The Church And Apartheid In South Africa Religion Essay

The Church And Apartheid In South Africa Religion Essay What started as an antecedent social forms grounded in colonial history resulted with the outcome of Apartheid which in turn affected the South African Church and its history. Apartheid is the state which jeopardize the social edifice of the Church as it brought much segregation, which led to many critics of apartheid blaming the Church for its existence, they have claimed that racial oppression in South Africa is the fruit of Christianity according to Hexham in his work journal: The Journal of Theology for Southern Africa This subject although has for a very long time been seen as ethical challenge to Christian theology, one cannot ignore it but can be used a case study which will ventures us to reflect what it mean to be one in Jesus Christ within our South African Christian Theology context. It is for this reason that in this assignment I endeavour to highlight some of the s Beginning of National Party Acceding to power in 1948, the National Party has kept a tight grip on the reins of government ever since till the reign was taken by ANC in 1994. According to Dr Verkuyl, the National Party had desired to develop a racial caste system in which each non-white is granted limited freedom of movement but only on the basis of a white monopoly of power and subordinated to the interests of the whites. It was in this period that race relations remained the key issue, there was increase in various measure of racial segregation and it was in this time that black consciousness and active protest became a starker reality. Therefore it was through this Party that the ideology of apartheid became the blueprint for South African society. World Council of Churches It was an amazement that the creation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948 at Amsterdam led to new phase in the ecumenical relations not only in South Africa but also globally. This raised high hope that any divisions in the Church of Christ would be healed and there would be restoration in relations of the church. South African churches welcome this phase and most of churches in South Africa joined WCC and were spontaneous and cordial in their participation. These churches included the Anglicans; Presbyterians; Methodists; the NG Churches of Cape Town and the Transvaal, and the Nederduits Hervomde Kerk in Afrika. South African delegates were sent to WCC Amsterdam in 1948 and again in 1954 to Evanston. Alan Paton of Anglican Church and Ben Marais of NG Church served in the fourteen-man commission on Church and race. These men had to conduct a study and submit a report at Evanston Conference. Marais, being one of the selected speakers in the session to represent the submission of this major report at the conference. Several South African church leaders like CB Brink, Bishop Ambrose Reeves and WA Landman play crucial roles and were actively involved in the activities of WCC. CB Brink also served in the Central committee of WCC along with other South African church leaders. The ecumenical contact built on these years had a great effects in South African and various conferences and talks between local church leaders were arranged to discuss matters of mutual concern. Many South African students received bursaries from WCC to study in America and Europe. However, it was after the discussion of race relations and decision taken at the Evanston that uncertainties grew especially from the Afrikaans member churches. Cottesloe Consultation In 1960 the Church engaged itself in Cottesloe talks. It was through Cottesloe consultation that delegates were brought together from the World Council of Churches member churches in South Africa and outside the country and ecumenical institution as start of start of the partners fighting the church struggle in South Africa. In these talks, the race issue and Churchs role were put under the spotlight. After many days of these talks, decisions were taken which all member churches agreed to, except the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika which stood in disagreement with these decisions. The Cottesloe findings brought so much tension and emotions since the churches were now thrust into the midst of political stresses of the country and media had these talks as their headlines zooming more on the churches reactions. This led in some churches resigning from WCC, especially the Afrikaans Reformed churches, while the English speaking churches retained the membership in support of freedom fighters. Churches which resigned from the WCC opened Christian Institute in August 1963 in order to continue their dialogue with churches oversees. This institute provided a useful channel for communication involving people from different race and denominations. However this institute became a victim of political target and thereby lost most of its supporters. Publication: Message to the people of South Africa This publication was formulated in 1968. It focused on South African Council of Churches as spotlight and was the result of significant conference of the WCC held in Geneva in 1966 on the subject: Church and Society. Theological committee was appointed so they can consider what obedience to God requires of the Church in her witness to her unity in Christ in South Africa. This committee had to issue the message to the Country. The purpose of the document was to demonstrate the basic incompatibility of apartheid with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This document also appealed to Christians in South Africa to give their obedience and their loyalty to Jesus Christ. The document was sent to every minister in the country of which 600 showed the positive response and support and all the member churches of SACC subscribed to it. This led SACC being a target for attacks from different sides. SPROCAS The Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society (SPRO-CAS) was established in mid-1969 by the South African Council of Churches and the Christian Institute of Southern Africa. This document was founded after the chasm between the South African Council of Churches and Afrikaans-speaking churches grew wider, the South African Council of churches being attacked on every side. Included in this document were the six commissions and a diverse set of over 140 commissioners and consultants, which had its focused on the need for change in South Africa, examining economics, education, law, politics, sociology