Finding my feet at home and at work in Amsterdam

I arrived in beautiful Amsterdam on the 1st of November to begin my new job at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I am living in a beautiful intentional community called Oud Rustenberg in Baambrugge (about 15km from the University). It is a very beautiful place, and I am incredibly grateful to be living among wonderful people. I am also finding my new colleagues, and the work at the VU, so great. I am truly grateful! Megan and Liam will only join me in the Netherlands in June 2024, and Courtney may only join us after she has completed her Masters Degree in late 2024.

Here is a short video update on the journey so far. Thanks for stopping by! I would love to hear from you in the comments section below!

Some big changes coming! Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

There are some big changes coming! Please see the short video below for more details. We would appreciate your prayers.

Talking to an AI chatbot about my research on Strong Artificial Intelligence

I had a fascinating conversation with the #Bing #AI #chatbot this evening.

In 2006 I defended my PhD at UNISA on an African intersubjective approach to self-validating consciousness in relation to some of the claims of Strong Artificial Intelligence.

This evening Bing found my work, summarized my thesis (relatively well), and ‘humbly’ conceded its limits.

Goodness, this is quite interesting, some of what I discussed in 2006 is now a reality! What do you think about AI, particularly in relation to the kind of work you do? Can you see some possibilities for using it in helpful and responsible ways, or not?

See the screenshots for more on this conversation, and you can find a copy of my 2006 PhD thesis here:

https://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/2361

Living up to the 'true spirit' of Christmas?

People enjoying Christmas decorations in Johannesburg, South Africa. Luca Sola/AFP via Getty ImagesIf the media, popular entertainment, and retail habits are taken as indicators then the celebration of Christmas is no longer just the reserve of Christians. This has some consequences for the religious and non-religious alike.

In popular culture and the media, Christmas is portrayed as a time of happiness, togetherness, generosity, and peace. In the “made for Christmas” movies, such as those on the popular Hallmark Channel, a “feel good” message is the order of the day.

Whether it be the rekindling of a long-lost love or reconcilingbetween family members after a long and painful conflict, viewers are led to believe that there is a certain kind of “magic” at work during what has become known in largely secular terms as “the holiday season”. 

Many people believe, either overtly or tacitly, that Christmas and the celebrations surrounding it will bring them joy, peace, happiness and togetherness.

In my research, which is in a field called public theology, I study such “beliefs” to try to understand where they come from, why people hold them, and what implications they have for our social, political and economic life.

I call these “secular beliefs” to differentiate them from traditional “religious beliefs”. A secular belief is not formally attached to a religion, or has become detached from a particular religion over time. In this sense, Christmas has come to embody a kind of “secular spirituality”. This has much more in common with the dominant symbols and aspirations of our age (such as leisure, pleasure, social control and consumption) than it does with its religious roots.

Understanding Christmas

Christmas, as the name suggests, is linked to the birth of Jesus the Christ. As a professor of theology, I have often jokingly said, “Christ is not Jesus’s surname”. The word “Christ” comes from the Greek word Χρίστος (Chrístos), which is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word “messiah” (מָשִׁיחַ or māšīaḥ). For Jewish people, and later for Christians (people who name themselves after their messiah, Jesus the Christ), the messiah was God’s promised liberator – a King who would come to liberate God’s people from their oppressors and lead them in peace and prosperity.

Christians believe that Jesus is the promised messiah (according to passages in the Bible, such as Isaiah 9:6-7, John 4:25 and Acts 2:38). He came preaching a message of love, peace and anti-materialism. 

Early in Christian history, Christians began to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ (the promised liberator) in special services, what became known as the “mass” after the Latin word missa. Hence, it was the combination of those two words that later became one word, Christmas, a feast that celebrates liberation, peace and joy through the messiah.

When presented in these terms, it would not be surprising to ask what the contemporary presentations of Christmas (particularly in the western world) have to do with the celebration of Jesus the Christ. Santa Claus, snowmen and reindeer seem to have replaced Jesus and his disciples. 

Instead of focusing on messianic liberation and anti-materialism, Christmas is focused on parties, family gatherings, and gift-giving. In other words, like so much of western modernity, the focus has turned from the sacred to the secular and from God to the human self.

