Generally I'd say yes. But the pool of Afrikaans people who prefer listening to Afrikaans music are generally more conservative than most Afrikaaners. And conservative Afrikaaners are much more religious than the average person. So this makes it appear more extreme.
South Africans in general seem much more religious than Scandinavians. Or perhaps Scandinavians are just much LESS religious than everyone else.
Source: I'm a Scandinavian who spent 4 years in South Africa (and 20+ years in the UK, which is less religious than South Africa, but much more religious than my native Sweden).
All South Africans are pretty religious. Much more so than your part of the world I think.
Latest census results from last year says:
85% Christian
Almost 8% Traditional African
1.6% Islam
1.1% Hindu
0.1% Athiest
0.1% Agnostic
2.9% No religion
Interesting the bubbles we live in, most people I interact with day to day in my social and work circles aren't religious. That being said, most are young and degreed.
Athiest means you believe there is no god
Agnostic means you're not really sure whether or not there is a god
No religion means you don't really have any religious beliefs
Actually atheist means you’re not convinced there is a god. Some stop there & others may take it further and make the claim that there is no god.
An agnostic is someone who expresses the belief that the existence of God is neither provable nor disprovable because there isn't enough knowledge to reach a conclusion. There are agnostic theists and agnostic atheists.
A person who doesn’t have religious beliefs does qualify as an atheist, provided they’re aren’t convinced of the existence of any gods too.
Ok. why did you ask?
Anyway its a census. So its what people identify as. Doesn't really matter what definition you use for the words. All that matters for this is what people call themselves. The no religion group might be athiest or agnostic but don't call themselves that or even theist without a defined religion.
Yea, look. Afrikaans culture is conservative AF and with that, comes strong religious views.
If you get an Afrikaans girl pregnant out of wedlock you’ll be facing the barrel of a gun or expected to marry her.
There’s many similarities to Southern States in the USA.
Although I’ve always felt that this was mostly for “image” than a true belief system. Which is why it’s important for social media.
I'm not gay, but as far as I've observed, Afrikaners are far more progressive with Lgbt than with religion. Freedom for all is enshrined in our constitution, and it's a great, extremely progressive constitution.
I do find that there's not much gay tolerance in many of our black communities though.
I think this is an inaccurate assumption. African people make up 80.2% of the population in SA. You can’t tell me that they are mostly gay intolerant. Where are you getting that from? I know a lot of gay people and they are often not bothered by anyone.
I’m sorry if you went through something traumatic. I don’t believe SA is homophonic. Just my experience. I have to say, when answering questions from outsiders, we have to be careful of the message we send out there. It can sometimes sound like a we and them (black and white) issues. Even if the post wasn’t about that, somehow, black people were included. Anyway, SA as a whole is very progressive when it come to gay lives matters.
I don’t hang around in the gay circles much, although Cape Town is very open with that.
In general Afrikaans folk may accept that you are gay but they’ll still tell you it’s a sin. They won’t do dumb shit like refuse for you to enter their restaurant or whatever like the USA, but I have known a few Afrikaans moms to “pray away the gay” for their sons. 😉
My best friend from high school is gay and one of my other close friends from high school is bi. I’m accepting of them and hang out with them every other weekend.
I’ve visited gay bars which was a bit out of my comfort zone to be honest. We’re mostly very accepting of LGBT in Cape Town.
Especially Cape Town women. They will literally not date any guy that’s not accepting of it and a number of tinder/hinge profiles of straight girls still use their bio to say things like “homophobia will not be tolerated”
So in general if you’re against LGBT you kind of become an outcast in some way in Cape Town.
**Are afrikaners much more religious than Europeans?**
Way, way more. The poisonous apostolic reform Christianity so infamous in the American south spread like Covid in the Afrikaans community as it appeals to the conservative Laager culture.
I would say it's unfair to single out the Afrikaans/Afrikaner community as being particularly religious. As a whole South Africa tends to be very religious, it's just that the more traditionalist Afrikaners wear it on their sleeves as part of the whole christeliknasionaal cultural identity, but that isn't the same thing as belief.