and the Church. The project not only played a critical role in thinking within the South African churches about how to overcome apartheid but also marks a critical stage in the birth of the Black Consciousness Movement. The projects publications had to be submitted to South Africas Publication Control Board for censorship. Plans had to be adjusted when several of the writers, including Biko, Desmond, and Turner, were issued with banning orders prohibiting them from being quoted in any publication. Despite such difficulties the project had significant impact on political developments leading up to the Soweto student uprising in 1976. Soweto Uprising The stained situation acquire a fresh dimension with Soweto riots in 1976, when the black youth stood their ground against states educational policy and the existence of certain laws which had broken up homes, families and the ordinary life. The youth were dissatisfied, and they were no willing to accept these situations which they found themselves in. It was through this stand that Soweto gradually became the national symbol of a new generation of nationally and politically black people awareness in our country. Black Churches Each of these departures from Christianity, the Ethiopian and the Zionist, dates from the beginning of previous century. The foundation of Ethiopian churches was the less drastic, as they content to break the shackles of white dominance while retaining the form of organization, mode of worship and denominational identity of the parent body, for example African Methodist and African Congregational. Nonetheless, it stemmed directly from the practice of an undeclared apartheid where it was least expected, from an insistence on segregation and white superiority on the part of missionaries. These churches were African replicas of Christian denominations and were an explicit response to racial inequality. Reformation Day Witness In 1980 October 31, the Reformation Day Witness was published. It consisted eight eminent NG theologians. This publication dealt with , according to Pillay Hoymeyer(1994:296) the Churchs inabilities to fulfil the mission of reconciliation and to prevent polarisation and to provide the authorities with an unambiguous witness. The witness was publish during the period of rapid changes in South Africa where transition led to new social and political dispensation. The witness contributed in bringing the greater willingness and openness towards the continuing dialogue and it rose the prophetic voice of NG Church so loud and clear. In the same year in November, the appeared collections of essays entitled Stomkompas, which was composed by NG theologians which had their views. This Stomkompas had dominating the widely accepted traditional Afrikaner view on relations between people, which was biblically justified since the forties. Broederiking was also another group emerged from NG church. It was a group of young NG churches. They aimed at working towards greater unity among the NG churches at a local level, to render younger churches less financial dependency on the mother church and to give moral support to these churches. In 1982, Belhar announced a status of confessions on apartheid condemning it as a heresy.This was regarded as a protest by the church against a political dispensation as it proclaimed the threat brought by apartheid to the churchs creed. It during this time that the Churh in SA were arranged by committe of every theological society in SA. Tension rose between the government and certain churches in the 80s Kairos Document The Kairos Document (KD) is a statement within the background of theology issued in 1985 by a group of black South African theologians based predominantly in the black community of Soweto. The statement challenged the churches response to what the authors saw as the vicious policies of the Apartheid state under the state of emergency declared on 21 July 1985. In July 1985 the iron fist of the first state of emergency came down hard upon the people of South Africas townships. Many were killed, injured, maimed for life or locked up in detention. The KD evoked strong reactions and furious debates not only in South Africa, but world-wide. The KD was compiled in five chapters: The Moment of Truth; Critique of State Theology; Critique of Church Theology Towards a Prophetic Theology; Challenge to Action; and a short conclusion. The document was addressed to the divided churches; divided, that is, due to the roles that Christians within the churches play in the conflict between the racist minority government and the black majority population. The KD document contended against apartheid system using the comparison from the book of Romans, Revelation and even Acts; it presented this system as unjustly ad not lawful. In time where discord was in place, this document really served as a challenge to many ministers and church members of different churches to reflect once again where they stand. The period of 1990 onwards Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela has been in prison for over a quarter of a century since August 5, 1962 for leadership of his people in the struggle against racist oppression and for a non-racial democratic society. Prison bars could not prevent him from continuing to inspire his people to struggle and sacrifice for their liberation. Public opinion polls have again and again shown that he is the most popular leader in the country. He has, indeed, grown in stature. As the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group observed in 1986, he has become a living legend, galvanising the resistance in the country. The London Times described him as the colossus of African nationalism in South Africa. It was in after the 1990 that there seem to be a break of segregation, and thank to all the church who participated in the struggle of this liberation. In 1994 was the beginning of new things for the nation of South Africa. Conclusion The story of the Christian Churches in South Africa, like the story of South African society in general is the story of many tribes, whose histories are on the one hand interwoven and interconnected and helps us not make the same mistake as the church of segregation, it help us to strive to a bridge gap to any discord, instead of being a wall standing in the gap for God to move in our country. With such richful history, we are collaped to higher height, even teaching the future theologian of way forward because eventually we had conquered APARTHED.

