Diana's Various and Sundry Essays

The Misuse of Christianity and Colonialism in South Africa

Since the beginning of the movement, followers of Christ have maintained that their religion embodies infallible ethical structure. In an idyllic sense, that may be true. However, in the wrong hands, Christianity can be used as a tool to perpetuate injustice just as easily as it may be used to bring such unfairness to an end. Christians have transformed nations everywhere—many positively and many negatively—in all aspects.

In the South Africa of the mid-twentieth century, injustice pervaded every aspect of existence for the native people. They were used for cheap labor needed to work the mines. Their bus fares were raised. They were forced to move into shanty towns beside the railroad tracks (Paton). Most of the people responsible for these injustices were Christians. They were either ignorant of the circumstances, helped facilitate injustice by their influence as leaders, or were painfully aware of the tragedy but powerless to solve it.

Many of these European Christians were unaware of the extent to which the natives were mistreated. Most of the unpleasant contact between the colonists and the South Africans was kept comfortably far away from the majority of the white population. Perhaps this was willful ignorance, or perhaps it was simple naďveté. In any case, most did not understand the seriousness of the situation. Many of them desired to continue living as they always had, simply for the sake of the tradition that they grew up with. This was clearly a situation in which many people were exploited, from the very beginning of the introduction of the Christian religion to South Africa, for the convenience of a small group of Anglo-Saxon Christians.

When Christian missionaries arrived in Africa, their impression was that the indigenous peoples lacked a religion entirely because they did not believe in a “single, supreme being who could be influenced by prayer on behalf of humans.” This perception, of course, was based entirely on the Europeans’ own egocentric experience with religion, and did not reflect the true circumstances. The idea that the African people were “wild savages”, which was a common view among Westerners at the time, was enhanced by the fact that they worshipped their ancestors and lacked any conventional form of church. Once again, the Christian standpoint, created and maintained by frequent reports from the Christian colonists, eclipsed all diversity of thought and did not allow them to contemplate the African culture beyond the bounds of their own. (“South”)

The origin of Christianity in South Africa was the slave population of the Cape. Many Christians allowed their slaves to attend religious services but refused to let them be baptized, since they felt that such intimate connection with God might somehow interfere with their “rightful” captivity (Lettinga). Clearly, this was an incredibly corrupt practice, since the Christians taught that baptism was a necessary ceremony and then forbade the new South African converts to participate in it.

As Christianity became more widespread among the indigenous people of South Africa, missionaries everywhere gained interest in converting more of them. John and Jean Comaroff, in the second volume of their analysis of the London Missionary Society, state, "The point of colonial evangelism, after all, was to erase what was indigenously African and to replace it with something different (Stanley).” Exemplified, once again, is the egotistical idea that the Christian mindset was the only one that was worth preserving. The cherished European view that the African culture was uncivilized, overly simplistic, and vile led many influential Westerners to feel that the African way of life should be completely wiped out and replaced by Anglo-Saxon culture. With the best of intentions, they bent themselves to destroy a rich, colorful, and irreplaceable society.

Eventually the native peoples of South Africa managed to make Christianity their own. They adapted it to their own culture and became so whole-heartedly involved and emotionally invested in it that the number of indigenous people practicing the Christian faith increased dramatically. Understandably, the percentage of those South Africans practicing their traditional religion has declined steadily since 1900 (“Percentage”) due to mass conversion. Today, most of South Africa observes the Christian religion. However, eastern South Africa is somewhat evenly split between Christianity, Islam, and traditional religion (“Religious”).

Another consideration regarding South African Christianity is the fact that, though the European Christians began to freely teach biblical concepts, and the South Africans began to freely accept them, the corruption continued, however innocently. The more widely Christians spread their own interpretations of the Bible, the more the people of South Africa were assimilated into a Western mindset. Even though they desired to learn about Christianity, the way in which they were educated was extremely biased. This contributed to the vast separation of the people from their traditional culture. However, when they began to grasp this situation, and to resist it, they drove an even larger wedge between themselves and the Anglo-Saxons. This is just one of many vicious cycles that still pervade South Africa (Draper).

Unfortunately, many Christian leaders used the religion itself to continue their injustice. For example, black priests were paid less than white priests (Paton). This was illogical as well as unfair due to the fact that the black priests of the country came in contact with much more strife and hardship on a daily basis than did the white priests. This merely added insult to injury and justifiably put a general strain on race relations. The pay difference may have had something to do with the great respect and consideration with which the Europeans treated one another, which was perhaps facilitated by their contrasting behavior toward the natives. Because of this extensive regard, a Christian white person in South Africa at the time would rarely be allowed to slip into irrecoverable poverty, nor would he or she ever be forced into criminal activity as a means of survival; there was usually a reputation or social position to keep in mind, regardless of the quality of familial relations. (The South Africans did not have this kind of safety net, and were often forced into ghastly situations in order to survive.) In spite of this societal condition, in which the natives were badly neglected, the church itself decided that black priests would be paid less than white priests. They wanted to Christianize the native people without having too much contact with them or expending too many resources. So, they trained black priests to convert them. Likely, they felt that they would then have more honorable natives to deal with who would cause fewer problems when shown the righteousness of a Christian spirit. The irony of this mentality is that in doing so, and in blindly incorporating many forms of injustice into their naďve, ostensibly well-meaning plans, they exposed themselves to the people as hypocrites. Therefore, if the black people of South Africa did indeed believe the Christian message, they felt every unjust action towards them even more keenly.