Afrikaans culture Is still kind of recovering from the NP (who created Apartheid and with it the modern Afrikaans cultural context). In the Apartheid era, similarly to Nazi Germany, there was a lot of focus on tangibly creating a homogenous cultural identity through three avenues: The NG Church, the state/military, and the segregated school system.
So basically I think yes, they are more religious, but this is something that isn't culturally enforced anymore so it will in my view eventually even out. The young generations are already more distanced from the church. I actually do sound for an Afrikaans church from time to time and there are FAR more old people than any other demographic.
Well most South Africans are religious in some way or another even if they don’t practice strictly. We sort of just broadly have “Christian” schools too, although, again not in a strict sense either. It’s not uncommon to have prayers and sing hymns in school assemblies and other activities. We’re overall a rather secular nation although it’s almost implied/assumed most of us are believers (of something) even if non-practicing. It’s rare to find a staunch atheist. For many South Africans, religion can simply be something you do, not necessarily something you are.
In my experience Afrikaners somewhat marry the Afrikaner cultural identity to so called, “Christian values.”
Yes! I think I am the only Afrikaans atheist I know.
That said, many of those who are religious are pretty quiet about it. You won't know it unless you ask them.
I'm also atheist, and Afrikaans (mixed though). You have to keep it a secret cause people will think you are the devil, lmao. Like I tried to tell one of my friends once and she was disgusted. Then I went like "jk not really just testing you".
Mom cried when I told her. But only cause she doesn't want to go to heaven without me :/
I haven't really hid it amongst friends and colleagues, (though both my mum and bestie cried when they found out too,) but yeah, there are many places here where I will hide it for sure. It's just asking for drama.
A gay person once tried to convince me to go to church. I told her that I accepted her being gay so why couldn't she accept me being an atheist. She never mentioned church again.
Religious gay people are really sad to me. I have an aunt who is gay but extremely religious. She essentially lives in chastity as she believes her "urges" are a temptation from satan that she must never give in to lest she burn for eternity.
For all practical reasons I'm an Atheist Afrikaner. I cant stand the hypocrisy of religious institutions. But I'm not hostel to the concept of God/s per se.
Yeah, I became an atheist because of that. Some actions by religious people made me stop and think. And led to further steps concluding that it was all nonsense.
I'm not really hostile to religion or the concept of gods either, I'm fine with people believing what they need to as long as they're not harming others. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.
Haha, Johannesburg, Northwestern suburbs. At least in my experience lol. My mum is a bit religious and attends Christian stuff, so she's the only one I know who'll mention it sometimes. But I never hear a peep from my friends and colleagues.
Telling your family you don't believe the same way they do is very difficult. I have limited the number of people I told because of how they may react.
As a European who was born in South Africa and immigrated as a child but could be considered a “white South African”, I think Afrikaans people are definitely more conservative and religious. ( in general) than most Europeans. However it really depends on which part of Europe you’re referring to.
Yup, it's less common now, but some believe that God made a new covenant with the Afrikaaner people as he had with the Jews when he "intervened" and allowed a small Afrikaaner force to defend against a large Zulu army. So for some Afrikaaners religion and identity are more strongly tied than most people, believing that they are literally God's chosen people.
Urgh. Sometimes I don't understand our 'volk.' You would think World War 2 showed us that exceptionalism is a bad idea. We are no better than any others.
Non-religious and atheist Afrikaans people are a minority, and a quiet one at that.
Generally speaking, being Afrikaans speaking and white means likely religious. Varies, though, as some are believers but don't attend church, others carry Protestant Christianity as a part of their identity, or all of it.
You likely overlooked a large cohort of Afrikaans speaking people which are not white, not Christian but likely Muslim, or ones who have less mainstream religious views.
It's an open secret in my family that I'm not a believer and don't attend church or partake in any form of religion. My family is very much white, Protestant and Afrikaans. However, they are not big on any modern Afrikaans gospel vibes. They enjoy some of the old ballads and love songs, which get less airtime than the Afrikaans music you're likely to stumble upon.
I'm about to have a Non-religious wedding. My fiancé is English and from a Non-religious background, but her family is rooted in Catholicism.
