I would think that being an Afrikaans Christian in South Africa at this time (and in the last 12 years) is incredibly hard. Imagine being a part of a group of people who supported an ideology from a theological basis – and it’s been shown that you were wrong? This doesn’t just merit an apology (done) or reconstructive work (doing), but it shakes the very foundations of this kind of Christianity, of what it means to belong to this group.

Afrikaans Christians have had to rethink so many things in the last decade: how they read and interpret their Bibles, what their identity is (it’s good to see a healthy post-apartheid Afrikaans identity beginning to emerge), how they can act in the public sphere given their history, and also how they can still carry on doing church when so much of their approach has to have been questioned and deconstructed and reconstructed amidst much chaos. At one level it’s amazing Afrikaans Christianity is still around!

So it’s no surprise to me that there are growing fundamentalist sections within Afrikaans Christian society. It’s got to be hard to continually look at yourself, your beliefs and your culture…at some point it becomes easier to draw the lines and paint in the black-and-white picture, and put down some absolutes.

The interesting question then becomes, “How do we all live together with this diversity?” Ah yes, what a great place to live!

A simple example of this hypocrisy is why do the religious overwhelmingly want the death penalty and oppose abortion while liberals oppose the death penalty but support abortion?

Choose any conflict situation anywhere in the world and look at the hypocrisy between the local antagonists, their international supporters and detractors through the AU, EU, UN etc.

My sense is that the Quntas and their ilk are lashing out simply because they see a concerted effort by other groups to undermine and/or exploit the development of their continent. Their responses are not necessarily based on principles. They would like to see themselves as realists as opposed to those of us who come across as naïve by stressing the importance of principles. Therefore, the Mangcus of my tribe can pontificate as much as they want, they may not change anything. After all, the subjects of their criticism know where these guys come from. They are aware of the basic principles they are trying to uphold. But they regard a man sticking to principles as a weak man. Quite possibly, some of Riaan’s folk think the same. It’s a conundrum…

As for relevance, I think that the irgnorance and self-righteousness demonstrated in that blog entry (by a South African) speaks to our assumption in these rarified circles that everyone has the same levels of education and associated understanding. But they don’t, so we should not be surprised when issues such as an inability to engage appropriately with Maas’s column arise.

The fact that evolution is still controversial in South African education is only an added reminder of how backward we are when it comes to anything remotely controversial from a religious standpoint. And we have the cheek to chuckle at the Americans when they erect creationist museums featuring models of children in dioramas with dinosaurs.

Had he been a columnist writing racially charged material the dismissal would have received loud applause from this forum. Nothing stops another paper from hiring him, or even that he be invited to share his views on Thought Leader. But even here there is a rating system that shows the most popular contributors. What happens to the contributor whose work is rarely viewed? Maas was just not popular with the majority of readers.

BTW. Ndumiso, Riaan is giving me a fair platform, for that I respect him. Your intolerance is showing though. (refer to first post)

I have also shown intolerance per se for Riaan’s approach, but was hoping that the tone of this discussion be moved away from trashing the image of good people who do not deserve the label attached to them. I was clearly mistaken, tolerance is a dying art. Sarah Britten’s attack is case in point. Sorry Sarah, but he has access to a pc, and has an opinion, albeit slightly off target. Your post should have been disallowed, as it contributed nothing, it just anonymously attacked another whom you clearly believe to be of lower station……enlightenment I suppose.

Oh dear, I am ranting again. Sorry Ndumiso….