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The advertising industry of South Africa (South Africa) is actively exploiting the religiosity of buyers - this is the conclusion of the authors of a study by the marketing company McCann Erickson. According to marketers, religion has ceased to be a taboo for advertisers who do not miss the opportunity to use it to spur sales, Christian Megaportal invictory.org reports with reference to Blagovest-Info.

According to McCann Erickson, today's South Africans are becoming more open about their belonging to one or another religious group, and marketers are adapting their business to this trend.

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, more and more fans are looking for a "Christian hotel" where like-minded people from different countries and business is conducted according to their faith. "Christian hotel in South Africa" ​​is one of the top search queries on religioustraveldirectory.com, says company spokesman Rob van Rooyen.

Mobile operator Cell C offers its subscribers a service for downloading sacred music to their phones, which is very popular among South Americans. Another popular trend in the country is dating sites for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

Two football clubs in the country have formed a joint venture with Christian church Siona is a denomination whose majority of followers live in the poor province of Limpopo. The firm, called ZOK, sells to church members household appliances And Cell phones. Trade is carried out in countryside from mobile vans.

According to van Rooyen, believers are harder to deceive with unfair advertising. "If you want to tie your trademark to religion, advertising must be transparent and honest, otherwise you will not succeed," says the marketer.

Christians make up about 75% of South Africa's 45 million population. Muslims in the country - about 1.5%.

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There is no official religion. According to the 2001 census, about 80% of the population are Christians of various persuasions, with 11.1% of all residents are adherents of the Zionist church, 8.2% are Pentecostals, 7.1% are Catholics, 6.8% are Methodists, 6 .7% - parishioners of the Dutch Reformed Church, 3.8% - Anglicans. 15% of residents adhere to traditional beliefs or profess no religion. Muslims and Hindus account for 1.5 and 1.3% of the population, respectively.

Calvinism became one of the components of the national self-consciousness of the Boers, predetermining such features of politicians and ordinary people like perseverance, resilience in the face of failure, fatalism, moderation and unpretentiousness. On the other hand, he contributed to the formation of the idea of ​​the exclusivity of the emerging people.

The ethnos that arose on the basis of several generations of settlers and refugees was perceived by its representatives as a new “people of the covenant” (by analogy with the ancient Jews who concluded Old Testament with God), chosen for great things. As a result, the mass migrations of Boers in Africa itself ("Great Track"), caused mainly by economic reasons, received a strong ideological justification that strengthened the resolve of the Trekkers, who left the power of the British in the same way that the ancient Jews once left the rule of the Egyptian pharaoh for the Promised Land.

During the apartheid era, the state sponsored churches, seeing them as an important tool for maintaining the "traditional" Afrikaner ethnic group. At the same time, Christianity played a large role in the ideological argumentation of the division of races, reinforcing spontaneous racism (almost inevitable in the contacts of different racial groups) with quotations from Holy Scripture and biblical mythology.

According to many researchers, the myth of the descendants of Ham (“the curse of Canaan”) played an important role in the formation of the racist worldview of Christian Europeans. In the Christian environment, it was believed that the peoples southern countries(including Africans) descended from Ham - one of the sons of Noah, punished by his father for his disrespectful attitude. The curse of Noah, pronounced against Canaan, the son of Ham, doomed him and his offspring to slavery among the brothers, which later became one of the justifications for the Europeans for the African slave trade.

In addition, the images of the Devil and his servants, in the face of a shortage of sufficient detailed descriptions in the Bible, were largely formed under the influence of Holy Tradition and Christian apocrypha, where the forces of Darkness were often identified with the geographical South (including part of Africa, known to the authors these works) and black skin. In the future, this also contributed to the formation of racist stereotypes and the justification of racial inequality.

On the other hand, a significant number of denominations opposed the practice of apartheid. IN recent history In South Africa, religious themes (often in a sectarian interpretation) have become a source of inspiration for Afrikaner right-wing extremists.

The African response to the racist stance of the Dutch Reformed Church, which did not accept black parishioners, and the troubles of the colonial era and the apartheid period, was the creation of Afro-Christian churches, doctrinally different from other Christian denominations and in greater steppes responding to the spiritual aspirations of Africans.

At present, in South Africa, as in many other developing countries, the popularity of Pentecostalism (one of the branches of Christianity) continues to grow, which a number of researchers explain by the presence in this teaching of premises that many Africans associate with progress and success. Pentecostalism assumes a symbolic break with the past at baptism, considers wealth and prosperity to be more charitable than poverty, and actively fights against alcoholism and other social vices. Thus, in the difficult post-reform period, religion again allows a significant part of the country's population to find the goal of life and the strength to achieve it.

Although religious organizations store value as members charitable activities On the whole, it should be recognized that the influence of religion on politics in modern South Africa is much less than during the formation of statehood and apartheid. There are several Christian co-democratic parties in the country, but their role in political process very insignificant.

