Freedom of Religion SA (FOR SA) says it will need to raise in the region of R1-million for legal costs for its appeal against the High Court judgment which removed “moderate and reasonable chastisement” as a common law defence that parents could use against a charge of assault. “Appealing this […]
Tag: freedom of religion
Possible appeal against Qwelane hate speech judgment
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”) […]
Freedom of Religion SA takes CRL to court for defamation
Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) has issued legal proceedings out of the Johannesburg High Court, to protect the organisation from defamatory statements made by the CRL Rights Commission (CRL) to the public and the media with the clear intention of undermining and discrediting the organisation. In their application, […]
Christian ministry suing over ‘hate group’ slur
Originally published in Fox News A prominent evangelical ministry has filed a federal lawsuit against the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), saying it defamed the Christian organisation as an “active hate group” because it endorses the biblical view of homosexuality. The clash marks the latest chapter in a growing […]
FOR SA repeats urgent call for religious community to speak out on religious licensing report
Freedom of Religion SA this week repeated an urgent call on the religious community to make submissions on the CRL Right’s Commission’s controversial religious licensing proposals by no later than August 21. “It is absolutely crucial that religious communities make their voices heard on this issue to COGTA [ Cooperative Governance […]
UCT “trans-trendering” with inclusivity policy for sexual orientation
The University of Cape Town (UCT) recently issued a draft “Inclusivity policy for Sexual Orientation”, which is likely to set the trend for other universities and colleges (and potentially also, schools) in South Africa on the issue of human sexuality and gender identity. While the policy is presented as an […]
Religious licencing proposal ‘totalitarian’ — Catholic Church
A recommendation that new laws be introduced to enforce registration of pastors and ministers is overkill and a response that one would expect more from a totalitarian state than a constitutional democracy”, said Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town and President of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC). He […]
Court says public schools may not promote a particular religion — but religious observances allowed
Originally published in forsa.org.za A mere six weeks after the case was argued in court, the Johannesburg High Court this morning delivered its much-anticipated judgment in the case of OGOD v six public schools regarding religion in schools. REACTION TO RULING FEDSAS The Federation of Governing Bodies of South Africa […]
Are we using or abusing our religious freedom in South Africa? — Jan Gouws
Jan Gouws executive director of Open Doors South Africa looks at religious freedom in South Africa from a global perspective, On April 27, we celebrated freedom in our country. The constitution partly defines this freedom as follows: “everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion”. […]
Church and Press have role to defend freedom of speech
The Church and the Press are two fundamental pillars of civil society that stand for freedom of speech. Our recent history is a clear example of the important role that the Church and the media played in the struggle against Apartheid. In fact, at one stage the Church was the […]