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South Africa is a secular democracy with freedom of religion. Many religions are represented in the ethnic and regional diversity of South Africa's population.
The African Traditional Religion of the Khoisan and Bantu speakers during apartheid were succeeded in predominance by Christianity introduced by the Dutch and later British settlers. During apartheid there was sustained persecution of African Traditional Religion and forced conversions during that era.[1]
In 1930 the majority of Afrikaners were Afrikaner Calvinists.
Islam was introduced by the Cape Malay slaves of the Dutch settlers, Hinduism was introduced by the indentured labourers imported from the Indian subcontinent, and Buddhism was introduced by both Indian and Chinese immigrants.
Judaism in South Africa came about some time before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, by the participation of Jewish astronomers and cartographers in the Portuguese discovery of the sea-route to India. They assisted Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama who first sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and 1497 respectively. However, Jewish settlers only began to arrive in numbers from the 1820s.
The Bahá'í Faith was introduced in 1911 and grew after Bahá'ís from Canada, the United States and Germany settled in the country.[2]
The socially marginalized post-apartheid South Africa and today number over 6 million, or approximately 15 percent of the population.[3]
The Census 2001 provided the most recent national statistics for religious denominations.[4][5][6]
The Census 2011 form did not include any questions about religion due to low priority.[7]
A 2012 poll indicated that the number of South Africans who consider themselves religious decreased from 83% of the population in 2005 to 64% of the population in 2012.[8]
Post-apartheid South Africa's Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religion, belief and opinion among other freedoms. The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) is a chapter nine institution established in 2004 to support democracy.[9][10]
The new Constitution did not result in immediate reform of discriminatory legislation infringing on the right to religious freedom. Various legislative reforms have taken place or have been initiated since 1994 as a result of lobbying by disenfranchised groups.
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One of the SALRC's other new projects, the review of witchcraft legislation, will support the constitutional guarantee to freedom of religion, but will also serve to protect vulnerable groups. It is mostly women advanced in age that are persecuted as witches by communities holding traditional beliefs. These innocent victims are vulnerable to a double degree: as women and as older persons. —South African Law Reform Commission Thirty Eighth Annual Report 2010/2011[15]
The Christian holidays of Christmas Day and Good Friday remained in post-apartheid South Africa's calendar of public holidays. The CRL Rights Commission held countrywide consultative public hearings in June and July 2012 to assess the need for a review of public holidays following the receipt of complaints from minority groups about unfair discrimination. The CRL Rights Commission stated that they would submit their recommendations to the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Labour, various Portfolio Committees and the Office of the Presidency.[16][17]
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