The Church and the Native
The South African bishops have done the Church as well as the State a notable service in the statement they have issued on the racial discrimination which the late Jan Hofmeyr so consistently and courageously condemned and the present Prime Minister, Dr. Malan, proposes to intensify. The bishops declare roundly and incontestably that discrimination between men on grounds of race alone is inconsistent with the principles of the Christian religion. Men of every race, they insist, should be encouraged to develop according to their ability, which involves equality of opportunity in trades and professions, in education and social welfare, in every department of life. Least of all can there be any question of racial discrimination, or ineligibility for any office on grounds of race within the Church itself. This is a courageous, almost subversive, utterance by the spokesmen of the Church in a DominiOn where black men number nine millions and white men not much over two. It will no doubt be assailed and misrepresented. For that reason it must be clearly understood for what it is. All it asks for is equality of opportunity, and it will be decades, perhaps generations, yet before any large proportion of the indigenous stock of South Africa will be able to seize the opportunities that should nominally be open to immigrant stock and indigenous stock alike. But recognition of the principle which the bishops proclaim, most particularly in the matter of education, which is the key to everything, would be of immense moral as well as practical importance. Acceptance of it would remove a reproach which all admirers of the Union have regretted should rest upon it. And many who are accustomed to charge the Church with timorous hesitations will acknowledge that the bishops of the South African Province at least stand acquitted of that.
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