Secularization of government leaves lingering theological traces in race relations

Evidence

Like the Constitutions of the ANC and its key constituent organizations such as the Youth and Women’s Leagues, the Freedom Charter represents what could be called the secularization of government, if not of South African society, as a key consideration in governmental deracialization. The grip of racial theology on the governing architecture and institutional arrangements of the society is prised loose, de-emphasized, and discarded to the garbage heap of history. But as with secularization generally, theological traces nevertheless linger, as I’ll return to reveal, the shadow effects of race continuing to cloud social conditions and relations, if informally. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1541 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But race is not the only category of difference that contributes to social hierarchies. Religion is also an unstable and fluid differentiating category insofar as it interacts with race to affect “other” certain groups and in turn justify their subordinate status and unequal treatment. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1067 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A governor won office on a theology that God ordained segregation — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 118; Political theology shaped the terms of black proletarianization; The presumed secularity of South African governance was saturated with religious legacy (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Secularized deracialization still leaves lingering theological traces in social relations. #corroborates (0.98) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1541
• Religion operates as a fluid category that racializes groups #complicates (0.76) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1067