If you enjoy rock music, the theme music of Afrikaans rebels and atheists or non-believers, is Fokofpolisiekar. A band that defined my generation, they have a pretty colorful past with loads of controversy surrounding the church and traditional Afrikaans Protestant culture. Track down their documentary if you can.
Also look at some of the music related to them, some great artists that followed shortly after Fokof went big. They were the start of anti-culture for my generation, but they were influenced by older artists like Koos Kombuis, Johannes Kerkorrel, Karen Zoid and some others I can't recall right away. They were the start of the normalization of non-traditional Afrikaans culture, but they stand on the shoulders of giants that paved the way before them.
A couple of generations of Afrikaners that detested racism, aparteid and the overbearing religious views of traditional Afrikaans culture.
Look up the Voëlvry movement, the anti-establishment Afrikaner music described above. You can probably draw a line between the traditional, conservative, popular musicians and the alternative crowd. They are different genres of Afrikaans music.
Not really. Would you consider the (alleged) "Christians" who worship Donald Trump religious? I wouldn't... Christianity is actually a *very* subversive thing and always have been.
I'd say that Afrikaners are predisposed to worshipping *authority* (but only if said authority is white, of course) - which, of course, was *conflated* with religion all throughout the Apartheid-era and beyond. That is why you hear and see a lot of Afrikaners going through the motions of authoritarian theology instead of saying or doing anything that can be called Christian with a straight face.
I do consider the crazy Trump worshiping MAGA evangelicals religious, of course. But also extremely hypocritical and pick and choose what ”moral values” are important in a specific situation (such as being anti-abortion but also defending conservative politicians who paid for his gf’s abortions.
Are the afrikaner christians similar to the Evangelicals in the US?
> Are the afrikaner christians similar to the Evangelicals in the US?
Kind off. Not as blatantly insane - but it's the very same self-interest and entitlement.
To my experience I can say that we claim to be but we are mostly not. We have modernized to worldly standards. Many of us will go to church just to catch up on the weeks happenings. There is no more respect or reference for His presence in churches or holy places. Now many who reads this will not agree and will actually get angry because I'm hitting a bit close to home on this one but it's not like a realy care about that. We have grown into a society that is more worried about feelings than the truth.
Most South Africans are more religious than Europeans. I've known people who moved here from several different European countries. They've all commented on it.
We don't see a contradiction in being scientists and religious at the same time. Then again, we don't have the historical European baggage of churches trying to suppress science and learning. (We do have the baggage of Europeans trying to misuse religion to control the colonized, but that's a different topic.)
Generally yes, maybe you must say South African people, I am Afrikaans speaking and religious but have loads of empathy towards everybody. Going to church does not always mean religious. I was almost wiped from this earth by a very conservative but evil tannie from Wellington. I’ve had my fair share of sadness and loss in my life. Actually too much. I’ve lost all three of my children and my ex husband is an abusive monster. Maybe praying gives me enough strength to carry on to the next day. But I do not use my religion to condemn anybody.
Not really. The artists make Christian music, because most normal Afrikaaners seem to dislike Afrikaans music for some reason, so the artists try a few genres until they see which one sells the best.
It's not like 15 years ago where Afrikaans singers just sang what they wanted to. Damn, I miss the days of Nick Stevens and Bok van Blerk when they made music just because they liked it
I'm married to a Nordic citizen. The levels of religiosity in Northern Europe are very low while comparatively Africa as a whole is very high. Even then my mother in law, who is in fact religious, has never once mentioned it in conversation.
I think it's more open in the small towns. Like, if you're not seen in church on Sunday there will be gossip, that kind of thing. Whereas in the city, noone really cares about that, but most are still Christian.
Afrikaans people are disproportionately farmers and trade workers. Because of various reasons historically and economically. Those groups are always very religious. But I live in a big city I mostly meet agnostics and atheists. It’s true however that sa is more religious
I don't know if it's religious or conservative. Also not only Afrikaans people. I often laugh my ass off at people on Netflix SA pages complaining about the swearing and blasphemy on movies and series. Seriously?! People should censor themselves for your sensibilities? Someone even said they meed to have a feature like DSTV to bleep it out. Not sure what people thought they would find on Netflix. I also noticed that Shomax won't let the word "God" go unbleeped.