Christianity and colonialist politics in South Africa were lumped together in the minds of the natives because, as established, the colonists were mainly Christian. Because of the colonialist attitudes of the Europeans who came to Africa, many Africans began to prefer the new European culture and way of life to their own. Quite possibly, this was due to the heavy influence of the white people and their religion, which many of the indigenous people must have believed to be inextricably linked. (Oladipo)

Pre-colonialist politics in South Africa had been well-balanced, contrary to popular belief on the subject (which was frequently that all African rulers were “brutal autocrats”). According to Louise Kretzschmar, there were many checks and balances on governmental power, a system which was generally similar to democracy in America today, if not so in specifics. However, with the arrival of the Christian Europeans came the necessity for traditional leaders to either join forces with the newcomers or simply lose any and all power they had. The ones who chose to support the new governing style became more interested in pleasing the colonialists than taking care of their own people. This corruption of the well-intentioned (but ill-advised) Christian European attempt to better the people of South Africa was mainly due to the fact that the African leaders received their paychecks from the new government. Wealth, then, became more important to these men than the welfare of their own countrymen. In later years, these officials became lazy and incompetent—hallmarks of an extensive loss of self-confidence, according to Kretzschmar. Obviously these effects are still felt today, regardless of the many reforms that have taken place in South Africa. (Kretzschmar)

A few people were able to comprehend the poor state of affairs that South Africa was dealing with on a daily basis. However, some of them were too busy with their own lives to give the issue much thought. Some of them felt that it was God’s will. Still others, given real clarity of vision by God, knew that the maltreatment of the native people was wrong and worked with all of their strength to stop it. This, however, was a nearly impossible task, since the majority of the Europeans were content to live in South Africa the way they had been existing there for generations. They were wealthy, had a rich social and cultural history in the area, and were isolated from the black people of the country. They had no desire for any of this to change, regardless of the costs to others. In the novel, The Agony and the Ecstasy, by Irving Stone, the character of Lorenzo de Medici puts it best when he says, “Nobody misses the loss of another man’s freedom.” This statement embodies the tragedy of South Africa, saying that most people give the problem little thought unless they are directly affected by it.

Unconsciously, though, even those who did not much care about the natives allowed Christianity to be instrumental in bringing about peace between the cultures. It became a nearly common ground for the people of South Africa, in spite of the fact that it had facilitated the rift between the races.

In such a society, lack of adherence to law can only make existing problems worse and further degrade its moral fabric. Most native people did not blame individuals for the tyranny that they were subjected to, which forced the predicament to become even more multifaceted. When a society is corrupt, and individuals within that society cannot be held responsible, the issue becomes more difficult to solve. Reminiscent of the French Revolution, the random acts of violence by some of the natives towards the Europeans were terribly misguided attempts to catalyze constructive change in the society of South Africa. And just like the French Revolution, these acts brought the gravity of the situation to light at a horrifying cost. (Knight)

More peaceable were the Christians who used their religion to resist oppressive authority by attempting to improve communication. For example, many priests—both black and white—did in fact make reconciliation of the races their highest priority. More profoundly religious laymen also realized that the subjugation of the native people of South Africa was un-Christian. These people used Christianity to bring about a positive change in their society. This did bring with it some infighting among believers in the Christian faith, but it was also useful in enlightening others and softening their hearts to the tragic circumstances that the country was facing.

Brian Stanley’s article “Conversion to Christianity: The Colonization of the Mind?” suggests that “to be confident that one has God on one's side legitimates coercion or violence in the pursuit of one's divinely sanctioned aims” and that “the illusory certainty of faith leads inevitably to the unethical outcome of psychological domination” (Stanley). This hypothesis has been clearly demonstrated as accurate in the instance of the influence of Christianity on the indigenous population of South Africa. On the other hand, it can also be rightly stated that cultural domination, which includes religion (as well as language, daily living, food, etc.), is not usually physically forced upon the dominated culture. If the native people of South Africa had not wanted to give in to the religious faith of the European Christians who colonized their country, they would not have been required to. Even the colonist Anglo-Saxons would not have oppressed them so badly—likely a lesson learned from the Crusades. It can also be argued that Christianity was bound to reach Africa eventually, and that if one tries to isolate a segment of the population from all others, a great disservice is done to them, because it denies any influence or improvement to occur through another force. This would be similar to the shielding of a planted seed from all sunlight and water in order to prevent its growth, simply because it had always been a seed. In the context of South Africa, outside forces are required to act upon the country. Otherwise it is deprived of scientific, social, political, and religious evolution. (Stanley)

However, Christian influence can also be viewed as an incredible manipulation. The Xhosa tribe had become particularly enthusiastic about the new culture they were being constantly exposed to. Sadly, due to the expansion of the Zulu tribe and the European colonists, they were soon displaced from their homeland by the constriction of the two colonies around their borders. Many of them were Christians, and so the missionaries there gave them food, shelter, and protection in exchange for their culture; they urged them to wear European clothing, learn to read and write, etc. (“African”)

The Christian faith has, throughout history, been a consistently powerful means of persuading followers in any direction that the current leadership of the time chooses to take. When an individual who believes wholly in Christ is instructed, by the church leaders who guide and direct him or her in their spiritual lives and who seem genuinely interested in respecting the will of God, to act in a certain way, that individual is put in a difficult position. He or she can either trust these leaders or trust personal spiritual intuition. The quandary that results can be easily exploited by corrupt people. In South Africa, this was most certainly the case. Appalling manipulation was used by self-interested Anglo-Saxons who cared little about who they were harming in the process of gaining their own ends. But this is a characteristic that can be attributed to humanity in general. Worse were the well-meaning and maddeningly self-righteous Christians who felt justified in misusing their religion to achieve what they thought was a better existence for the native people of South Africa. Not only did this belittle the intelligence of an entire race, but it also created an enormous rift between two cultures—one which would later demand a great deal of bloodshed to bridge.

***

Bibliography

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