Abstract
In this theoretical article, I analyse the hearing of the Seven Angels Ministry before the Commission for Religious and Linguistic Rights, and subsequent events that led to the killing of police and army officers at the Ngcobo Police Station. Informed by critical emancipatory research theory, I unpack the emerging nexus of the state, gender, legislation, religious freedom and human rights in the context of religious mafia. I answer two questions in relation to the Seven Angels Ministry and the Ngcobo killings: ‘What are the tenets of a mafiarised religion?’ and ‘What can be done to mitigate the challenge?’ I argue that a philosophical understanding of the constitution, education, gender and politics as practiced by the Seven Angels Ministry presents a trajectory of religion in contemporary society that must be problematised, unearthed and challenged to produce a world order that is responsive to societal needs and devoid of oppression and coloniality. I also argue that while religious freedom is a human right, it is important that legislation protects citizens from religious mafias, particularly when religious discourses negate schooling, promote gender inequality and emphasise constitutional delinquency. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article is interdisciplinary in the sense that it addresses the issues of education, constitutionalism, gender, child abuse and a need for a theology that challenges religious mafia exhibited by some religious movements. It calls for a change in legislation, and a different approach to theology as well as in curricula to address lived realities.
Highlights
In February 2018, the Ngcobo community witnessed a tragic incident, which involved the killing of police officers and a retired army officer inside the police station (Evans 2018)
The tragedy was worsened by suspicions that the alleged killers were part of the Seven Angels Ministry, which had previously appeared before the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) to answer to allegations of commercialising and ‘mafiarising’ religion, depriving children of education (SABC 2016) and hiding criminal elements within its shrine
What can be done to redress the trajectories of cultic tendencies?. To answer this question in light of the Seven Angels Ministry and like-minded religious groups, I concur with the observation of Bottoms et al (1995:109) that ‘[I]n the long run, society should find ways to protect people [against] religion-related abuse, and help religion evolve in the direction of the better treatment of people’
Summary
In February 2018, the Ngcobo community witnessed a tragic incident, which involved the killing of police officers and a retired army officer inside the police station (Evans 2018). As Alvesson and Willmott (1992:436) argue, there is a need to ‘challenge any forms of knowledge and practices that serve to sustain the illusion of oppression and to replace with an emancipatory one’ To answer this question in light of the Seven Angels Ministry and like-minded religious groups, I concur with the observation of Bottoms et al (1995:109) that ‘[I]n the long run, society should find ways to protect people [against] religion-related abuse, and help religion evolve in the direction of the better treatment of people’. The CRL’s position is that if it had been granted the power to license – and control – all religions and religious activities in South Africa, cults like the Seven Angels Ministry would not exist (Destiny Connect 2018), or their practices would be confined by principles guaranteeing social justice, emancipation and the respect for human rights. I argue that religion, when practiced within the confines of love, justice and equality, has the impetus to make the world a better place for all, though it does not imply that opportunists, mafia groups and criminals cannot abuse religion
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