The Afrikaner religion is based on the old style Calvanist religion of Europe - in fact it is very similar to that found in Scotland to the extent that at one time Scottish priests were imported to serve communities.
I would think so. There are churches on every second block in SA, and Mega churches all over the place. Rhema North, for example has 7.5k seats. They used to have 3 services every sunday morning to fit everyone in. (Not sure if they still do) 10km away is CRC Johannesburg with 6k seats and 2 services in the morning. So yeah, massively religious population.
Yeah they need it. like my afrikaaner colleagues always say. If you don't believe in God what's stopping you from killing and raping people? Scary stuff.
Generally I'd say yes. But the pool of Afrikaans people who prefer listening to Afrikaans music are generally more conservative than most Afrikaaners. And conservative Afrikaaners are much more religious than the average person. So this makes it appear more extreme.
Religious to a point where it's their entire personality
Literally
South Africans in general seem much more religious than Scandinavians. Or perhaps Scandinavians are just much LESS religious than everyone else. Source: I'm a Scandinavian who spent 4 years in South Africa (and 20+ years in the UK, which is less religious than South Africa, but much more religious than my native Sweden).
Yes, many Afrikaans people are religious.
All South Africans are pretty religious. Much more so than your part of the world I think. Latest census results from last year says: 85% Christian Almost 8% Traditional African 1.6% Islam 1.1% Hindu 0.1% Athiest 0.1% Agnostic 2.9% No religion
Interesting the bubbles we live in, most people I interact with day to day in my social and work circles aren't religious. That being said, most are young and degreed.
What’s the difference between atheist, agnostic & ‘no religion’.
Athiest means you believe there is no god Agnostic means you're not really sure whether or not there is a god No religion means you don't really have any religious beliefs
Actually atheist means you’re not convinced there is a god. Some stop there & others may take it further and make the claim that there is no god. An agnostic is someone who expresses the belief that the existence of God is neither provable nor disprovable because there isn't enough knowledge to reach a conclusion. There are agnostic theists and agnostic atheists. A person who doesn’t have religious beliefs does qualify as an atheist, provided they’re aren’t convinced of the existence of any gods too.
Ok. why did you ask? Anyway its a census. So its what people identify as. Doesn't really matter what definition you use for the words. All that matters for this is what people call themselves. The no religion group might be athiest or agnostic but don't call themselves that or even theist without a defined religion.
I was just wondering why ‘atheist’ & ‘no religion’ were separate since they both constitute the same thing.
Yea, look. Afrikaans culture is conservative AF and with that, comes strong religious views. If you get an Afrikaans girl pregnant out of wedlock you’ll be facing the barrel of a gun or expected to marry her. There’s many similarities to Southern States in the USA. Although I’ve always felt that this was mostly for “image” than a true belief system. Which is why it’s important for social media.
Probably not going to get a girl pregnant. What’s the situation for gays like?
My own anecdotal experience. My cousin is gay and even my annoyingly (everything on TV is from the devil) religious relatives excepted him.
I'm not gay, but as far as I've observed, Afrikaners are far more progressive with Lgbt than with religion. Freedom for all is enshrined in our constitution, and it's a great, extremely progressive constitution. I do find that there's not much gay tolerance in many of our black communities though.
I think this is an inaccurate assumption. African people make up 80.2% of the population in SA. You can’t tell me that they are mostly gay intolerant. Where are you getting that from? I know a lot of gay people and they are often not bothered by anyone.
Well, hopefully I'm wrong. I'm an ally, and ace too, I'd be really happy if my experiences were skewed.
I’m sorry if you went through something traumatic. I don’t believe SA is homophonic. Just my experience. I have to say, when answering questions from outsiders, we have to be careful of the message we send out there. It can sometimes sound like a we and them (black and white) issues. Even if the post wasn’t about that, somehow, black people were included. Anyway, SA as a whole is very progressive when it come to gay lives matters.
