From South Africa-
It was the responsibility of the church to speak on all matters affecting “the people of God” and it would not be silent about politics as some believed it should be, Anglican Archbishop for southern Africa Thabo Makgoba said yesterday.
The outspoken cleric has in the past condemned the disintegration of Zimbabwe into a police state, the HIV/AIDS denialism of the government under former president Thabo Mbeki, xenophobic violence and the secrecy surrounding the arms deal.
Yesterday in a speech at the Cape Town Press Club, Makgoba said politicians who advocated the separation of religion from politics were wrong and had forgotten the important role faith-based communities had played in the struggle against apartheid. The dichotomy between religious and political matters was false and superficial.
Makgoba said it was inevitable that the church was involved in politics as a “critical friend” of the constitution, supporting the government when it delivered on its provisions and criticising it when it failed to do so. “The primary task of the church is to promote a constitutional democracy,” he said.
Makgoba added his voice to the litany of concern over the comments made by president-in-waiting Jacob Zuma about the overriding status of Constitutional Court judges. “Judges are human but so are politicians and this is why all are subject to checks and balances,” Makgoba said.
More here-
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A984783
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