Research shows that there are seven primary activities and experiences that are attached to the contemporary Christmas holiday:

• Spending time with family 

• Participating in religious activities

• Maintaining cultural, national, or family traditions (such as decorating a Christmas tree) 

• Spending money on others to buy gifts 

• Receiving gifts from others

• Helping others (such as a local charity) and

• Enjoying the sensual aspects of the holiday (such as good food and drink, rest, and relaxation).

However, the same research shows that for many people, these “peaceful” and “joyous” expectations are not met. Christmas is no longer a time of joy, generosity, family togetherness and rest. 

Rather, the contemporary expectations of the festive “season” – such as the costs associated with gift giving, travel, celebrations (such as work functions, family gatherings, and community events) – can lead to dissatisfaction, stress, conflict and disappointment. Perhaps you can relate? 

Moreover, the burden on women is often much higher than it is on men. Women are often expected to arrange gatherings, buy gifts, prepare food, clean up the aftermath and keep the peace.

Rekindling the true spirit of Christmas

So, taking these realities into account, what might you do to rediscover the “true”, or at least the historical “spirit” of Christmas this year (whether you are religious or not)?

Here are a few suggestions, based on sociological research.

First, social and psychological research shows that in general, but also at Christmas, people report far greater “well-being”

when experiences of family closeness and helping others were particularly salient.

Second, that “diminished well-being” is reported where people’s experiences and expectations “focused on the materialistic aspects of the season (spending and receiving)”. Moreover, the research showed that religious people who actively participated in religious gatherings tended to have a more positive experience of Christmas, with their expectations largely being fulfilled.

So, whether you are Christian, or have more of a secular spirituality, it may well be wise to recapture something of the historical “spirit” of the Christ-mass message by engaging in the responsible use of money and time, choosing positive consumption practices, while seeking to foster good relationships with family, friends and colleagues.

Moreover, pay careful attention to issues such as the gendered division of labour and responsibility by sharing the work and effort. In doing so, you just may have a happier Christmas.

[I wrote this article for The Conversation in December 2022].

The Indecency of the World Cup in Qatar—Making a F-ing Difference?

I love Berlin! It is an amazing city. I have been here many times in the last decade. As I write this, I am sitting in my office in the Theology Faculty at the Humboldt University Berlin, looking out over the Spree river towards the Berliner Dom (Lutheran Cathedral) and Museum Island. I am here on an extended stay as part of a research sabbatical. But, of course, there is another side to contemporary Berlin. It is a city whose residents challenge convention and push the boundaries. Graffiti is a common sight as are some rather interesting fashion choices.

On my commute from home to the university, I cycled through a tunnel under the S-Bahn (elevated train) near Hackescher Markt, home to all the “cool” stores. Just as the Berliner Dom came into view, I was confronted by a mural by the “Football blackout for human rights” campaign that was pasted over the regular graffiti on the tunnel walls. It read:

“On Dec 10, I’ll marathon-kiss my queer partner in public instead of watching football.”

I think the text is deliberately intended to shock the reader. It is somewhat reminiscent of the famous Berlin mural by Dmitri Vrubel, often referred to as the Fraternal Kiss. It was painted along the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery with the inscription, Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben [My God, Help Me to Survive this Deadly Love]. The famous mural depicts Leonid Brezhnev (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, 1960–1964 and 1977–1982) and Erich Honecker (head of East Germany under Soviet rule, 1971–1989) engaging in a fraternal kiss. The mural is based on a photograph by Régis Bossu, depicting the two communist leaders engaging in such a kiss in East Berlin on 7 October 1979. There is nothing strange about two men kissing. It is common in many cultures. But the mural elicited quite a stir. Some found it indecent and shocking, and it generated a great deal of public debate.

I am guessing that the artists behind the mural I passed are hoping to create similar discussion. Well, I sat down to write this piece, so it is working to some extent at least!  Among the other slogans used by the “Football blackout for human rights” campaign are:

“Today I’d rather drunk-text my ex than watch football”

and “Today I’d rather masturbate all day than watching football.”

For me, the juxtaposition of what society deems “decent” (the Berliner Dom and the grand Museums) against the seemingly indecent slogans of the “Football blackout” campaign raised important questions about how we make sense of the world and construct our values. Let me explain why.

