Apartheid - The Forgotten Religious Conspiracy

The history of South Africa (SA) is rich and varied.
A country of outstanding beauty and immense natural wealth, it was first inhabited by the San and Khoekhoe peoples - otherwise known as the Bushmen and Hottentots, as well as the Bantu (which later became a generic name for indigenous african people).

In 1652 Jan van Riebeeck and 90 men landed at the cape of good hope under instructions from the Dutch East India Company to build a fort and develop a vegetable garden for the benefit of ships on the Eastern trade route, ostensibly as a re-supply base.

There was almost immediately, animosity between the new settlers and the Khoekhoe - from bartering at first, the settlers raised their demands and the Khoekhoe were reported as stealing cattle, and so began the turbulent history.

At first, few settlers were allowed outside the settlement, but nine men whose contracts had expired were allowed to find land to farm.

Of course, these numbers increased and the settlers began to encounter other tribes as they moved inland and spread out, most notably with the Xhosa.

The settlers, over time, became disconnected with their Dutch and (later) German and French Huguenot roots, and the seeds of the Afrikaaner were planted.

The Dutch relied heavily on interpretations of the Old Testament for religious and moral guidance and because they were the driving force of the emerging Afrikaaners, theirs was the foundation which would later lead to turmoil and abhorrence from the outside world.

The British influence, governance and "occupation" of SA started in 1806 - after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing - and it was in this that the boer war had its roots.
Also under British rule slavery was abolished, and a semblance of equality was introduced - although not REAL equality as we see today in many other countries.

The Boer wars, which eventually came about were one of the turning points in SA history.
Although the British were eventually victorious, they left a legacy of hate because of the notorious concentration camps, such as chrissiemeer.
British rule over a united SA was to last until the Afrikaaners began to exercise political power - and it was then that Apartheid began.

Apartheid or apartness was based on old and new testament passages which stated that the races must be kept separate - this also related to attitudes to slavery, both in SA and the US, in which some interpreted passages as meaning that black people should be slaves as they were viewed as descendants of the canaanites.

It must also be remembered that some boers/afrikaaners also saw themselves as the chosen people of god, and believed that they entered into a covenent with god as such, because the earliest boers thought of themselves as one of the 12 tribes of israel.

Apartheid affected every single part of everyday life - and did not just affect black people.
Chinese, Indian and Mixed Race people were all classed as "coloured" as well as black people and were treated just as appallingly.

Where a person lived, where they could go, whom they could speak to and how they must act were all dictated by apartheid, which in turn had come about because of a few peoples belief of their own superiority due to passages in the old and new testaments which they interpreted to suit their own ends.

Jeremiah 50:5
5 They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the LORD
in an everlasting covenant
that will not be forgotten.

Leviticus 20
22 " 'Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. 24 But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.

Genesis 9:25
25 he said,
"Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers."

Acts 2
1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

6Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

taken to mean that god created men into different racial groups which must be kept separate.

From a tiny band of trekboers who believed in obscure passages of the bible and interpreted them for their own ends, one of the most despicable episodes in modern history came about.



[edit on 27/2/2008 by budski]

Nicely done! I especially liked your conclusion here:

Originally posted by budski
From a tiny band of trekboers who believed in obscure passages of the bible and interpreted them for their own ends, one of the most despicable episodes in modern history came about.

This certainly was not the first nor only instance in history where there was a group of people "who believed in obscure passages of the bible and interpreted them for their own ends". This is where the slap usually comes regarding the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Witch Burning and so forth...because mankind took judgement into their own hands and used only the parts of the Bible that suited their desires instead of reading the whole Book and having a personal relationship with God.

We see it also in islam, with aspects of sharia law - my understanding is that stoning people to death comes from the tradition of throwing stones at one of the pillars during hadj to cast out evil, in the koran it says only that god will punish.....

reply to post by saint4God


What puzzled me is why this happens so very frequently! You would think that, if there are societies full of wrongness that tie themselves to baser portions of the Bible, there would also be the opposite, nations and societies that stand as shining beacons to all based on, I dunno, the beatitudes or something?

Why is there only the one side of this, where religion + Politics always, always results in the worst aspects of both coming to the fore?

I'm sorry to say this, but it's just human nature - humans who have the power are the ones who hunger for it, and if they hunger for it they will do anything to get it, including debasing themselves and their religions.

