(RNS) Shaped by Methodists, Mandela paid tribute to the role of religion

Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who died Thursday (Dec. 5), had a deep connection with religious institutions.

Mandela was educated, first at Clarkebury and then at Healdtown, Methodist boarding schools that provided a Christian liberal arts education.

“Both were important influences on his life,” said Presiding Bishop Zipho Siwa of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. “Indeed, after his time at Clarkebury, the young Mandela said his horizons had been broadened.”

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, Africa, History, Methodist, Other Churches, Religion & Culture, South Africa

One comment on “(RNS) Shaped by Methodists, Mandela paid tribute to the role of religion

  1. stjohnsrector says:

    To be shaped is one thing. And not to discredit the good he did, but no where have I read he was a man of faith, despite the rush to canonize him by many in the church and the secular media. We know his political party was communist, can we assume that communist doctrine of atheism was his too?