Originally published in CBN News The Shi’ite Muslim majority country of Azerbaijan recently invited more than a dozen evangelical pastors on an official visit to the nation. But why would the president of that country be interested in evangelical Christians? Azerbaijan is located on the Caspian Sea, bounded on the […]
Tag: religious freedom
‘New CRL Commission needed to rebuild trust between state, religious communities’
The South African government must wisely choose new commissioners for the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights (CRL) in order to regain the trust of religious communities, says religious freedom scholar Professor Christof Sauer. “The actions and attitudes of the Commission in the past five years […]
DRC judgment doesn’t force all churches to marry gays, but sets dangerous precedent
Last Friday a full bench of the Pretoria High Court ruled that a 2016 decision by the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) Synod to reverse its 2015 decision to remove the celibacy requirement for homosexual ministers and to solemnise same-sex civil unions, was both procedurally and constitutionally unlawful. While technically nothing […]
Proposal to outlaw physical discipline at home scrapped
In a major turnaround, a proposal which would have criminalised parents spanking children has been removed from the latest draft of the Children’s Amendment Bill which will be submitted to Parliament for consideration. Unlike previous versions of the Bill, the latest draft makes no mention of “chastisement” or “discipline”, which […]
CRL launches “astounding” new push for state control of religion
At a national summit for religious and church leaders at Rhema Church (Rhema Summit) two weeks ago, the CRL Rights Commission threatened church leaders that if they did not come up with solutions for the abuses and malpractices in the religious sector (and particularly in the church) on that day, […]
Religious leaders tell CRL they will sort out their own problems
More than 800 delegates attended a historic, national summit of religious leaders at Rhema Church, Randburg, yesterday to address the need for a self-regulation process to prevent religious abuses. The vast majority of the leaders represented the Christian church, with most of the major denominations, independent and indigenous structures well […]
Bill seeking to regulate churches raises emotions in Ugandan parliament
Originally published in UG Christian News A section of Ugandan legislators on Wednesday took a firm stand against a request to grant Hon John Baptist Nambeshe (NRM, Manjiya County, Bududa) leave to introduce a bill aimed at regulating religious and faith organisations in Uganda. Hon Nambeshe said the bill, entitled […]
Church, SA facing biggest threat to religious freedom yet, warns FOR SA
Religious freedom watchdog FOR SA warns that the Church and South Africa are facing their “most serious threat to religious freedom to date” in the form of a new bid by the CRL Rights Commission to push for the regulation of religion. Alerting Christian leaders to a national consultative conference […]
Revised Hate Speech Bill open for comment
The call for comments on the revised draft of the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill has been extended to February 15, reports Freedom of Religion (FOR SA). Commenting on the Bill, FOR SA says clause 4(1) makes “hate speech” a crime– with potentially dire repercussions from […]
Concerns about inclusivity and timing of proposed religious summit
Freedom of Religion SA (FOR SA) is concerned that key churches, denominations and religious organisations have been excluded from the process of arranging a proposed national religious summit on February 13 next year. “FOR SA has always called for, and supported, a broadly representative and inclusive process whereby the religious community […]