The worst part is that the ordinary folk just go along with it......

It seems that some took the example of jesus as a shepherd and used that to take the flock towards the wolves.

Ironically, the brits could have prevented all this by exporting more settlers - but after getting nearly 30,000 volunteers to settle the land, they couldn't be bothered allocating the money to transport them, and only a few thousand went.
If they had, the boers/afrikaaners would never have been able to take over the political system so effectively.


[edit on 27/2/2008 by budski]

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
What puzzled me is why this happens so very frequently!

If by 'frequently' you mean every couple hundred year, perhaps. On a personal level, many people try to use the Bible to justify themselves instead of adjusting themselves to what the Bible actually says.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
You would think that, if there are societies full of wrongness that tie themselves to baser portions of the Bible, there would also be the opposite, nations and societies that stand as shining beacons to all based on, I dunno, the beatitudes or something?

There are. They just don't make the news.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
Why is there only the one side of this, where religion + Politics always, always results in the worst aspects of both coming to the fore?

There's a bit of a disconnect. Jesus said "my kingdom is not of this earth" so a ruler of a kingdom would have to solely base all decisions on what had been done in the past Biblically or be well versed enough not to stray from it. Trouble is, when you're on the top of the mountain, people are always trying to knock you off. Many try to "toughen up" to stay in power...which can lead people to make non-Biblical decisions. David...Solomon...there is a conflict between being a king serving the King often times.

[edit on 27-2-2008 by saint4God]

Originally posted by saint4God
If by 'frequently' you mean every couple hundred year, perhaps. On a personal level, many people try to use the Bible to justify themselves instead of adjusting themselves to what the Bible actually says.

I'm aware of that second part. It's a large reason of why I don't pay a terrible lot of attention to what Christians say. It seems that every Christian has a personal version of the bible that agrees with htem totally on every opinion htey have. Makes me wonder why you guys bother with a book sometimes

For the first part, though, it's not every couple hundred years. There's hundreds of such episodes every century - And I'm not just talking about Christianity. Every time a religion tries to put itself into politics, bad stuff happens.

There are. They just don't make the news.

Do share. Even the "utopia" of Lamaic Tibet is a myth of disgusting proportions.

There's a bit of a disconnect. Jesus said "my kingdom is not of this earth" so a ruler of a kingdom would have to solely base all decisions on what had been done in the past Biblically or be well versed enough not to stray from it. Trouble is, when you're on the top of the mountain, people are always trying to knock you off. Many try to "toughen up" to stay in power...which can lead people to make non-Biblical decisions. David...Solomon...there is a conflict between being a king serving the King often times.

[edit on 27-2-2008 by saint4God]

It could just be that the bible - and it's companions in the other varied religions - just flat-out isn't a very good book on how to rule a nation?

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
I'm aware of that second part. It's a large reason of why I don't pay a terrible lot of attention to what Christians say. It seems that every Christian has a personal version of the bible that agrees with htem totally on every opinion htey have. Makes me wonder why you guys bother with a book sometimes

A shame, but something keep in mind is the shining example of Christianity is not Christians...it's Christ. If we look to other people to be faultless, inevitably we're going to be greatly disappointed.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
For the first part, though, it's not every couple hundred years. There's hundreds of such episodes every century - And I'm not just talking about Christianity. Every time a religion tries to put itself into politics, bad stuff happens.

I was thinking major event, but see what you're saying here too though it seems a highlighting of the bad stuff only. A lot of good has come from government following Biblical principle.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
Do share. Even the "utopia" of Lamaic Tibet is a myth of disgusting proportions.

The problem with using the word "utopia" is that it sets up a pre-conceived expectation of perfection. When it falls inevitably short, I agree is should not have been labeled utopia in the first place.

I was thinking of writing many examples of where Christ-guided principle relates to individual freedoms, but let me take a step further back to 3,000 B.C. and ask these questions. How was a ruler of a nation decided? Was there any protection of individual rights in society? How did one aquire education and economic growth?

Flash forward to the United States (where a large majority of the population believe God exists) and ask the same questions. The US is far from Utopia, but it is even further away from the global governmental structures of 3,000 B.C.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
It could just be that the bible - and it's companions in the other varied religions - just flat-out isn't a very good book on how to rule a nation?