I started my sabbatical research in July 2022 by delivering one of the more important lectures of my career to date, my inaugural lecture as Professor of Public Theology and Ethics at Stellenbosch University (see, Counterpoint). In the lecture, I wrestled with “living more decently in an indecent world.” Since then, I have been speaking, teaching, and researching at some of the more “decent” Universities in Germany and the UK (Cambridge, Heidelberg, Bamberg, and Berlin). A lot of my conversations with students and colleagues have centered around the tension between the need for both decency and indecency in contemporary theology.

In my lecture, I was not advocating for a kind of “decent theology,” or “decency ethics.” I realize that what is presented as “decency” in some settings can be used to oppress sexual minorities, to stifle racial and ethnic diversity, or to “other” persons from non-dominant cultures.

Rather, I tried to imagine how a person might live a moral life, a good life, a life of greater justice that is directed towards the common good in the midst of many contemporary indecencies (such as poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and war). Moreover, I wanted to discern what we should do when these indecencies are held in place or strengthened by indecent systems and institutions, to the extent that—by means of economic, political, and religious systems—their actions and values, even in so-called “decent” societies have become indecent.

Consider the different treatment given to Syrian and Ukrainian refugees in Europe, or the religion that is used to oppress sexual minorities, or sport that is used to “purpose-wash” human rights abuses. We need a measure of decency to counter structural and systemic indecencies that humiliate and dehumanize people. The Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit asserts that a “decent society is one whose institutions do not humiliate people.”

Though my focus then was on decency, I realize that we also need a measure of indecency to call into question some of what we have come to uncritically and unquestioningly present as “proper,” “acceptable,” and “justifiable” in contemporary politics, economics, and religion. I would characterize “oppressive decency” as a form of arbitrary, parochial narrow- mindedness.

To combat that, advocating for some measure of indecency in contemporary life is not without peril. Some groups may claim that their acts of racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and homophobia further their version of what is good. In such instances we need to defer to greater decency—such as upholding our common humanity, fostering deep solidarity, and working courageously and tirelessly for universal justice. In short, we need to maintain a critical tension between both indecency and decency in our pursuit of the common good, and the lasting good.

So, my question is, what is the decent thing to do when encountering structural and systemic indecency in society? The decent thing to do may just be indecent by some contemporary standards.

The late Argentinian theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid suggested that in situations where systemic and structural oppression has been normalized, we need to develop an Indecent Theology that “troubles” some of these ossified and uncritically accepted “decent” beliefs and practices that lead to injustice and oppression. When her book was first published, it caused a major stir in “decent” theological circles. The South African queer theologians Hanzline Davids and Ashwin Thyssen argue that this “stir” is good as it “disrupts, transgresses, and erases stable binaries” such as heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, western supremacism, and the economic, political, and social systems that give these binaries the power to dominate and subjugate.

As I cycled away from the protest art in the S-Bahn tunnel, I was left wondering, for example, why I, and likely many other persons, have no moral problem watching the 2022 World Cup matches in Qatar, where there are indecent abuses of the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons, women, migrant workers, and many others. Yet, I feel morally challenged by an artwork advocating a “marathon queer-kissing session in public.”

The protest art helped me to realize that what I consider decent may in fact be indecent and that I needed a certain measure of indecency to help me to re-evaluate—literally to reconsider what I value or more pointedly re-evaluate what my values are based upon. Lisa Isherwood, the famous “body theologian” who uses our lived, embodied human experiences to think about God and relationship to God, wrote an appreciative (and critical) response to Althaus-Reid. Isherwood’s response is titled, Indecent Theology: What F-ing Difference Does It Make? She contends that indecent theology could help us to move towards a more honest, truth-telling theology.

So, I would like to invite you to dwell with those things that make you feel uncomfortable, that unsettle your sensibilities, that destabilize your social and historical values. What is it about them that makes you uncomfortable? What unquestioned values do they challenge? A bit of indecent theology might just be what is necessary to make a “f-ing difference” for the sake of a more decent world.

[I wrote this article for Counterpoint Knowledge. It was first published on 7 December 2022]

Professorial Inaugural Lecture: On living more decently in an indecent world - The virtues and vices of a Public Theologian

On the 16th of August 2022 I was exceptionally grateful to deliver my Inaugural Lecture as a Full Professor at Stellenbosch University.

The tradition of the Professorial Inaugural Lecture is that once one is promoted to Full Professor you have to make a 'profession'. It is generally assumed that some years or decades of research and scholarship will mean that you have something of meaning and value to say.

