The Sharpeville massacre in 1960 ( during which the South African police killed 69 black demonstrators protesting against restrictions on their freedom of movement ) ended his support for his church 's political teachings . He began to question the biblical justification of apartheid by the Dutch Reformed Church : " I made an intensive study of the Bible to prove that those justifications were not valid . I concluded that the passages that were being used by the white DRC to justify apartheid were unfounded . In some cases , there was a deliberate distortion in order to prove the unprovable ! " In the three decades after his resignation from the denomination , Naudé 's vocal support for racial reconciliation and equal rights led to upheavals in the Dutch Reformed Church
Sharpeville massacre
Sharpeville massacre
Beyers Naudé