• Who was the man who coined the word 'apartheid' and how did he define i

    From Steve Hayes@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 10 19:40:07 2018
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    I found this question (and answer) on Quora very interesting

    Who was the man who coined the word 'apartheid' and how did he define
    it?

    https://t.co/jPLS65AkjG

    Danny Bagg Answered Apr 21, 2017

    The man who coined the word “apartheid” was an Afrikaner clergyman of
    the Gereformeerde Nederduitse Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church), Jan
    Christoffel du Plessis.

    It was originally a theological term. Not a political one.

    Du Plessis was a missionary who worked closely with black members of
    the Dutch Reformed Church in the Orange Free State province. He was disillusioned with the way most white clergymen encouraged Africans to
    give up their culture and adopt European lifestyles and habits.

    In a 1929 manifesto, du Plessis successfully proposed the church adopt
    a new policy, which he called “apartheid”.

    You asked how du Plessis defined apartheid. Well, he complained that
    blacks were offered “no independent national future” - meaning
    cultural independence - if the church pressed them into assimilating
    Western cultural norms and giving up their proud tribal identities as
    part of their conversion to Christianity. Du Plessis said this was
    immoral, and the gospel should be presented to them in a way they
    could understand without compromising their identity.

    According to du Plessis, “apartheid” meant adopting separate
    programmes for the evangelization of whites and black Africans. The
    Dutch Reformed Church’s programme for black African converts, he
    insisted, should be tailored specifically for them and their unique
    backgrounds rather than the same one used for Europeans. This would
    necessitate two different programmes “set apart” from each other,
    hence the term “apartheid”.

    So the original definition of apartheid by the man who coined the term
    would be “parallel but separate approaches towards religious
    teaching”.

    Du Plessis mentioned this term in various speeches and sermons he gave throughout the early 1930s.

    “Apartheid” lost all religious connotation when it was hijacked as a political slogan in 1936. Basically, the Afrikaner politicians decided
    to take this approach and apply it to an entire country, as in
    “parallel but separate political and social systems”.

    Du Plessis lived long enough to regret ever coining the term. He got
    really defensive whenever people brought up his association with that particular word, and later wrote strongly worded statements in which
    he insisted “apartheid” had its roots “in this foundational idea of Mission work, and not in racial prejudice”.

    All to little avail.

    As someone who has dedicated his or her entire life to the service of
    black African Christians, how would you feel if your most enduring
    legacy was a word associated with nothing but oppression, hatred, and
    tragedy?

    https://t.co/jPLS65AkjG
    --
    Steve Hayes
    http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    http://khanya.wordpress.com

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