Religion: South Africa's Conscience

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New Atmosphere. That the churches' courage consists merely in advocating a relaxation of apartheid within a context of "differentiation" shows something of the climate of South Africa. But that the declaration was made at all, by the leading spiritual and moral power among the traditionally segregationist Afrikaners, is something of a milestone. Premier Verwoerd was reported to be both worried and irate. His toned-down views were presumably voiced by Die Transvaler, the Nationalist newspaper he once edited himself. "No matter how beautiful were the thoughts expressed by the consultation," editorialized the paper, "their application would lead to the collapse of Christianity in South Africa."

The exact opposite might prove to be true. The Anglican and the Dutch Reformed Churches find themselves drawn together in mutual concern, as they have not been since Anglican Archbishop Joost de Blank of Capetown threatened to resign from the World Council of Churches if the Dutch Reformed Churches did not mend their racial ways. At the close of the World Council consultation, Archbishop de Blank rose and begged forgiveness from the Dutch Reformed Church men for any hurt he might previously have caused in his impassioned campaigning. Promptly and warmly they forgave him. Says Alan Paton: "The archbishop's action, and the response to it, shows something of the new atmosphere."