Special Hearings — Faith Community Hearings — 1997-11-17

CHAIRPERSON: I'm sorry, but I thought we had agreed that you would have a total   of thirty minutes, meaning thirty minutes for the presentation and the question   and answer session. Now you have, well even if you haven't agreed, you have   already got thirty minutes in this, and you have still got your colleague and   the question time. I will give you another, I mean we have fifteen more minutes   which would mean you have 45 minutes.
REV.

DOUGLAS BAX: Well, we started at half past, but let me continue then. 
The next year I tried to pursue this matter further, but John Reece and the   staff of the SACC actually blocked that. The PCSA itself never took a radical   enough stance on the issue of military service, but it did regularly pay special   tribute to people like Peter Mar, Richard Steel and other conscientious objectors   as courageous confessors of the faith and in 1982 approved a document to be   distributed to all congregations to help members of congregations rethink the   whole issue of conscientious objection and in 1990 did the same with another   document called "The different approaches to the ethics of war and conscientious   objection". That year it also adopted the following motion 
"The Assembly expresses repentance that our church failed to make a clear   strong stand long ago in favour of conscientious objection to serving in an   army that was used to defend the apartheid system by military threat and action".
It also came very close, not only to refusing to appoint further military chaplains,   like the Anglican Church, but also to withdraw all its military chaplains and   adopted a motion that we should appoint chaplains if possible, to the liberation   forces of the ANC and PAC and actually met with those bodies in Harare, and   I understand was the only body to do that in order to try and arrange that,   although nothing came of it. Let me just say that, let me just quickly end by   saying in 1981 the General Assembly moved quite specifically off the base of   protest to action by voting to defy the government on three issues. One was   the prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, by calling on its ministers to marry   across the racial line. The second was the Group Areas and Urban Areas Act,   by supporting any ministers who chose to live near their congregations in the   other racial area in defiance of the act, or other racial areas, and thirdly   by defying the government on the banning of people like Beyers Naude and banned   political literature by encouraging ministers to quote them, deliberately quote   them from pulpits when this was relevant. This made the Presbyterian Church   the first church in South African, apart from the defiance of the proposed church   clause by the Church of the Province that Archbishop Clayton threatened in 1957,   officially to espouse the principle of act of civil disobedience and this was   quite a costly decision because we lost several congregations as a result of   that. But several other churches came out in support of the Presbyterian Church   then as far as the Mixed Marriages Act was concerned. I think I'll end there   except just to say this that in 1990 the Assembly hailed the promise of a new   democratic and more just constitution for South Africa and on behalf of the   Presbyterian Church, expressed repentance for all the many ways in which we   as Presbyterians have collaborated or compromised with the apartheid system   and failed to stand against it with enough prayer, courage, determination and   self-sacrifice and instructed that a short liturgy of confession along these   lines should be distributed to all congregations in South Africa for use at   special services of repentance on Soweto Day.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much Douglas. Pakiso Tondi?
REV.

PAKISO TONDI: Thank you Chairperson, Sir. To save time I'm not going to   go through some of the steps that we have in answering question number three,   because that would be repetition as they have already been mentioned and we   share the same sentiments as other denominations, English speaking denominations,   that have given some principles insofar as how we can tackle the future. But   I'm just going to highlight a few. We support what has been said this morning   that churches need, and other faith communities, need to have their own TRC   within their church, making confession before God and those who suffered, both   black and white by telling and listening to one another's stories and forgiving   one another as Christ has forgiven us. This is one thing that we think for us   to address the future and make reconciliation a reality, that we need to tackle.   And one of the challenges that we think faces not only the PCSA and other faith   communities, is the war against poverty. We think we shall wage a war against   the abject poverty which is so obvious in our country and we think it shall   be our task, because some of the business people are our congregants, to convince   them that the wealth that they have accumulated during the apartheid era, it's   time that they should show repentance, and bring it back so that it can be used   to address this abject poverty that has engulfed our country. The PCSA and the   Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the UCSA   need to accept the challenge that has been put to the Dutch Reformed Church   and the three sister churches of other races to unite. It is therefore to be   welcomed that soon after the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994,   the Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa's   Assemblies agreed to reopen negotiations for union. We thank you for the opportunity,   Sir, your invitation that has given us a time to reflect on the past, to rejoice   in the positive things which were done to oppose apartheid and to guard against   gross human rights violations and also to look at ourselves in the light of   the gospel of Jesus Christ and to say to all who suffered in any form whatsoever   as a result of apartheid and whose suffering could have been lessened had we,   as the PCSA and other faith communities been more faithful to the demands of   the gospel We are sorry and will endeavour by God's grace to be more faithful   in word and deed. Thank you Sir.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. We are deeply grateful for that. Virginia?

UNKNOWN: Thank you Chairperson. I would like to commend this panel on   the way in which you have made your presentation. When Dr Bax spoke about the   Hamanskraal SACC Conference, you reminded me of the young Dr Bax who was so   vigorous in opposing some of the things that were brought before the SACC, I   can see that you haven't lost that spirit. The question I was going to ask has   been answered partially because I was going to ask why we have so many Presbyterian   Churches in this country when we are trying to come together ? That was my one   question. Then my other question was How are you planning to address the question   of white control in your church? I think you mentioned something about white   control in the leadership of the church?
REV.