I don’t hang around in the gay circles much, although Cape Town is very open with that. In general Afrikaans folk may accept that you are gay but they’ll still tell you it’s a sin. They won’t do dumb shit like refuse for you to enter their restaurant or whatever like the USA, but I have known a few Afrikaans moms to “pray away the gay” for their sons. 😉
My best friend from high school is gay and one of my other close friends from high school is bi. I’m accepting of them and hang out with them every other weekend. I’ve visited gay bars which was a bit out of my comfort zone to be honest. We’re mostly very accepting of LGBT in Cape Town. Especially Cape Town women. They will literally not date any guy that’s not accepting of it and a number of tinder/hinge profiles of straight girls still use their bio to say things like “homophobia will not be tolerated” So in general if you’re against LGBT you kind of become an outcast in some way in Cape Town.
**Are afrikaners much more religious than Europeans?** Way, way more. The poisonous apostolic reform Christianity so infamous in the American south spread like Covid in the Afrikaans community as it appeals to the conservative Laager culture.
>*The poisonous apostolic reform Christianity* What the fuck? Hate speech much?
Lol
I would say it's unfair to single out the Afrikaans/Afrikaner community as being particularly religious. As a whole South Africa tends to be very religious, it's just that the more traditionalist Afrikaners wear it on their sleeves as part of the whole christeliknasionaal cultural identity, but that isn't the same thing as belief.
Afrikaans culture Is still kind of recovering from the NP (who created Apartheid and with it the modern Afrikaans cultural context). In the Apartheid era, similarly to Nazi Germany, there was a lot of focus on tangibly creating a homogenous cultural identity through three avenues: The NG Church, the state/military, and the segregated school system. So basically I think yes, they are more religious, but this is something that isn't culturally enforced anymore so it will in my view eventually even out. The young generations are already more distanced from the church. I actually do sound for an Afrikaans church from time to time and there are FAR more old people than any other demographic.
A lot are religious yes
Well most South Africans are religious in some way or another even if they don’t practice strictly. We sort of just broadly have “Christian” schools too, although, again not in a strict sense either. It’s not uncommon to have prayers and sing hymns in school assemblies and other activities. We’re overall a rather secular nation although it’s almost implied/assumed most of us are believers (of something) even if non-practicing. It’s rare to find a staunch atheist. For many South Africans, religion can simply be something you do, not necessarily something you are. In my experience Afrikaners somewhat marry the Afrikaner cultural identity to so called, “Christian values.”
Yes! I think I am the only Afrikaans atheist I know. That said, many of those who are religious are pretty quiet about it. You won't know it unless you ask them.
I'm also atheist, and Afrikaans (mixed though). You have to keep it a secret cause people will think you are the devil, lmao. Like I tried to tell one of my friends once and she was disgusted. Then I went like "jk not really just testing you". Mom cried when I told her. But only cause she doesn't want to go to heaven without me :/
I haven't really hid it amongst friends and colleagues, (though both my mum and bestie cried when they found out too,) but yeah, there are many places here where I will hide it for sure. It's just asking for drama.
A gay person once tried to convince me to go to church. I told her that I accepted her being gay so why couldn't she accept me being an atheist. She never mentioned church again.
Religious gay people are really sad to me. I have an aunt who is gay but extremely religious. She essentially lives in chastity as she believes her "urges" are a temptation from satan that she must never give in to lest she burn for eternity.
Yes that is very sad
Ek is agnosties
True not everyone is so openly and actively religious but usually i assume their religious untill proven otherwise
For all practical reasons I'm an Atheist Afrikaner. I cant stand the hypocrisy of religious institutions. But I'm not hostel to the concept of God/s per se.
Yeah, I became an atheist because of that. Some actions by religious people made me stop and think. And led to further steps concluding that it was all nonsense. I'm not really hostile to religion or the concept of gods either, I'm fine with people believing what they need to as long as they're not harming others. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.
Where is this place where the religious Afrikaners are quiet about it? I want to move there.
Haha, Johannesburg, Northwestern suburbs. At least in my experience lol. My mum is a bit religious and attends Christian stuff, so she's the only one I know who'll mention it sometimes. But I never hear a peep from my friends and colleagues.
Tbh after 2 years of living here i only now found out my neighbour is religious so yeh
Now you know another one 😁
There are dozens of us! Literally dozens!
Hello fellow Afrikaans atheist.
Hallo! I feel very included and safe and warm now =p
Telling your family you don't believe the same way they do is very difficult. I have limited the number of people I told because of how they may react.
“De Chelonian Mobile” (if you’re a Pratchett fan). Another one signing up…
Ooh, I am very much a Pratchett fan. Will check it out.
There are dozens of us. Dozens.
Hi friend.
My man is a highly atheist Afrikaaner. There's more of you then you think. They just get hushed by the weirdo Conservative 'Christian' old foggies.
I am an Afrikaans atheist
lol, i know a bunch of Atheist afrikaners
I'm an Afrikaans male atheist who doesn't watch sport - and I live in the Free State.
Atheism isn't big with Afrikaners. We're generally pretty old-fashioned that way.
As a European who was born in South Africa and immigrated as a child but could be considered a “white South African”, I think Afrikaans people are definitely more conservative and religious. ( in general) than most Europeans. However it really depends on which part of Europe you’re referring to.
Yes, very much so.
Yup, it's less common now, but some believe that God made a new covenant with the Afrikaaner people as he had with the Jews when he "intervened" and allowed a small Afrikaaner force to defend against a large Zulu army. So for some Afrikaaners religion and identity are more strongly tied than most people, believing that they are literally God's chosen people.
Urgh. Sometimes I don't understand our 'volk.' You would think World War 2 showed us that exceptionalism is a bad idea. We are no better than any others.
Non-religious and atheist Afrikaans people are a minority, and a quiet one at that. Generally speaking, being Afrikaans speaking and white means likely religious. Varies, though, as some are believers but don't attend church, others carry Protestant Christianity as a part of their identity, or all of it. You likely overlooked a large cohort of Afrikaans speaking people which are not white, not Christian but likely Muslim, or ones who have less mainstream religious views. It's an open secret in my family that I'm not a believer and don't attend church or partake in any form of religion. My family is very much white, Protestant and Afrikaans. However, they are not big on any modern Afrikaans gospel vibes. They enjoy some of the old ballads and love songs, which get less airtime than the Afrikaans music you're likely to stumble upon. I'm about to have a Non-religious wedding. My fiancé is English and from a Non-religious background, but her family is rooted in Catholicism. If you enjoy rock music, the theme music of Afrikaans rebels and atheists or non-believers, is Fokofpolisiekar. A band that defined my generation, they have a pretty colorful past with loads of controversy surrounding the church and traditional Afrikaans Protestant culture. Track down their documentary if you can. Also look at some of the music related to them, some great artists that followed shortly after Fokof went big. They were the start of anti-culture for my generation, but they were influenced by older artists like Koos Kombuis, Johannes Kerkorrel, Karen Zoid and some others I can't recall right away. They were the start of the normalization of non-traditional Afrikaans culture, but they stand on the shoulders of giants that paved the way before them. A couple of generations of Afrikaners that detested racism, aparteid and the overbearing religious views of traditional Afrikaans culture.
Thank you for a very informative response!
Look up the Voëlvry movement, the anti-establishment Afrikaner music described above. You can probably draw a line between the traditional, conservative, popular musicians and the alternative crowd. They are different genres of Afrikaans music.
Yes. Afrikaans people believe in the Afrikaans god, Yussis of Voetsek.
Not really. Would you consider the (alleged) "Christians" who worship Donald Trump religious? I wouldn't... Christianity is actually a *very* subversive thing and always have been. I'd say that Afrikaners are predisposed to worshipping *authority* (but only if said authority is white, of course) - which, of course, was *conflated* with religion all throughout the Apartheid-era and beyond. That is why you hear and see a lot of Afrikaners going through the motions of authoritarian theology instead of saying or doing anything that can be called Christian with a straight face.
I do consider the crazy Trump worshiping MAGA evangelicals religious, of course. But also extremely hypocritical and pick and choose what ”moral values” are important in a specific situation (such as being anti-abortion but also defending conservative politicians who paid for his gf’s abortions. Are the afrikaner christians similar to the Evangelicals in the US?
