Human rights abuse by some self-styled spiritual leaders within the “Nyaope religion” in South Africa

Abstract

From time to time, stories of self-styled spiritual leaders make headlines in South Africa. Christians continue to witness strange, controversial and illegal activities by self-styled spiritual leaders done in the name of the Christian religion. Various people, including theologians, have expressed concern about the human rights abuse that ordinary South Africans suffer at the hands of such spiritual leaders. This study seeks to uncover incidents of human rights abuse that have happened in the name of Christianity. It endeavours to answer the research question “In what respect does the conduct of self-styled spiritual leaders perpetrate human rights abuse?” A case study method will be utilised to investigate cases of human rights abuse. The hypothesis is posed that conduct by such churches or religious circles runs counter to the generally accepted basic principles of Christian missions and points to a completely new form of religion masked as Christianity. Trends in world Christianity is employed as the theoretical framework of the study to understand this form of religion. The South African localised drug Nyaope is used metaphorically to describe this new form of religion and juxtaposes it to a form of religion that Karl Marx described as the opium of the people. Consequently, the term “Nyaope religion” is coined to refer to this form of religion.