Clerics: ANC claim not blasphemy

2008-12-04 22:01

Cape Town - Criticism of the ANC's claim it will rule until Jesus returns has got one group of clerics hot under their cassock collars.

"To say that a particular political party will rule until Jesus comes is not tantamount to blasphemy at all," the SA Religious Ministers' Forum (SARMF) said in a statement on Thursday.

It said South Africans should be grateful they had top politicians who could openly and publicly speak about Jesus Christ.

"It is common knowledge that Jesus Christ was born, lived and died for all humanity, including all politicians."

The SARMF was responding to African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe - himself a minister - who on Wednesday warned the ruling party to stop making "mocking and irreverent" references to Jesus.

"Their habit of joking about and using the name of the Lord in vain is tantamount to blasphemy, and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms," Meshoe said.

The ACDP head also said he deplored and rejected a recent comparison between the "unrighteous and unholy" ANC president Jacob Zuma and Jesus, made by the ruling party's Free State leader Ace Magashule.

Jesus 'not mocked'

The SARMF said it could not let Meshoe's "utterances" go unchallenged.

"We want to put on record that in all our observations, we have found nowhere Jacob Zuma and Ace Magashule ever mocked or irreverently made statements about our Lord Jesus Christ," it said.

Last Sunday, Magashule reportedly told an interviewer: "Jesus was persecuted. He was called names and betrayed.

"It's the same kind of suffering Mr Zuma has had to bear recently, but he's still standing strong. He's not giving up."

The SARMF said it well known that Jesus had said all who believed and followed him would also suffer, like him.

"Ace Magashule has publicly said that he is a Christian. It is never wrong for any Christian to say he or she is suffering like Christ," it said.

- SAPA