Former Supreme Hierarch of the Anglican Church in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1996-2001, continues to be considered important figure in South African public politics, although assessments of his activities and the role of the Commission in overcoming the consequences of apartheid are very contradictory.

The junior partner of the Democratic Alliance is the Muslim Party of Africa, which is not very popular in the elections. On the problem of politicized Islam, see the section "External and internal threats to the security of the state."

The situation with traditional African beliefs varies from city to village. In the first, a significant part of the population (especially young people) has already largely westernized, and the influence of religion on lifestyle is mainly manifested in the rudiments of the old worldview (superstitions, etc.), the formal observance of religious norms, etc. The village continues to demonstrate a more consistent approach to traditional beliefs.

An element of traditional culture that still influences the behavior of South Africans is the belief in the destructive power of witchcraft. The most odious manifestation of this belief is the public reprisals against those suspected of witchcraft, which periodically take place in certain settlements.

Complete freedom of religion is legally enshrined.

More than 80% of the population are Christians (the majority are Protestants). The spread of Christianity began in mid. 17th century and is associated with the activities of European missionaries.

The oldest Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa in the country (active among Afrikaners, coloreds, Indians and Bantu). There are affiliated national churches.

The Anglican Church unites the Anglo-South Africans (immigrants from the British Isles). Among the descendants of immigrants from Scotland there are Presbyterians.

There are a number of Christian-African churches that arose in the 1880s on the basis of schismatic movements among the Bantu. About half of Africans adhere to traditional African beliefs (animalism, fetishism, the cult of ancestors, the keepers of the hearth, the forces of nature, etc.).

There is a significant Hindu community.

Judaism is widespread, there are approx. 200 Jewish societies.

Just received another dose of religion. Well, there’s no way I can avoid this, or maybe I can’t miss something so close to my heart.
Each new day brings a new preacher to the subway. I love them. I would only because of them went and went in the second class. Preachers always paint everyday life going to work. But even more I like to observe the reaction of others. What do they think, nodding their heads and listening, or singing along to a preacher with a guitar singing "Hallelujah!" And all the beggars who walk around the cars and sing always sing only religious songs - "Thank you, Father!".
This time, the chosen one was jet-black, a rather young man. He yelled so that it seemed that the glass would not stand. I must say that in all the time I have seen such preachers, no one has ever shut them up. Everyone treats them with great respect. Maybe someone does not listen, but always without aggression. What, by the way, can not be said about them. He ran between the seats, shaking his hands, and all the time it seemed to me that he would attack someone. Including me
- Raise your hand who believes????
Not one hand.
Are there believers in Jesus here? I'm asking you? Is Christ in your heart????
Silence. Everyone sways wearily to the beat of the wheels. Shout, darling, shout, but we love and believe. About myself.
- Find Jesus in your heart!
In general, everyone here is very religious.
On Sundays, life in South Africa dies. Not a single store is open, nothing to get and buy. The streets are deserted and there are no cars. And all why? That's right, go to church. families, in ceremonial clothes, with festive ribbons, everyone flocks to their "God's houses".
We settled in Fishhoek - a small town located on the coast of Folsbey, which is formally considered part of Cape Town. Well, there are so many churches in this tiny place that you can't imagine! Right in front of our window - on the left Catholic Church(Alena, hello!), And on the right is the Anglican.
Yes, this is the view from our window. Every Sunday morning we have the opportunity to hear what is happening.

Behind the palm tree in the top photo is a building with a gray roof - an Anglican church. Here it is in an approximate version below.

Below, on the left photo is the Afrikaans Calvinist Church (a local variation of the Dutch). It's located a few houses away. opposite side from Anglican. In the right photo, the Adventist Church is on the 7th day, it is a block from the left.

A few more houses Presbyterian, a little further Lutheran and many many other churches. Also, between Fishhook and neighboring locality- Kalk Bay is home to the South African Bible Institute. Some Associations, Assemblies, Communities of the Bible or Jesus are scattered all over the Cape. Numerous graffiti, crosses, inscriptions and religious images.
As for us personally, of course we ended up in a "puritan" place. The funny thing is that our Fishhook has a law that prohibits the sale of alcohol here. According to our neighbors, this is the only place in South Africa where the sale of alcohol is prohibited. Once upon a time, a dry law was introduced, since then no one has canceled it. And he doesn't even think. Versions are different - someone claims that, they say, once something happened to some priest, and being very religious and pious people they jointly decided to cancel the sale. Someone claims that a postal route passed here for a long time, and when the "coachmen" watered the horses, they themselves got dead drunk, which interfered with the process. That's how we live. True, recently it was allowed to drink alcohol in drinking establishments. And since alcohol is inexpensive here in restaurants, this has ceased to be a problem for locals.

Sketch from local life. A black flag with a shark on the beach is a sign that swimming is allowed. The probability is very small that these bastards will sail. There are four flags in total - green (not at all), black (saw sow), red (there is a danger, but they are not nearby), white (jump out of the water, she is on the beach)!