ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on religious institutions, the right to freedom of association, whether this fundamental right allows religious organizations to discriminate, and if so, to what extent, with reference to the case of Strydom v. Nederduits Gereformeerde Gemeente Moreleta Park. The right to freedom of association is one of the most fundamental rights in a democratic society and is described as a right that entails a general capacity for citizens to join, without interference by the state, in associations in order to attain various ends. The South African society exhibits a growing multicultural character, which finds expression in a religious pluralism with much more diversity than in the past. In Strydom, the court found that the Dutch Reformed Church unfairly discriminated against a gay music teacher, because the church could not prove that Mr. Strydom was involved in religious instruction. The court found that the church unfairly discriminated against Mr. Johan Strydom.