Governments can affect tourism development in a number of different ways and at three scales, national, regional and local

At a National scale the government sets a very broad agenda for tourism, they define primary goals for development and identify polices with broad strategies for their implementation. The main aim at this level is to encourage economic development, especially in LEDC's as both local and international tourism can be very profitable. National tourism plans designate tourism development regions to help redistribute wealth, to create employment and to channel development into zones that have the appropriate attractions and infrastructure. This broad planning and concentration on economic development is very clear in the case study of Ireland. IN 1993 1. 25 million people visited Northern Ireland and 10,000 were directly employed in the tourism industry. In Ireland there were about 3. 5 million visitors and over 90,000 people were employed in tourism. Then in December 1994 the British and Irish governments announced national tourism plans to market Ireland as a whole rather than two separate areas. In 1995 i6. 8 million tourism incentive attracted 92,000 more visitors to the area, which in turn generated a further i4 million in international aid. This should help Ireland to develop economically and should create 30,000 new jobs. Such promotion has increased the confidence of private investors e. g. Hilton International built a i17 million luxury hotel along the lagan river in Belfast, as part of a i130 million investment scheme. At a regional scale the government has a much greater influence on specific tourism development issues. There is usually a greater level of concern over potential environmental impacts of tourism development, so therefore the government may constrain tourism development rather than totally encouraging it to protect the environment. Also a more detailed consideration of the type and location of visitor attractions, together with supporting services such as accommodation are considered. Regional plans often provide strategies aimed at the concentration or dispersal of visitors, the planning of tourist information services, the designation of tourist routes and strategic placement of key attractions. Therefore the government may encourage a new, up and coming regional attraction or they may attempt to discourage use such as in the region of North Devon, where for example Braunton burrows is being discouraged from tourists, as it is a very fragile area. This is done by restricting use to the car parks, placing ministry of defence signs and promoting the area of Saunton Sands, which will draw tourists out of the fragile location. Another example is the south west of England where the tourist boards of England and Wales (although they have no legally enforceable status) provide important frameworks for co-ordinating private and public sector development of tourism. They have to manage problems such as congestion and poor accessibility. Local scale planning policies are focused on the physical organisation of tourism resources and facilities (accommodation, local, transport, catering and local attractions), the control of physical development (such as hotel construction) and management of visitors. These are mostly short-term plans and mostly deal with preventing or reducing conflicts in tourism and encouraging its development. The management of tourism is vital to the continued success of the industry. The main aim of tourism is to be sustainable, because all tourism developments have the potential to damage the environment, the social structure or the economic stability of an area. The environment is particularly easy to damage if the carrying capacity of a tourist attraction is exceeded. This will lead to a series of problems, which will decrease the quality of the attraction and therefore discourage visitors from coming, which will then destroy the industry. So management is particularly important with environmental attractions with the main aim of keeping the number of people below the carrying capacity. An example of this kind of management is Watersmeet in North Devon. Here there is careful management to prevent lots of visitors from coming to the location. There is a very limited car park, which requires a fee based on the length of time stayed. The lodge of Watersmeet is located away from the road and is not easily accessible to wheelchairs, elderly or buggies due to narrow steep paths and bridges. It is also deliberately badly signposted so that is difficult to find unless you specifically look for it. There are also no signs to encourage strolls along the footpaths to the surrounding villages to preserve the paths and bridges. The culture and heritage of a location can also be damaged by tourism. Clovelly best illustrates this, as it is a ‘honey pot' attraction in North Devon. This village was very popular with tourists and because of its size was overrun by the increase in numbers. This could have lead to the construction of new buildings such as hotels and restraints that weren't in fitting with the existing culture and may have even replaced existing traditional shops. To prevent this kind of social damage the area is managed to restrict visitors and is closed to all traffic. Development is also restricted in Clovelly to preserve the culture and traditional crafts of the area. All over North Devon there is a delicate culture that many tourists come to experience. To protect this especially in the National Park areas, it is managed so that any conflicts always favour the solutions that protect the environment, culture and heritage of the location. Surprisingly tourism can also damage the economic stability of an area, which at first sight is not thought of, as tourism is a profitable industry. It requires a vast quantity of investment to set up a tourist attraction and then unless the project is carefully managed the attraction will loose money and either the owners or the local area will have to pay back the loan, upsetting the economy. Tourism also requires a lot of extra money to maintain the attractions, which can be wasted unless it is carefully managed and spent wisely. If the money is wasted and doesn't properly restore the facility then it will loose business and the tourism industry will suffer. Another problem with tourism is that the jobs it provides for the local economy are seasonal and not full time. This doesn't help put money into the local economy as many of the residents require more permanent jobs and so seek employment elsewhere. The jobs provided are also often given to outsiders who then take their profits out of the location, not aiding the economy. Management, especially in the National Park and Heritage Coast of North Devon, ensures that those who profit from tourism are either from the immediate area, or are people who will use the money to help maintain or further tourist development. This includes large companies such as the National Trust who plough profits back into the economy, this keeps the tourist industry afloat while also creating a stable economy. A big problem for the tourist industry is the infrastructure of the location and whether it can deal with the high numbers of visitors or not. It has to be carefully managed so that the tourists can get to the facilities and enjoy their stay without damaging the environment, or the cultural heritage of the attraction. For example tourists need roads and accommodation to enjoy their trip, yet if this involves buildings a huge bypass then this will damage the environment and decrease the environmental quality of the area, this may lead to a decrease in visitors and a decline in the industry. Also a new hotel complex may be built for tourists yet this may replace a traditional shop or craft centre, which was originally a tourist attraction, so management is very important. Overall it is clear to see that unless a tourist area is carefully managed then it will be damaged which will mean les people visit the area and so the tourist industry will fail.

