‘What is the role of churches in a country with high levels of corruption in society and politics?’ ‘Why do churches have corrupt leaders?’ These questions were among the burning issues discussed in the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Library anti-corruption lecture series.
The lecture forms part of a series organised by the UJ Library in partnership with the European Union Delegation to South Africa. It has been named the ‘Enhancing Accountability: Supporting good governance in South Africa’ lecture series.
The panel was made up of leading scholars in the Christian faith, as well as leaders of churches in South Africa. Reverend Professor Maria Frahm-Arp, a professor from the Religion Studies Department represented UJ, Professor Solomon Kgatle represented the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Bonginkosi Moyo-Bango represented the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Professor Zahraa Mcdonald of UJ’s Religion Studies Department moderated the conversation.
Professor Frahm-Arp, who is also an Anglican priest, began by setting the scene, explaining what behaviours (and activities) can be considered corruption in the church.
“As far back as we have been recording society, we have been grappling with the issue of corruption. If we look at the Old Testament, there are stories of corruption. The people of Egypt were in some ways corrupt and oppressive to the Jewish people. A major theme is corruption and how we deal with it in society,” she explained.
Professor Frahm-Arp then gave examples of corruption and Christianity in South Africa. These included looking at the role of churches and religious organisations in South Africa as a tool to mitigate corruption, the types of corruption that can be found in the church and what corruption are we seeing in society and what the role of the church is to deal with this.
“The first example is the type of corruption that is overt. The church [names a church] is telling people to give the last of their savings in order to be blessed with an extraordinary miracle by God. In a way, there’s something corrupt about that-corrupt in the sense that it’s misleading. Yes, God will bless us with miracles-that’s not the part that’s misleading. The part that’s misleading is that you have to give up everything you have, to persuade God to do something good for you, that is misleading,” Prof Frahm-Arp said.
Professor Kgatle, who is also a minister at his church, spoke about higlhlighted how a change in Pentecostalism led to a change in how corruption and by extension how churches address it, has changed.
“During apartheid we saw people like Reverend Frank Chikane rising as critical voices against what was going on in society [Apartheid]. In the 21st century, we need the same radical and critical voices that will speak against these corrupt elements in our society. [Perhaps] we need an alternative sovereignty [first suggested by Nigerian scholar Dr Nimi Wariboko] where the government doesn’t rule alone, and the pastor is not the only leader in the church. It’s a kind of sovereignty that will bring accountability in society,” he said.
Watch the full webinar below:
