State regulation or public religion? Exploring the state-church nexus in post-apartheid South Africa

Many observers are still surprised by the high public profile religion has acquired over the last twenty years or so. Within sociology two approaches have emerged that interpret and explain the same, or at least closely related, sets of issues arising from these trends in very different terms: following Casanova theorists of “public religion” see these changes in emancipatory terms as the increased ability of religion to enter democratic public arenas and contribute to the public good; proponents of a “state regulation” approach (e.g. Jim Beckford) view them as effects of the enlistment of religion into governmental programs in the context of broader efforts to social control.

In this paper I explore the conceptual space opened through these hypothesis with regard to the relationships between state and religion in South Africa. The creation of a secular state after the end of apartheid has set the terms for state-church relationships relocating churches within civil society while offering them some space within the state. I reconstruct the above-mentioned conceptual space in terms of the far-reaching independence of the South African state from religious legitimation and examine the implications of this for the flexibility of the governmental management of religion and for religious positioning vis-à-vis the state. The empirical focus is on the most controversial themes such as same-sex marriage and abortion and on the shifting organizational ties between government and churches.