Lyrics to the Christmas Carol Gloria in Excelsis Deo

The refrain of the French Carol translated into English as Angels We Have Heard on High is in Latin as Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Below is one version of the English version of the carol from the same source. The translation from French to English is by Bishop James Chadwick (1813-1882). Review the translations in English and French and learn about the songs history as well as its place in pop culture as we know it today. History of the Music The Christmas carol Angels We Have Heard on High was originally written by James Chadwick but played to music from the song Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes. The French carol translates as The Angels in our Countryside and was originally created in Languedoc, France despite not knowing who the original composer was. The song meaning is about Jesus Christ as a newborn child and the many angels singing and praising his birth. In Pop Culture Dozens of popular artists have covered the song, from independent singer-songwriters such as Josh Groban, Brian McKnight, Andrea Bocelli, and Christina Aguilera. Groups of musicians and bands such as The Piano Guys, Bad Religion, Bayside, and Glee have also created notable versions of the famous carol.  Translations to the song may also be found in Scottish Gaelic, Portuguese, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese amongst others. The English Translation (Angels We Have Heard on High) Angels we have heard on highSweetly singing oer the plains,And the mountains in replyEchoing their joyous strains.RefrainGloria, in excelsis Deo!Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Shepherds, why this jubilee?Why your joyous strains prolong?What the gladsome tidings beWhich inspire your heavenly song? Refrain Come to Bethlehem and seeHim whose birth the angels sing;Come, adore on bended knee,Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Refrain See Him in a manger laid,Whom the choirs of angels praise;Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,While our hearts in love we raise. Refrain The French Version (Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes) Les anges dans nos campagnesOnt entonnà © lhymne des cieux;Et là ©cho de nos montagnesRedit ce chant mà ©lodieux.Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Bergers, pour qui cette fà ªte?Quel est lobjet de tous ces chants?Quel vainqueur, quelle conquà ªteMà ©rite ces cris triomphants?Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Ils annoncent la naissanceDu libà ©rateur dIsraà «l,Et pleins de reconnaissanceChantent en ce jour solennel.Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Bergers, loin de vos retraitesUnissez-vous à   leurs concertsEt que vos tendres musettesFassent retentir dans les airs:Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Cherchons tous lheureux villageQui la vu naà ®tre sous ses toits,Offrons-lui le tendre hommageEt de nos coeurs et de nos voix!Gloria, in excelsis Deo,Gloria, in excelsis Deo.

The Pros and Cons of Using Solar Power - 829 Words

Solar Power The use of solar power is currently gaining popularity in various areas and fields. Typically the solar energy is captured and then converted into electricity through photovoltaic cells. There are various areas that currently use solar power these include; in water pumping, this is commonly used in developing countries where the solar energy is harnessed and used in pumping water in remote areas. The solar energy is also used to power off-grid desalination plants. Solar power is increasingly being used in the production of electricity for homes, schools and businesses. Another current use of solar power is in industries where it has been used to power TV and radio repeater stations. Solar power is also being used in residential homes as a source of heat. They use solar energy to heat water supplies and also swimming pools. There is also an increase in use of solar power in public transportation vehicles like trolleys, busses and light trains. There are also future plans for solar po wered bus shelters development. Small gadgets like calculators and watches also use solar power since they require little energy (Anderson, 2012). There are various effects that are seen when solar power s being used these are both positive and negative effects. Some of the positive effects are; as the traditional sources of power rise, solar power provides an alternative source of power as it uses the sun which is absolutely fee. 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