed certain amendments made […]
Pastor gets prison sentence for offensive remarks towards gays On Friday, 18 May 2018 Pastor Oscar Bougardt – who found himself in trouble with the law again after making certain “highly insulting, demeaning and uncharitable” statements regarding the LGBT community – was convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to […]
The COGTA Parliamentary Portfolio Committee has decided (for now) not to adopt the CRL Rights Commission’s proposed recommendations for the regulation of religion. Instead, COGTA recommended (as unanimously requested by the religious community during the meetings before Parliament), that the religious community be granted an opportunity to come up with […]
The surprise tabling of the contentious ‘Hate Speech Bill’ in parliament this week raises serious religious freedom concerns writes Advocate Nadene Badenhorst of Freedom of Religion SA (FOR SA) in this special report. It has come to our attention that the controversial draft Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes […]
Earlier this year, Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) met with the Department of Basic Education to discuss the intended roll-out of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programmes in public schools. Generally speaking, CSE takes on different forms and is sometimes referred to as “education, information or counselling on human […]
Columnist Jon Qwelane has applied to the Johannesburg High Court (sitting as Equality Court) for leave to appeal against Judge Moshidi’s judgment on August 18. The judgment declared Qwelane’s statements (in the article that appeared in the Sunday Sun under the heading “Call me names, but gay is not okay”) […]
Special report by Adv Nadene Badenhorst on a recent gathering of African lawyers in Accra, Ghana. Earlier this month, I had the privilege of representing South Africa (together with my colleague, attorney Teresa Conradie) at the 12th biennial Advocates Africa Convocation in Accra, Ghana. The theme of this year’s convocation, […]