Langeveld: The Freedom Charter, for me, is a very big challenge to the Church. Here we have the most looked at democratic and most widely canvassed expression of what the people really feel about their situation. It is not only a denunciation of what exists but it announces a project for their liberation in their own language expressing their own interests.

The Church, together with the dominant forces in society, has for a long time looked at history from the top, in other words, from the position of people with privilege and power. Now, I think, is the time to look at history from the bottom, from the perspective of those who suffer under that system.

This is not to say that the Church has sided with the people at the top but rather the perspective the people have had of the Church has largely been from the top. Even when the Church has made good statements on behalf of those who are struggling

against their oppression, it has always been on behalf of the people and now is the time for the Church to speak with the people.

What do I mean when I say ‘speak with’? You see, 80 percent of the Christian Church in South Africa is made up of people who come from the exploited and oppressed masses. Therefore that voice should carry a lot more weight in the Church and their experience should be reflected in its structure and functioning.

When people come to Church on Sundays they come with their experience of oppression, they come with their language, their race, they come with their memories of struggle. How has the Church accepted that reality? How has the Church interpreted and allowed the people to interpret their faith and their practice of faith in the light of their experience ? I think very little has been done. But there have been very good signs recently that the Church is more open to allowing this experience to challenge them.