Church book declared hate speech
2013-02-28 17:35
Bloemfontein - The contents of a book called Die
Raadsplan by Living Hope Ministries and its founding pastor, Willie Smit,
amount to hate speech, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Thursday.
"It found the church publication offensive and
amounting to hate speech," spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.
The commission received a complaint in 2010 claiming the
Free State-based church and its pastor authored and published a racially
offensive book entitled Die Raadsplan.
The complainant said the book, the church and its pastor
depicted the white race as divinely ordained to be superior to and rule over
all other races.
The publication was distributed to various Christian book
stores in the country.
Mangena said the commission had found some parts of the
book to some extent corroborated the complainant's assertions.
The pastor and his church believed they had exercised
their freedom of expression, freedom of religion, belief and opinion to write
and make the utterances.
However, the commission's view was that the right to
freedom of expression did not extend to advocacy of hatred based on race, and
that constituted incitement to cause harm.
The commission held the publication was racially
discriminatory and amounted to hate speech.
It concluded that such publications were unacceptable in
a free and democratic dispensation that espoused equality as its central theme.
The commission recommended that the Films and
Publications Board take steps to remove the publication from all public
distribution channels.
It also supported appropriate administrative and other
sanctions in terms of the Films and Publications Act.
The commission held that the Institute for Race Relations
at the University of the Free State, in collaboration with the Governing
Council of SA Council of Churches, should engage the Living Hope Ministries
church and Smit in a series of race relations sensitisation workshops.
The commission asked for a written report on the progress
achieved in six months.
- SAPA