I took that very seriously. Wrestled for some months with what to 'profess'. Of course there was the pressure that the lecture's text had to be finalised in order to be prepared for publication! This was actually quite good - it meant that I had to read, listen, discern, and write! In the end I tried to discern what might be appropriate, fitting, and just for me to profess as a white, male, professor of Public Theology and Ethics in Stellenbosch South Africa in 2022? As it happened, the date that the University set for the lecture coincided with the 10th Anniverary of the Marikana massacre (about which I had done research and written previously). The mine workers who were shot in that terrible event had built their campaign around decency - what they were advocating for was a 'decent wage' (not just a 'living wage'). They wanted to earn enough to be able to undo the evils of colonialism and apartheid for them and their families. They were asking to earn enough to be able to undo the dehumanization of migrant labour, of inadequate education, of a lack of health care, and of ongoing poverty. They expected, that in a decent society they should be able to earn a decent wage. Sadly, 47 persons died indecently during that week's protests.

So in the end, the title of my lecture was:

Living more decently in an indecent world? The virtues and vices of a public theologian.

You can download PDF copy of the published lecture here.

The event was attended by family, friends, my wonderful colleagues, and members of the Rectorate of Stellenbosch University. It was such a special evening! I am so grateful.

You can watch the lecture itself here (or see the embedded youtube video below which will start playing at the start of the lecture itself, skip back to the beginning to watch the whole evening with inputs from special colleagues and friends).

Forum Lecture - American Evangelicalism and African Christianities: A cautionary tale of Theo-political exceptionalism

I was very grateful to deliver the 'Stellenbosch Unviersity Forum Lecture' on the 26th of March 2022.

This is the second time that I have been asked to deliver this prestigious lecture. I was very grateful to do so.

The topic of my lecture was 'A critical consideration of the relationship between African Christianities and American Evangelicalism: A cautionary tale of theo-political exceptionalism?' It is based on an article that I had published in the South African Baptist Journal of Theology that you can read here. 

Thanks for your interest. While I feel, that by an large Christianity has made a positive contribution towards the care of persons in fields such as education, health care, political advocacy, and human rights, I do also think that it is important for us to name the ways in which religion in any form is harmful or dangerous.

I would love to hear your feedback or ideas on this topic!

The Soweto student Uprising, Desmond Tutu, and TEE College - some painful and hopeful history

Here is a bit of painful, and hopeful, history.

This is an extract from the minutes of the first TEE College meeting that took place on 18 June 1976. Desmond Tutu was elected as the first Chair of the board of the college. As you will see in these minutes, after opening the meeting, he was called away to Soweto to support the community after the horrific police brutality of what is now known as the ‘Soweto Student Uprising’.

TEE College was set up by the Eccumenical Churches to train women and men for ministry during a period when South Africa’s apartheid government would not allow black women and men to study theology at Universities.

In the years since 1976 TEE College has trained tens of thousands of persons for ministry and service via ‘extended’ learning (allowing persons to study while being employed, thus not taking scarce skills and limited resources away from the communities in which they were serving).

TEE College offers a Bachelor of Theology Degree, a Diploma in Theology, and numerous Higher Certificates in Theology and Ministry. We currently have over 3000 registered students.

I am very grateful to serve as the current Chairman of the Board of TEE College. It offers a wonderful service to the Churches and society, with a gifted and dedicated staff based at our new Campus in Brackenhurst.

See the Facebook page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/TEECollege

The need for a Critical Biblical Hermeneutics

Thanks to Charlene Van Der Walt for this very important, and clear, article on the Bible, the Christian faith, and the need for a critical hermeneutics. The article helped me to understand why it is necessary to ask some questions about who it is that opposes critical reflection. The privileged and the powerful don’t like to be called to account for their power and privilege. We center ourselves as normative in history, in identity, and even in relation to what we think constitutes truth and morality. I realize how important it is to remain accountable for my scholarship, my beliefs, and my moral orientation. This piece hit home powerfully (some of my friends may need to use Google Translate for this bit):

“As jy Sondag na Sondag op die kansel of in die klaskamer vir mense sê hoe hulle moet dink en wat hulle moet dink en wat die regte metode is om oor dinge te dink, dan gaan jy seker aan die huil raak as almal nou nie meer wil dink soos jy dan nou gesê het nie. Of jy gaan vuil speel en die ander verneder, want jy kan.”

