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Do not fill this in! ==Ideology== ===Political views=== ====Anti-apartheid views==== [[File:ApartheidSignEnglishAfrikaans.jpg|thumb|right|Apartheid legislation impacted all areas of life]] Allen stated that the theme running through Tutu's campaigning was that of "democracy, human rights and tolerance, to be achieved by dialogue and accommodation between enemies."{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=374}} Racial equality was a core principle,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=xii}} and his opposition to apartheid was unequivocal.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=157}} Tutu believed that the apartheid system had to be wholly dismantled rather than being reformed in a piecemeal fashion.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=252|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=76}} He compared the apartheid ethos of South Africa's [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] to the ideas of the [[Nazi Party]], and drew comparisons between apartheid policy and the [[Holocaust]]. He noted that whereas the latter was a quicker and more efficient way of exterminating whole populations, the National Party's policy of forcibly relocating black South Africans to areas where they lacked access to food and sanitation had much the same result.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=212}} In his words, "Apartheid is as evil and as vicious as Nazism and Communism."{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=84}} Tutu never became anti-white, in part due to his many positive experiences with white people.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=129}} In his speeches, he stressed that it was apartheid—rather than white people—that was the enemy.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=68}} He promoted racial reconciliation between South Africa's communities, believing that most blacks fundamentally wanted to live in harmony with whites,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=80}} although he stressed that reconciliation would only be possible among equals, after blacks had been given full civil rights.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=100}} He tried to cultivate goodwill from the country's white community, making a point of showing white individuals gratitude when they made concessions to black demands.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=80}} He also spoke to many white audiences, urging them to support his cause, referring to it as the "winning side",{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=161|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=81}} and reminding them that when apartheid had been overthrown, black South Africans would remember who their friends had been.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=186}} When he held public prayers, he always included mention of those who upheld apartheid, such as politicians and police, alongside the system's victims, emphasising his view that all humans were the children of God.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=74}} He stated that "the people who are perpetrators of injury in our land are not sporting horns or tails. They're just ordinary people who are scared. Wouldn't you be scared if you were outnumbered five to one?"{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=191|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=91|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=239}} Tutu was always committed to non-violent activism,{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=243|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=xii}} and in his speeches was also cautious never to threaten or endorse violence, even when he warned that it was a likely outcome of government policy.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=162|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=77}} He nevertheless described himself as a "man of peace" rather than a [[pacifism|pacifist]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=77|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=212}} He, for instance, accepted that violence had been necessary to stop Nazism.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=77}} In the South African situation, he criticised the use of violence by both the government and anti-apartheid groups, although he was also critical of white South Africans who would only condemn the use of violence by the latter, regarding such a position as a case of a double standard.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=77}} To end apartheid, he advocated foreign economic pressure be put on South Africa.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=77}} To critics who claimed that this measure would only cause further hardship for impoverished black South Africans, he responded that said communities were already experiencing significant hardship and that it would be better if they were "suffering with a purpose".{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=160|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=90}} During the apartheid period, he criticised the black leaders of the Bantustans, describing them as "largely corrupt men looking after their own interests, lining their pockets";{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=168}} Buthelezi, the leader of the Zulu Bantustan, privately claimed that there was "something radically wrong" with Tutu's personality.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=265}} In the 1980s, Tutu also condemned Western political leaders, namely Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and West Germany's [[Helmut Kohl]], for retaining links with the South African government, stipulating that "support of this racist policy is racist".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=257}} Regarding Reagan, he stated that although he once thought him a "crypto-racist" for his soft stance on the National Party administration, he would "say now that he is a racist pure and simple".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=255}} He and his wife boycotted a lecture given at the Federal Theological Institute by former British Prime Minister [[Alec Douglas-Home]] in the 1960s; Tutu noted that they did so because Britain's [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] had "behaved abominably over issues which touched our hearts most nearly".{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=77|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=105}} Later in life, he also spoke out against various African leaders, for instance describing Zimbabwe's [[Robert Mugabe]] as the "caricature of an African dictator", who had "gone bonkers in a big way".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=377}} ====Broader political views==== According to Du Boulay, "Tutu's politics spring directly and inevitably from his Christianity."{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=164}} He believed that it was the duty of Christians to oppose unjust laws,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=75}} and that there could be no separation between the religious and the political just as—according to Anglican theology—there is no separation between the spiritual realm (the [[Holy Ghost]]) and the material one ([[Jesus Christ]]).{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=87}} However, he was adamant that he was not personally a politician.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=164}} He felt that religious leaders like himself should stay outside of party politics, citing the example of [[Abel Muzorewa]] in Zimbabwe, [[Makarios III]] in Cyprus, and [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] in Iran as examples in which such crossovers proved problematic.