This would make a good discussion point for a new thread, to which I would say that it is indeed very helpful in conducting national business. Our original poster has established that the apartheid was due to those not following the Book as the reason for the corruption. For that I agree. Perhaps it would help to outline 'why things went wrong' in not considering what the Bible actually says instead of throwing out the Book unread. I'd like to invite the original poster to go first if willing, but would be glad to assist if not.

This is absolute nonsense. The formal formation of Apartheid has got nothing to do with the Trekboers. Apartheid was created by the British Colonial regimes of the 19th cent -at a time when the Boers were mainly living in the own independent democratic republics in which there were no Apartheid laws- & later expanded upon by the Afrikaner Nationalists during the 1950s. The Boers were later MARGINALIZED within the new macro State of South Africa the British built after they killed close to 50 % of the total Boer child population in the concentration camps & then promoted the pro British Cape based Afrikaner to political power.

The notion that Apartheid has anything to do with interpretations of the Bible was always the propaganda of the Afrikaner Nationalists. Apartheid was rationalized based on the alleged incompatibilities of the different cultures to share a common State seeing as each had its own distinct culture / language & customs. The Afrikaners are mostly the descendents of the Cape Dutch: the affluent White Afrikaans speaking people of the south western Cape WHO ARE LARGER IN NUMBERS to the poorer pastorlaist Boers: the decendents of the impoverished Trekboers & the Voortrekkers: who were conquered during the second Anglo-Boer War.

Furthermore: the Cape Dutch / Afrikaners have more Dutch roots while the Boers have very little Dutch roots as they are descended much more from the German immigrants who settled the eastern Cape where the Trekboer communities had formed during the 1700s. Furthermore: most of the so called Dutch settlers were in fact Frisians taken out of Europe by the VOC then dumped at the Cape. Though there are also considerable numbers of French Huguenots who have amalgamated with both White Afrikaans groups including the absorption of smaller numbers of Indians / Malays & Khoi people as well.

Why are only the Boers getting the blame? This is a joke or a conspiracy!? Using the Word of God to get some upset with white S.Africans, again? Please your sources i would appreciate and read with an open heart.

Here is one you should read or just look at the pictures at least, please.

www.boer.co.za...

First off, British colonials of the 19th century started this "big apartheid" ball rolling which followed to the Nationalist in 1950. Every other "white/foreigner" who put their foot on this land had racial issues along the line. Shaka had his issues against whites as well, be it Boer or a Brit...even his own people. So did the British find him as a threat as well, not just the Boer.

In South Africa, the black majority was excluded from equal participation in the affairs of the State and country (except for the homelands of Qwaqwa, Zululand, Ciskei, Transkei, Venda, and Bophuthatswana which were nominally self governed) until 1994. Apartheid laws were first enacted by the British controlled government when the Pass Laws were passed in 1923. The status quo was maintained and restrictions on non-whites' social and political freedoms further tightened when Afrikaner-led political parties gained control of government since 1948.

You should also say the reason for the concentration camps, it was all about the gold! Money and Rule!

Just over a century ago during the Boer War, the British were responsible for about 27,000 deaths of innocent women and children who were rounded up and placed in British concentration camps after burning them out of their own farms and settlements in (now) South Africa.

The Second War of Independence was fought from 1899 to 1902 when England laid her hands on the mineral riches of (Transvaal) under the false pretense of protecting the rights of the foreigners who swarmed to the Transvaal gold fields.

elliotlakenews.wordpress.com...

Zulu War

Afrikaner

Bringing up "Forgotten Apartheid" and us S.Africans...let me be straight our white S.Africans still get blamed for, seeming we always will. and it always will...this is an awesome thread to bash us, sad.

I have no issue with no one, not one person. We are all equal, we all have souls. We are under God, all of us.

**The fact is i am South African, though my dad was not born here i was, and i have studied and read all the history, stories and so "theories" about South Africa over many years. There will never be a winner or loser, a wrong or right, each of us will believe what we have been taught and others will believe what we see and live/d.

The Trekboere, as they were originally known, are descended mainly from Dutch Calvinist, Flemish and Frisian Calvinist as well as French Huguenot, and German Protestant origins dating from the 1650s and into the 1700s. Minor numbers of Scandinavians, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Scots, English, Irish and Welsh people were absorbed, as well as some descendants from early unions with slaves of mainly Indian and Malay descent and local Khoi people.***





[edit on 6/7/2008 by qonone]

[edit on 6/7/2008 by qonone]