Increased church attendance shows faith still has a future in secular SA

To the pleasant surprise of many people of faith, Easter in SA is still the great Christian festival of hope and rebirth.

Improving church attendance in most denominations offers faith-based leaders several reasons to be cheerful about the future.

This trend is consistent with the observation that thousands of churches have experienced significant attendance fluctuations since the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

These low church attendance numbers register at a time when the nation seriously needs a new crop of people of faith to sustain the moral regeneration efforts that continue to hold together our broken and wounded people. 

Remarkably, amid fluctuations in church attendance numbers, a religious success story is changing the shape and enriching the texture of SA’s Christianity. 

In this year’s Easter story, people notably emphasised the tools of progress confirming transformative changes post the coronavirus pandemic.

We observe the internalisation of an encouraging example of Jesus as a religious leader who taught in word and deed that a better future is not found in coercive power, exclusion, greed or violence but rather in true solidarity, recognising the intrinsic equality of every human.

We find renewed courage to continue following the message of Jesus, a reforming religious teacher crucified for undermining his day’s religious and political powers and who promoted an alternative lifestyle of equality, non-violence, unconditional inclusion, radical generosity and selfless love. 

The im­por­tance of the right to equal­ity in our maturing democracy is ob­vi­ous to many as the apartheid po­lit­i­cal and legal sys­tem was based squarely on in­equal­ity and discrimination.

It dealt with the prob­lem of a scarcity of resources by pro­mot­ing the socioeconomic devel­op­ment of the white pop­u­la­tion at the ex­pense of the rest of South African so­ci­ety.

The deep scars of this ap­palling sys­tem­atic pro­gramme of in­equality are still vis­i­ble in our so­ci­ety.

The need to con­front this legacy is recog­nised by the clause pro­mot­ing equal­ity in our con­sti­tu­tion which also recognises the freedom of conscience and expression.

In ad­di­tion, our con­sti­tu­tion pro­vides a list of socioeconomic rights which should be pro­gres­sively re­alised by the state, in­clud­ing the pro­vi­sion of min­i­mum lev­els of ba­sic goods and ser­vices such as food, wa­ter, so­cial se­cu­rity and the right to emer­gency med­i­cal treat­ment. 

To a remarkable degree, rural and peri-urban churches are a countercultural growth industry in a country which is perhaps less secular than it believes.

Observations suggest that the rise in township church attendance in recent years may more or less match the drop off of churchgoers in leafy suburbs.

In Cape Town, East London, Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg and other metropolitan areas communities have transformed former cinema halls, warehouses and shops into places of worship, channelling the evangelical intensity of African Christianity.

Also noticeable is an increase in worshippers using open spaces. 

I am always amazed when I encounter a handful of individuals and small groups of worshippers in discrete spots on the slopes of Table Mountain.

These are less prominent than those spotted on the outskirts of townships and informal settlements. 

Starting here is now as good a place as any to give an account of modern South African religiosity.

Seeded during the early years of democracy, waves of immigration from the African continent led to makeshift churches multiplying to accommodate internal and external migrants, partly in response to hostility encountered in traditional Christian churches.

As well as religious consolation, they offered a haven, advice and economic assistance to communities forced to contend with pervasive racism and other forms of discrimination. 

These social functions continue: interdenominational non-traditional Christian churches played a vital role, for example, in challenging the xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals and the ruinous affect of denial or freezing of bank accounts on foreign nationals and low-income households due to the government’s and private businesses’ misguided application of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act of 2001. 

But the cultural influence of these churches extends far beyond that.

For example, as far back as 2010, the UN High Commission for Refugees revealed in one of its reports that SA had emerged as a prominent asylum destination.

Last year alone, there were more than 300,000 new applications for asylum.

Therefore, SA’s policies on immigration must align with international protocols.

Many affected individuals are Christians and observe Easter in ways that reflect their cultural diversity.

Taking a cue from this Easter celebration in par­tic­u­lar, we would do well to con­front ig­no­rance with knowl­edge, big­otry with tol­er­ance, and iso­la­tion with the out­stretched hand of gen­eros­ity.

We could also do well by stand­ing in sol­i­dar­ity to pro­mote this cher­ished right to equal­ity en­shrined in our con­sti­tu­tion, re­mem­ber­ing that it is the cor­ner­stone of our democ­racy in SA.

Af­ter all, by learn­ing to treat oth­ers as equal, we el­e­vate our lev­els of hu­man­ity — ubuntu — enmeshed in our faith that portrays us all as equals in the eyes of the creator.

Worshippers using open spaces are writing a chapter of the national story which suggests that faith has a positive future in SA.

Dr Nkosikhulule Xhawulengweni Nyembezi is a policy analyst and human rights activist