The shifting relationship between state and religion has historically been a contested space, and the focus of much scholarship. It is important for observers to understand this unstable boundary, so that neither political nor religious actors undermine democratic freedoms. Calvin D. Ullrich, a theologian and philosopher of religion, examines the evolution of the state-religion context in South Africa.
South Africa is often referred to as a ‘secular state’. What’s the background?
The primary feature of a secular state is political secularism, which is the attempt to draw distinctions between state and religious institutions and their activities. According to this definition, political secularism did not exist in South Africa at the time it was established as a unified country in 1910. In other words, no meaningful differentiation was made between the mechanisms of statecraft and religious institutions. Instead they were conflated as a violent politics of racial rule became sanctioned by these institutions. This crystallised into the system of apartheid.
