Founded in 2010, The Justice Conference, which was held at Spine Road High School in Rocklands this year, is more than a conference – it is a movement that highlights specific and relevant justice issues while providing methods for leaders to do something with that knowledge.
The conference was held on Friday and Saturday October 12 and 13 and conference organisers said the venue was a fitting one because Spine Road High School had a history of tackling social injustice in the education system.
Craig Stewart, from The Justice Conference South Africa, said the conference created a platform to talk at a national level where people wrestle with the topic of justice in the country and communities in a collaborative manner across denominational lines.
“It also seeks to support an audience of faith-based leaders to come to the realisation that justice isn’t a mission.
“Justice is a theological imperative – a way of doing life.
“With Christianity the largest religious movement in South Africa and worldwide, the conference looked at how it links to issues of justice; how it fits in with everyday life; whether there is a theological framework that supports justice work as a Christian and what the role of the church is in dealing with the injustices,” said Mr Stewart.
The two-day conference also tackled real and relevant issues around power (race, gender, and wealth), place (spatial inequality, the environment, and displaced people) and systems (government, education and religion), including gender-based violence, economic inequality, land restitution, environmental degradation, trauma, and the role of religion in maintaining and dismantling injustice.
The line-up of contributors this year included activists, academics, artists, community development workers, church leaders, theologians and practitioners from all walks of life.
Mr Stewart said many of these contributors lived with the reality of injustice or worked within communities marred by its effects. These contexts informed their thinking and praxis of justice.
For more information on The Justice Conference South Africa, call 021 761 1168, email info@thejusticeconference.co.za or log on to www.thejusticeconference.co.za