Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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functional multi-dimensional society, the nation can become legally pluralistic, where
personal freedoms are protected, and a social balance between those freedoms and social
order is found and maintained.
To be a legally pluralistic society obliges people of sometimes-great diversity to
work and live together: something easier said than done. Some of the most basic tools for
social unity that have been successfully employed historically are common language and
currency. Another major social unifier, albeit situational and periodic, is a common trial,
or threat, which makes people willing to set aside lesser differences to confront the larger
challenge before them.
If a pluralist society is to succeed, freedom of religion can, and should exist. The
separation of state and religion is good, so that no religion is given favour over others, for
a favoured religion -- no matter how well intentioned -- will eventually want to dominate
the cultural and political landscape, even as Christianity did in Western Europe for so
many centuries. While true that national endorsement of one religion can in some ways
unify a population, it can also lead to fewer personal freedoms in the name of religious
fidelity. The Central Asian Taliban regime is a recent example of how one religion is
forced upon an entire society, literally enslaving people without choice.
No matter what path to social order is taken, religion is important to people all over
the world and the relationship between government and religion is crucial to national
health. As Bevans notes: “Culture and religion are intimately inter related, and in many
societies they express themselves through each other, conditioning each other” (Bevans,
1999:30). In free, multi-cultural societies, the wealth of divergent cultures should be
embraced and appreciated; yet knowing that hostility’s will exist. While it may not
please the majority religious group, the government needs to protect the religious
freedoms of its citizenry. Some religions require, and/or imply a close relationship with
the state, but when put into practice, religious freedom is seldom practiced.
Immigrant populations are typically poor, and often strain local economies. These
new immigrants also bring fresh life into what are otherwise, commonly stagnant local
and national cultures. The US and Canada, for example, are culturally rich and vibrant
because of the diverse humanity God has gathered together -- but even once vibrant and
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa