Reading the ANC’s ‘Bible’: A Christian Response to the Freedom Charter

Posted on July 10, 2025 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Tim Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Last month was the 70^th anniversary of South Africa’s Freedom Charter, once called the ANC’s “Bible” by former president, Jacob Zuma. Hailed as the true ‘voice of the people’ for liberation since 1955, it is often elevated to the status of religious dogma, and exalted above our national Constitution. As image-bearers of the Almighty, God has placed this cry for freedom and human dignity in all of our hearts, as we’ve often argued here on TARIF. Muzzling the consent of the governed and trampling on human rights is abominable in God’s eyes and must be opposed.

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Some African Traditions Must Die

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Lennox Kalifungwa

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

What would you do if embracing Christianity demanded the death of a cherished cultural tradition? Though posed as hypothetical, this is a pressing question that every Christian, sooner or later, must confront.

In the wake of British and European colonial withdrawal, many African nations turned enthusiastically to postcolonialism—a postmodern creed animated less by a hunger for self-determination than by a visceral loathing of Western thought and custom. What followed was an era obsessed with the preservation of all things deemed authentically African. In the fevered rush to cast off colonial vestiges, Africans began re-engineering every corner of their cultural landscape—from attire and rituals to language, politics, and ceremonial pomp.

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Whiteness, Worship, and the Myth of African Freedom

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Paul Schlehlein

–– Lennox Kalifungwa

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Analyzing and Confronting Africa’s Self-Imposed Chains

In the tapestry of African history, the notion of freedom has often been miscast—a concept disconnected from truth and moral goodness. A pervasive belief has taken root, convincing many that true liberation equates to emancipation from whiteness and Western ideologies rather than a comprehensive freedom from sin and tyranny. This fixation on whiteness stems from postmodern Marxist theories that perpetually position white individuals as oppressors. This perspective has blinded many Africans to the stark reality: they remain unfree, and this bondage is self-inflicted. The pursuit of freedom, in its truest sense, has been supplanted by a fervent desire to eradicate whiteness and Western thought.

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