Of course some people are claiming that there is no need for free and honest conversation, that we don’t need to account for our hermeneutic positions (and listen to the positions of others, whose perspectives may differ from our own) when we read and interpret the Bible, that there is no need for empathetic, compassionate, and respectful consideration of the lived realities of others. Of course if the world, and your god, are already created in your image, why would you want to listen to me, or anyone else?

I love what Juliana Claassens wrote about the nature and responsibility of public theology. She said, “public theology is thus concerned with facing the world with all its crookedness, helping to name the wounds below the surface… that is the first step in changing the reality”. (IJPT vol 13, 2019:193).

Thanks for helping us Charlene, thanks for helping us Julie. I want to listen, and I want to reflect, I want to learn, I want to read the Bible with integrity, and I want to become more like Christ. You can read Charlene's article here, "Queering drink aan op ongemak".

Remembering Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu - Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology and the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University

SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 19, 1984: Bishop Desmond Tutu and Beyers Naude, with Manas Buthelezi in the backround. (Photo by Gallo Images / Avusa / Margo Williams).It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 1931 - 26 December 2021). 

He was a remarkable human being, a person whose life was shaped by his faith in Jesus Christ, and the ethical responsibilities that arose from a lived spirituality. He was a great colleague and friend to Rev Dr Beyers Naudé, and because of that showed great friendship and commitment to the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, and the Faculty of Theology, at the University of Stellenbosch. Of course he had a much closer relationship to the University of the Western Cape, where he served as Chancellor for almost 25 years. His willingness to build strong and meaningful relationships with the University of Stellenbosch, in spite of the role that this institution played in South Africa's apartheid history, is itself a testimony to his tendency to work for reconciliation and justice. You can find the official statement from the University of Stellenbosch here.

SOUTH AFRICA - OCTOBER 8, 2014: Bishop Desmond Tutu and Dion Forster (TRC re-enactment Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University).I had a few conversations with colleagues in the Faculty of Theology today about Archbishop Tutu's involvement over the years. He was best known by the late Professor Russel Botman (former lecturer at UWC, and later Lecturer and Rector at Stellenbosch University), but also by Prof Nico Koopman (my predecessor as Lecturer in Public Theology and Director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, now Vice Rector at Stellenbosch University), Prof Christo Thesnaar, and Dr Sipho Mahokoto (among others). Here are a few important moments that we could remember:

• 2002 Archbishop Tutu participated in the launch of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology.
• 2008 (23 Sept) he spoke at the event in memory of Beyers Naudé, reflecting on their shared work within the Ecumenical Church movement to strengthen the Church's witness against the evils of apartheid.
• 2009 (11 Feb) he was a speaker at an event that was linked to the 150th anniversary of the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University.
• 2013 (20 March) he spoke to our students (I think this was the ‘pre-cursor’ our current courses at 4th year level that focus on ‘modern theologians and modern theologies', which we innitiated in 2014). See the small summary from Sarah Rowland (who worked with the Archbishop, Prof Nico Koopman and our colleague, Dr Sipho Mahokoto. Dr Rowland was a researcher in the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology). Please see the scan below of some thoughts that Archbishop Tutu prepared for the students (edited by Dr Sarah Rowland).
• 2014 (8 and 9 October) he hosted the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission (TRC) re-enactment hosted by Prof Christo Thesnaar on behalf of the Faculty of Theology, the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, and a variety of other Faith Based Organisations, Church Bodies, Denominations and Civil Society groupings.

He is remembered as a faithful and courageous servant of Jesus, and a champion for the values of God’s just, loving, and inclusive Kingdom. His ministry as an Anglican Priest and Bishop shaped so much of the Church's work and witness during some of the most difficult times in South Africa's history (both before the end of political apartheid, and in the years after the dawn of participatory democracy). He was a great theologian with a deep commitment to Black and African Christian theologies of Liberation. Under his leadership many of us were inspired to take a stand on important issues such a anti-racism, economic justice, gender rights, the rights of LGBTI+ persons, and the plight of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation (to name just a few).

We pray for his family, friends, the Church, and all those who mourn his passing. 

May he Rest In Peace and rise in Power.

