FROM THE EDITOR

• B C Lategan Stellenbosch University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7833/18-0-1938

Abstract

In a polarized South Africa, the divisive forces which ae straining the fabric of society and threaten to tear it apart, are all too apparent. In such a situation, the search for common values becomes an important undertaking, not only to serve as a rallying point, but, more importantly, to find a sound enough basis on which to develop a new south Africa.In this issue, the findings of the comprehensive research project of the Human Sciences Research Council into intergroup relations and especially the findings of the report on religion, are critically assessed from different angles. Does there exist, in a country where 78% of its population (nominally at least) professes to be Christians, a strong and broad enough basis of shared values on which a stable future can be built?The various contributions try to answer this question from different perspectives, looking at the relation between values and basic human rights; at the role of values in the process of constitutional reform; at an African assessment of basic human values; and finally, at the implications for pastoral counselling in a time of transition and crisis.