Freedom of Religion South Africa

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Freedom of Religion South Africa
FormationJanuary 2014; 10 years ago (2014-01)
FounderAndrew Selley
Registration no.K2014099286
Legal status
Nonprofit organisation
Websitewww.forsa.org.za

Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) is a South African nonprofit

Johannesburg High Court
that deemed corporal punishment to be assault.

FOR SA is dedicated to "upholding the rights to religious freedom conferred by the

LGBT rights[4] and opposed the implementation of comprehensive sex education in South African schools on the grounds of religious freedom.[5]

History

In October 2013, two parents found a parenting manual on Joshua Generation Church's website that gave instructions on how to administer corporal punishment to children. The manual gave specific instructions on the size of the rod that should be used to hit children as well as instruction on how to hit children without leaving marks. The parents filed a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) shortly thereafter.[6] In response to the complaint and the subsequent investigation of Joshua Generation Church by the SAHRC, Andrew Selley, founder and lead pastor of the church, founded FOR SA in January 2014.[2] In 2016, the SAHRC concluded its investigation and released a report that recommended that Joshua Generation Church undertake to stop advocating for corporal punishment, remove references to corporal punishment from its teaching materials, and ensuring its pastors take a training course in non-violent child discipline. It also recommended that corporal punishment of children be outlawed.[7]

Advocacy

Corporal punishment

Main article: Freedom of Religion South Africa v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development

In 2017, a man who beat his son and was convicted of

scriptures commanded that parents should reasonably discipline their children, sometimes physically, declaring reasonable chastisement unlawful would violate parents' religious freedoms. The court ruled that the reasonable chastisement defence was unconstitutional, effectively outlawing corporal punishment in South Africa.[8][9]

In 2019, FOR SA appealed the 2017 High Court ruling that made corporal punishment unlawful at the Constitutional Court of South Africa, again arguing that scriptures and other holy writings instruct parents to discipline their children in a matter they find appropriate. The court again ruled that the common law idea of reasonable chastisement was incompatible with several sections of the South African Constitution, namely sections 10, 12(1(c), and 28(2).[10]

LGBT issues

FOR SA claims that the right to

United States Supreme Court decision which guaranteed the right to marry to same-sex couples. Pae was later reinstated when the university found that the SRC decision to remove her did not follow the correct procedure.[13] Selley said the decision to reinstate her was a victory for religious freedom and should cause politicians and activists to "lose confidence in the brashness of driving gay rights forward".[4] In 2019, FOR SA spoke in support of a pastor who allegedly told high school students that gay people were akin to murderers and paedophiles and "just as bad as Hitler". FOR SA executive director Michael Swain said that South Africa's constitution allowed religious sermons in schools and that the constitutional right to free speech included speech that some might find offensive. He added that speech that constitutes incitement to cause harm is not constitutionally protected. The pastor denied making the claims.[14] In January 2020, FOR SA also spoke out in support of a wedding venue in Stanford who refused to allow a lesbian couple to celebrate their wedding there.[15]

In 2020, FOR SA asked president Cyril Ramaphosa not to sign the Civil Union Amendment bill which would repeal section 6 of the Civil Union Act, no longer allowing state-employed marriage officers to refuse to validate a same-sex marriage. FOR SA argued that the repeal of section 6 would violate the religious freedoms of state-employed marriage officers and that the bill should be sent back to parliament for review.[16] Section 6 of the act provided that:

A marriage officer, other than a marriage officer referred to in section 5, may in writing inform the Minister [of Home Affairs] that he or she objects on the ground of conscience, religion and belief to solemnising a civil union between persons of the same sex, whereupon that marriage officer shall not be compelled to solemnise such civil union.

The bill was signed into law by President Ramaphosa on 22 October 2020, giving rise to the Civil Union Amendment Act of 2020.[16]

References

  1. S2CID 244552476
    . Retrieved 2 October 2023. FOR SA is a fundamentalist Bible-based legal advocacy organization...
  2. ^ a b "Our Story". www.forsa.org.za. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Who We Are". www.forsa.org.za. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b Selley, Andrew (13 August 2015). "Zizipho Pae's Case: A Victory in So Many Ways!". www.forsa.org.za. Retrieved 3 October 2023. ...politicians and activists will lose confidence in the brashness of driving gay rights forward and should have a healthier respect for religious freedom...
  5. ^ Mcewen, Haley (10 November 2019). "America's right is lobbying against South Africa's sex education syllabus". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  6. ^ Hyman, Aron (31 January 2016). "Parents call for ban on smacking". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Investigative Report WP/1213/0887" (PDF). South African Human Rights Commission. 21 January 2016. p. 59. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  8. ^ Mabuza, Ernest (20 October 2017). "Parents can't hit their children - it's unconstitutional' court rules". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  9. ^ "YG v S (A263/2016) [2017] ZAGPJHC 290; 2018 (1) SACR 64 (GJ) (19 October 2017)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Freedom of Religion South Africa v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others (Global Initiative to end all Corporal Punishment of Children, Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law Governance and Human Rights, and Parent Centre as". www.concourt.org.za. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  11. ^ Badenhorst, Nadene (1 August 2018). "Religious belief may justify "discrimination"". gatewaynews.co.za. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  12. ^ Thamm, Marianne (24 June 2014). "God made us to do it: Christian guesthouse owners ask gay couple to be tolerant of their prejudice". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  13. ^ Igual, Roberto (17 September 2015). "Zizipho Pae demoted by UCT's SRC". MambaOnline. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  14. ^ Daniels, Lou-Anne (23 July 2019). "Pastor's anti-gay school talk: Hate speech or freedom of religion?". IOL.co.za. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  15. ^ Palm, Kaylynn (20 January 2020). "Freedom of Religion SA backs wedding venue for turning away same-sex couple". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Freedom of Religion SA petitions for review of same-sex marriages bill". IOL.co.za. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
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