Open Access Lecture series - Equipping Public Theologians for the Common Good

Dear friends,

The Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, the Berlin Institute for Public Theology, and the Lutheran World Federation has launched a 21 part Open Access Lecture series entitled, Equipping Public Theologians for the Common Good. I am grateful to have worked alongside my friends Prof. dr. Torsten Meireis (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin), and Rev. dr. Sivin Kit (Lutheran World Federation).

There are 21 videos recorded with some of the most notable theologians working in the field of Public Theology around the world. You can access all of the videos from here.

Here is a lovely article on this project from the Lutheran World Federation Website.

LWF joins Berlin Institute and Beyers Naudé Center to help member churches strengthen engagement in public space

(LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has “joined hands” with the Berlin Institute for Public Theology in Germany and the Beyers Naudé Center for Public Theology in South Africa to produce a series of resources to help member churches strengthen their engagement in the public space.

At the official launch of the open-access public theology lecture series on 15 October, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge said that such resources are urgently needed at a time when "prevalent trends of individualization are leading to a disengagement from the public space.” As humanity loses a sense of the common good, he stressed, “the common ground among people and communities shrinks,” with the result that “eventually common sense goes astray.”

The LWF leader noted that churches are not exempt from such trends towards “splendid isolation,” but they are “excellently well equipped to counter these trends” by mobilizing their spiritual and theological resources. By its nature, he insisted, “faith is always personal” but “never private,” because “faith both forms community and drives towards community.”

Access to fresh and substantive theology is much needed in the global church today because it expands our theological imagination, sharpens our theological discernment and strengthens our theological commitment.— Prof. Dr Simone Sinn, Academic Dean of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey

The series of public theology lectures is freely available on the websites of the three organizations in both video and audio format, with accompanying slides, study texts and suggested supplementary reading. Recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lectures are presented by leading public theologians from around the globe. They include discussion on what public theology means in different contexts, including from an Islamic perspective and within the framework of a digital world.  

A second section focuses on the practical application of public theology in areas such as politics and economics, peacemaking and human rights, gender and sexuality, or creation and sustainable development. During the online launch, Rev. Philip Peacock, Acting General Secretary for Programs of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, said: “The question is not why there is suffering in the world, but rather, what can we do about it and this is, of course, a very public question.”

Also welcoming the new resources was the Academic Dean of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Prof. Dr Simone Sinn. Access to such “fresh and substantive theology” is much needed in the global church today, she said, because “it expands our theological imagination, sharpens our theological discernment and strengthens our theological commitment.”

Private and public spheres

Three of the contributors to the lecture series also shared insights into the importance of public theology in their different contexts. Prof. Dr Rothney Tshaka, director of the School of Humanities at the University of South Africa underlined the fact that in his country “black theology of liberation has always been public theology,” even when “it was not fashionable to speak publicly about your faith.”

Rev. Dr Seferosa Carroll, the World Council of Churches Program Executive for Mission and Mission from the Margins, explained that she grew up in the Pacific in a context where faith was largely limited to the private sphere and Sunday worship. She said she was keen to be part of the lecture series because “for me, it just became very important to actually unpack the connections between private and the public sphere.”

Another contributor, Prof. Dr Frederike van Oorschot, director of the department of Religion, Law and Culture at Germany’s Heidelberg University, highlighted the importance of discussing “how digital spaces shape our understanding of the public [sphere] and our interaction between Christians.”  

The director of the Berlin Institute for Public Theology, Prof Dr Torsten Meireis, noted that the current series of lectures “is only a start,” adding that there are “many other voices that should be heard.” His words were echoed by Prof. Dr Dion Forster, director of the Beyers Naudé Center for Public Theology at Stellenbosch University, who encouraged others “to join the conversation” in the future.  

LWF’s Program Executive for Public Theology and Interreligious Relations, Rev. Dr Sivin Kit, who moderated the discussion, stressed that “providing access to voices from different parts of the world, is not about “limiting ourselves to argue over definitions and concepts.” Rather, he concluded, it is about “mobilizing individuals and communities for a stronger engagement in the public space.”

ACCESS THE RESOURCES PAGE

Youth Day: “Born Free?” A Deceptive and Dangerous Story about South Africa’s Youth

Each year on the 16th of June, South Africans commemorate Youth Day. It is a day on which we remember the sacrifices made by young people in the struggle against apartheid. In particular, we remember 176 people who were killed by the Apartheid police in the 1976 Soweto Student Uprising. They were part of a group of approximately 20,000 students who took to the streets to protest racist policies in the nation’s education system. In 2015-2017, young South Africans were once again at the forefront of the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall movements, which called for free, quality, decolonized higher education.

