The South African SPRO-CAS Study Projects on Christianity in Apartheid Society (1969-1973)

In: Publius: the journal of federalism, Volume 7, Issue 1, p. 41-57

Abstract

Presented is a review article which is partly descriptive & partly policy oriented. The descriptive part provides an examination of the Spro-Cas study projects sponsored by the South African Council of Churches & the Christian Instit. A review of the material compiled & processed in the several study projects is discussed with an assessment of some of the arguments advanced to support the basic philosophy of the Instit, eg, radical changes must be effected in South African society if a catastrophe is to be avoided. The projects were concerned with six major aspects of the apartheid society: economics, law, politics, sociology, the church & education. It is suggested that there can be little doubt that the projects embody the most comprehensive & thorough attempt to analyze the complex South African society & its problems. Proposed are cures for the ills that have come from within South Africa in recent years. Projects are described in some detail & the realism of the conclusions is questioned. Although the conclusions reached & policies suggested are quite radical in the South African setting, the 150 scholars who were engaged in these projects are not prepared to disobey the law in any way & do not encourage others to confront the regime by illegal means. This possible necessity is not even considered except in relation to the church which, in the opinion of one contributor, could be morally justified to ignore the racial law. Examined are the key propositions that South Africa should develop into "an open plural society" & "its political framework" should become a federal polity. The methods by which these ends are to be achieved appear to be unrealistic (devolution). The relationship between an "open plural society" & the federal polity also is inadequately considered. The political alternatives suggested by Spro-Cas are criticized because they fail to appreciate the primacy of the political solution. The political solution which, hopefully, will be an essentially nonracial federal polity can be only the outcome of effective external & internal pressures including violence, or at least, the real threat of violence. After the federal bargain has been struck -- a compromise between competing racial groups, conflicting ideologies & territorial autonomies -- an open plural society may emerge, not before, even though there may be some movement in that direction prior to the federal bargain. Of course, if no such bargain is struck in the foreseeable future, the inevitability of an all-out, suicidal race war is no longer in doubt. Spro-Cas must be given credit at least for considering desirable alternatives for a new South(ern) Africa &, in addition, for stimulating in various ways black community programs & the Black Consciousness Movement without which fundamental change would probably have been further away than now & the eventual clash still more severe than it is bound to be. AA.