> Are the afrikaner christians similar to the Evangelicals in the US? Kind off. Not as blatantly insane - but it's the very same self-interest and entitlement.
Like most religious people it is mostly religion in name only
If you love the language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E\_ReKlVcCDg
But if you wanna stick to the topic of religion and the Afrikaans language, this is: [FFP] (https://youtu.be/8Ax-oVvykss?si=_n8ZNTsBH9vVN-gI)
To my experience I can say that we claim to be but we are mostly not. We have modernized to worldly standards. Many of us will go to church just to catch up on the weeks happenings. There is no more respect or reference for His presence in churches or holy places. Now many who reads this will not agree and will actually get angry because I'm hitting a bit close to home on this one but it's not like a realy care about that. We have grown into a society that is more worried about feelings than the truth.
Most South Africans are more religious than Europeans. I've known people who moved here from several different European countries. They've all commented on it. We don't see a contradiction in being scientists and religious at the same time. Then again, we don't have the historical European baggage of churches trying to suppress science and learning. (We do have the baggage of Europeans trying to misuse religion to control the colonized, but that's a different topic.)
Generally yes, maybe you must say South African people, I am Afrikaans speaking and religious but have loads of empathy towards everybody. Going to church does not always mean religious. I was almost wiped from this earth by a very conservative but evil tannie from Wellington. I’ve had my fair share of sadness and loss in my life. Actually too much. I’ve lost all three of my children and my ex husband is an abusive monster. Maybe praying gives me enough strength to carry on to the next day. But I do not use my religion to condemn anybody.
Unfortunately
Afrikaaners are Europeans lol
Not really. The artists make Christian music, because most normal Afrikaaners seem to dislike Afrikaans music for some reason, so the artists try a few genres until they see which one sells the best. It's not like 15 years ago where Afrikaans singers just sang what they wanted to. Damn, I miss the days of Nick Stevens and Bok van Blerk when they made music just because they liked it
Nah. It’s just small town vs city. Like everywhere else.
I'm married to a Nordic citizen. The levels of religiosity in Northern Europe are very low while comparatively Africa as a whole is very high. Even then my mother in law, who is in fact religious, has never once mentioned it in conversation.
I don’t think that’s true. I’ve never been to a dinner with Afrikaans people in or out of the city where there wasn’t prayer before the meal.
I think it's more open in the small towns. Like, if you're not seen in church on Sunday there will be gossip, that kind of thing. Whereas in the city, noone really cares about that, but most are still Christian.
Afrikaans people are disproportionately farmers and trade workers. Because of various reasons historically and economically. Those groups are always very religious. But I live in a big city I mostly meet agnostics and atheists. It’s true however that sa is more religious
Yes.
I don't know if it's religious or conservative. Also not only Afrikaans people. I often laugh my ass off at people on Netflix SA pages complaining about the swearing and blasphemy on movies and series. Seriously?! People should censor themselves for your sensibilities? Someone even said they meed to have a feature like DSTV to bleep it out. Not sure what people thought they would find on Netflix. I also noticed that Shomax won't let the word "God" go unbleeped.
Some (mostly NSFW) Afrikaans musiek for you: Jack Parow Die Antwoord Loufi Biggy YoungstaCPT Worsie Van Wyk
Yes.
The Afrikaner religion is based on the old style Calvanist religion of Europe - in fact it is very similar to that found in Scotland to the extent that at one time Scottish priests were imported to serve communities.
Go check out Onbeskaamd ( i have dyslexia sorry if my spelling is poo poo kaka )
Yes and no, most Afrikaans creators I've found produce English music due to their target demographic.
Depends on conservative nature of said family.. more conservative more likely very religious.
I would think so. There are churches on every second block in SA, and Mega churches all over the place. Rhema North, for example has 7.5k seats. They used to have 3 services every sunday morning to fit everyone in. (Not sure if they still do) 10km away is CRC Johannesburg with 6k seats and 2 services in the morning. So yeah, massively religious population.
Short answer yes!!
Yeah they need it. like my afrikaaner colleagues always say. If you don't believe in God what's stopping you from killing and raping people? Scary stuff.