However, a rift has developed between these younger activists and their 1976 counterparts. One of the #RhodesMustFall student leaders, Ntobo Sbo Qwabe, said in 2016, “Older black people who want to silence us on the basis that they fought against apartheid need to shut the fuck up!!! We are here because you failed us! So please!” His statement expresses the frustrations of the so-called “born free” generation, who were born after the end of political apartheid in 1994 yet still live with the ongoing injustices of racism, poverty, unemployment, poor education, and hopelessness that their parents and grandparents faced before them. It has been almost three decades since the end of political apartheid in South Africa, and while this new generation of South African youth has experienced the “right to have rights” (as Seyla Benhabib describes it), the enactment of those rights has not been realized in any significant and transformative manner.

South Africa has a predominantly young population, with the average age of 27.6 years. Shockingly, 55.5 percent of the population lives below the international poverty line of less than US$2 per day, and unemployment sits at 29.1 percent. Moreover, South Africa remains the most economically unequalsociety in the world.

What is of particular concern is that the injustices of white privilege and black subjugation continue in the economic and spatial inequalities of black and white South Africans at present. The social economist Sampie Terreblanche indicates that on average, white South Africans have never been as prosperous as they have become in the years since the end of political apartheid. The average South African household income is R930 (US$64) per month while white South African’s earn on average 3 times more than black South Africans. White South Africans, who comprise less than 10 percent of the population, continue to dominate the ownership of private land, owning 72 percent of private land, while black South Africans, who make up 89 percent of the population, own 26 percent of private land.

Achille Mbembe, an African philosopher and political scientist, notes that young black South Africans are expressing their political, social, and economic discontent by turning first, to a politics of identity, pitting the races against one another, and second, to a generational politics, where young persons are increasingly distrusting of older activists and liberation leaders as “sellouts.” Finally, the young are turning to a politics of impatience, where they seek rapid and significant transformation by revolution rather than social evolution.

Young people, in particular, experience the utter hopelessness of the slow violence of poverty, racism, and injustice. In short, they are losing hope for the future. In this regard, one could question whether these young South Africans are really “born free.” Language matters. It can witness to the truth and communicate it with clarity and intent. Or, as the student activist Lovelyn Nwadeyi notes, language can be used to “perpetuate a deceptive and dangerous story” of untruth and a false reality.

At a Youth Day lecture, commemorating the students who were slain in the 1976 Soweto Massacre, she said,

I completely and unequivocally reject the term ‘”born free” because this is a term that perpetuates a deceptive and dangerous story about the reality of South African youth. Phrases like “born free” and “rainbow nation,” amongst others, have come to find comfort in the mediocre lexicon that we have entertained since the end of apartheid in South Africa. I personally struggle with words like “born free” and “rainbow nation” as I’ve experienced these words as tools for silencing, silencing and diminishing the genuine grievances of young people, and particularly young South Africans of colour. I also think that the process of meaning making that is associated with this ideology of “born free-ism” and “rainbow-ism” is one of the most insidious and powerful attempts at whitewashing the complexities of the struggle for liberation in this country.

Indeed, language matters! Just as we question the uncritical use of the phrase “post-apartheid South Africa” (in what “real” sense has apartheid ended in South Africa?), we also need to question the use of the phrase “born free.” What happens when we label a whole generation of persons as “free” just by virtue of the date of their birth? Nwadeyi suggests that in doing so, we politicize the act of their birth and indeed by virtue of that, we politicize the very existence of children and young people. We do not have the right to impose a label, particularly an untrue label, that denies the suffering and daily reality of the majority of young South Africans. Nwadeyi notes, “It is part of perpetuating a false narrative that disguises the terror, the violence, the deliberateness, and the logic of erasure, that is core to the formation of the story of modern South Africa at various points in this 25-year long journey after 1994.”

So, for the sake of truth, and in pursuit of justice let us dispense of the myth of the “born free” generation. Let us face the realities of the current South African context with honesty and courage so that we can work for change. It is only in doing so that South Africans can move from the myth of freedom towards the reality of freedom that young South Africans long for.

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I wrote this article for 'Counterpoint Knowledge', you can find the originally published article here.