White Church Rejects Apartheid

In a break from its support of racial separation, South Africa’s main white Dutch Reformed Church today denounced apartheid.

The resolution adopted by 400 delegates at the church synod stopped short of declaring apartheid a sin or heresy, as overseas Dutch Reformed Church bodies have done. Today was the first time since 1974 that the church had addressed the issue of apartheid. Twelve years ago, it essentially endorsed the separation of the races as necessary for a stable society in a multiracial country.