Churches affiliated to the International Federation of Christian Churches (IFCC), which include the Rhema Church in Randburg and the Grace Bible Church the main branch of which is in Soweto, say they won't comply with the updated Covid-19 regulations announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The IFCC issued a statement on Wednesday in response to Ramaphosa’s Tuesday address, saying while they welcomed churches being allowed to fill up to 50% of their pews, they could not agree to forcing congregants to be vaccinated.
“We have been left with no choice but to refuse to accept this condition,” said the IFCC, which likened closing the doors to the unvaccinated to treating them as “modern day lepers”.
“Nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever prohibited from entering the temple of God because of a condition or an ailment,” the group said.
Making the announcement on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said: “The approach is that both indoor and outdoor venues can now take up to 50% of their capacity provided that the criteria for entrance are proof of vaccination or a Covid-19 test not older than 72 hours.
“But where there is no provision for proof of vaccination or a Covid-19 test, then the current upper limit will remain — of 1,000 people indoors and 2,000 people outdoors.”
But the IFCC said forcing congregants to get jabbed was “irrational, discriminatory, unjust and unfair”.
The federation said while it had held prior consultations with deputy president David Mabuza and minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele, it was not consulted about the decision Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday. The federation was “shocked” by the stance taken.
Nowhere in the Bible
— International Federation of Christian Churches
was anyone ever prohibited from entering the temple of God because of a condition or an ailment.
The IFCC said all the religious leaders who were part of the consultation process had “opposed the suggestion to provide vaccine certificates to allow people to attend church”.
“In the consultation the IFCC leadership and other faith leaders made it very clear and objected to the idea of a vaccine mandate. We had asked the honourable minister to communicate to the president that the vaccine mandate is not welcomed whatsoever because it will violate the rights of religious freedom guaranteed in our constitution.
“Furthermore, it is not desirable nor feasible to put this on our doorstep and we believe it will be ill advised should the government move in this direction as it would amount to the unwarranted provocation of the faith community,” the group said.
On being able to check all congregants for vaccination certificates, the churches said this was “impractical and impossible”. It accused the government of having “double standards that are being applied to other sectors”.
Churches said they were offended by the move, saying it “proved that government has no respect for the religious leaders of SA or any input they receive from them”.
The IFCC said while churches had in the past 24 months supported the government, this time they were not willing to turn the other cheek.
“We understand the cause but the response of our government is a slap in our faces and we will not take this lying down.”
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