CRL HAS DECLARED THE CHURCH A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT

How the CRL Helped Place Churches on South Africa’s Security Watchlist

A Concerning Development for Religious Freedom in South Africa

The National Security Strategy (2024–2028), released in July 2025, includes a deeply troubling classification that should alarm every Christian and every defender of constitutional rights in South Africa. Within the section outlining domestic security threats, the document explicitly references the CRL Rights Commission’s report on Christian churches and places churches within a framework of national security concern.

The document cites the CRL’s 2017 report and claims:

“The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) in 2017 confirmed allegations of the mushrooming of charismatic churches commercialising religion and exploiting people’s belief systems… There are gross unethical practices among churches in South Africa...”

That language is now embedded inside our national security strategy alongside terrorism, gang crime, cyber-attacks and violent extremism.

Let that sink in:The State has placed the Church in the same category as criminals and terrorists.

The National Security Strategy lists domestic threats such as:

• radicalisation

• violent extremism

• lawlessness and disregard for state authority

• influence over communities that may provoke public order concerns

The Church Under Under Surveillance

Shockingly, the CRL’s categorisation of churches is placed within this same threat narrative.

This means that faith-based activities; evangelism, church expansion, public gatherings, and independent religious governance, are being interpreted through a security and policing lens rather than a constitutional rights lens.

This marks a dramatic policy shift:

From: Protecting religious rights

To: Monitoring churches as potential security risks

The CRL Rights Commission has successfully repositioned the Church inside the heart of national security strategy — a dangerous precedent with serious implications.

If the Church is now treated as a State-monitored risk, what comes next?

• Registration requirements?

• Sermon licensing?

• State regulation of belief?

• Criminalisation of spiritual leaders?

Why This Matters

Labeling churches as a security concern has serious consequences:

What the Constitution Protects	What the National Security Strategy Now Suggests
Churches are independent and free to govern themselves	Churches require growing State supervision
Faith is a civic benefit	Faith can be a destabilizing threat
Ministry is a protected expression	Ministry can be treated as a risk factor
Religious reform comes from believers	Religious governance comes from the State

Who Is Framed as “Dangerous”?

The National Security Strategy makes no distinction between:

• established denominations

• new charismatic ministries

• independent and fast-growing churches

  
  

All are lumped together under suspicion of:

➡Exploiting belief systems

➡Undermining state authority

➡Potentially inciting social instability

This broad stroke legitimizes surveillance and intervention without legal due process.

We See the Strategy Clearly

This subtle shift might look harmless today.But history is very clear:

Persecution always starts with “classification”.

• First: suspicion

• Second: monitoring

• Third: regulation

• Finally: restriction of worship

South Africa cannot allow such a dangerous path to form.

The CRL Rights Commission — From Protector to Policeman?

The CRL Rights Commission was created to:

• Defend religious freedom

• Promote cultural and spiritual expression

• Protect vulnerable communities from genuine harm

  
  

But instead, through its actions and influence:

❌ It has painted the entire Church with the crimes of a few

❌ It has positioned itself as an overseer of doctrine and governance

❌ It has inserted religion into national security intelligence

This shifts the Commission away from a partner of faith groups toward a regulator of faith itself.

That is not what the Constitution intended.

The Church Is a Foundation of National Stability

Far from being a threat, churches provide:

• Social cohesion where the State cannot

• Hope and community in crisis

• Charity and relief during poverty and disaster

• Moral education that builds responsible citizens

• Support for mental and family wellbeing

• Leadership development for the youth

• Violence prevention through transformation of lives

These are precisely the areas where the Church serves daily.

To target the Church is to weaken one of the strongest social stabilizers in our nation.

We Must Ask the Hard Questions

• Why is the Church being heard in security discussions as a threat, not a stakeholder

• Who benefits when the prophetic voice of the Church is silenced?

• Why are we ignoring the Constitution, but empowering the CRL Rights Commission?

• Why is the Church being grouped with violent extremists instead of the true causes of instability?

  
  

South Africa must vigorously defend constitutional rights or risk sliding into a future where faith itself is portrayed as a threat to democracy rather than a foundation of it.