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=164|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=206}} He tried to avoid alignment with any particular political party; in the 1980s, for instance, he signed a plea urging anti-apartheid activists in the United States to support both the ANC and the [[Pan Africanist Congress of Azania|Pan Africanist Congress]] (PAC).{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=206–207}} Du Boulay, however, noted that Tutu was "most at home" with the UDF umbrella organisation,{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=234}} and that his views on a multi-racial alliance against apartheid placed him closer to the approach of the ANC and UDF than the blacks-only approach favoured by the PAC and Black Consciousness groups like [[AZAPO]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}} When, in the late 1980s, there were suggestions that he should take political office, he rejected the idea.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=125}} [[File:Desmond tutu wef.jpg|thumb|left|Tutu at the [[World Economic Forum]] in 2009]] When pressed to describe his ideological position, Tutu described himself as a [[socialist]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}} In 1986, he related that "[a]ll my experiences with [[capitalism]], I'm afraid, have indicated that it encourages some of the worst features in people. Eat or be eaten. It is underlined by the survival of the fittest. I can't buy that. I mean, maybe it's the awful face of capitalism, but I haven't seen the other face."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Earley, Pete |date=16 February 1986 |title=Desmond Tutu |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1986/02/16/desmond-tutu/3fc3da7f-4926-44cf-896a-5d1bf7f00206/ |access-date=13 October 2017}}</ref> Also in the 1980s, he was reported as saying that "apartheid has given free enterprise a bad name".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=248}} While identifying with socialism, he opposed forms of socialism like [[Marxism–Leninism]] which promoted communism, being critical of Marxism–Leninism's promotion of [[atheism]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}} Tutu often used the aphorism that "African communism" is an oxymoron because—in his view—Africans are intrinsically spiritual and this conflicts with the atheistic nature of Marxism.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=66}} He was critical of the Marxist–Leninist governments in the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Eastern Bloc]], comparing the way that they treated their populations with the way that the National Party treated South Africans.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=212}} In 1985, he stated that he hated Marxism–Leninism "with every fiber of my being" although sought to explain why black South Africans turned to it as an ally: "when you are in a dungeon and a hand is stretched out to free you, you do not ask for the pedigree of the hand owner."{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=237|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=107}} Nelson Mandela had foregrounded the idea of ''[[Ubuntu theology|Ubuntu]]'' as being of importance to South Africa's political framework.{{sfn|Sampson|2011|p=10}} In 1986, Tutu had defined Ubuntu: "It refers to gentleness, to compassion, to hospitality, to openness to others, to vulnerability, to be available to others and to know that you are bound up with them in the bundle of life."{{sfn|Sampson|2011|p=10}} Reflecting this view of ubuntu, Tutu was fond of the Xhosa saying that "a person is a person through other persons".{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=114}} ===Theology=== [[File:Desmond Tutu - Kirchentag Cologne 2007 (7137).jpg|thumb|right|Tutu in Cologne in 2007]] Tutu was attracted to [[Anglicanism]] because of what he saw as its tolerance and inclusiveness, its appeal to reason alongside [[scripture]] and tradition, and the freedom that its constituent churches had from any centralized authority.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=373}} Tutu's approach to Anglicanism has been characterised as having been [[Anglo-Catholicism|Anglo-Catholic]] in nature.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=239–240}} He regarded the Anglican Communion as a family, replete with its internal squabbles.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=259|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=373}} Tutu rejected the idea that any particular variant of theology was universally applicable, instead maintaining that all understandings of God had to be "contextual" in relating to the socio-cultural conditions in which they existed.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=116|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=135}} In the 1970s, Tutu became an advocate of both [[black theology]] and [[African theology]], seeking ways to fuse the two schools of Christian theological thought.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=136, 137}} Unlike other theologians, like [[John Mbiti]], who saw the traditions as largely incompatible, Tutu emphasised the similarities between the two.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=115}} He believed that both theological approaches had arisen in contexts where black humanity had been defined in terms of white norms and values, in societies where "to be really human", the black man "had to see himself and to be seen as a chocolate coloured white man".{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=116}} He also argued that both black and African theology shared a repudiation of the supremacy of Western values.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=116}} In doing so he spoke of an underlying unity of Africans and the [[African diaspora]], stating that "All of us are bound to Mother Africa by invisible but tenacious bonds. She has nurtured the deepest things in us blacks."{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=115}} He became, according to Du Boulay, "one of the most eloquent and persuasive communicators" of black theology.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=87}} He expressed his views on theology largely through sermons and addresses rather than in extended academic treatises.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=87}} Tutu expressed the view that Western theology sought answers to questions that Africans were not asking.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=135–136}} For Tutu, two major questions were being posed by [[African Christianity]]; how to replace imported Christian expressions of faith with something authentically African, and how to liberate people from bondage.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=136}} He believed that there were many comparisons to be made between contemporary African understandings of God and those featured in the [[Old Testament]].{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=137}} He nevertheless criticised African theology for failing to sufficiently address contemporary societal problems, and suggested that to correct this it should learn from the black theology tradition.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=116}} When chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Tutu advocated an explicitly Christian model of reconciliation, as part of which he believed that South Africans had to face up to the damages that they had caused and accept the consequences of their actions.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=342}} As part of this, he believed that the perpetrators and beneficiaries of apartheid must admit to their actions but that the system's victims should respond generously, stating that it was a "gospel imperative" to forgive.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=342}} At the same time, he argued that those responsible had to display true repentance in the form of restitution.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=342}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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