In a crackdown, Rwanda has shut down greater than 5,600 places of worship over failure to satisfy the conditions required for operation.
Churches, mosques, caves and tents affected by the shutdown were found to have fallen in need of the usual requirements set by 2018 laws, in line with officials conducting the two-week process that began July 29.
The law requires clerics to have theology degrees, and faith organizations to register with the federal government and have clear statements indicating their doctrine. The statements needs to be deposited with the Rwanda Governance Board, the federal government agency that registers houses of worship and other civil society organizations. Houses of worship must also pass safety and hygiene codes.
“I believe what was introduced — not today but five years ago — is nice for the church. The government gave us five years to comply and kept giving us reminders. That ended last 12 months in September,” Anglican Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda told Religion News Service in a telephone interview.
“I believe this was enough time to comply. We need to take a look at this from a positive side.”
The Rwanda Governance Board introduced the principles and standards to tame what officials viewed as an unregulated proliferation of churches.
Mbanda said the principles were good for the development of congregations and the people’s worship environment.
“We are talking about aeration, sound control … toilets for men and ladies,” said Mbanda. “I believe there’s nothing out of the extraordinary about these.”
Most affected by the shutdowns were small Pentecostal churches and a few mosques, reportedly operating on riverbanks and in caves. Many of those had no address, and in line with some claims, were liable to indoctrinating their followers and exploiting congregants.
“I believe most individuals agree with this. There needs to be training of clergy, order and sanity within the churches’ operation, in order that religion serves its purpose,” the Rev. Innocent Halerimana Maganya, a Congolese Catholic priest at Tangaza University in Nairobi, told RNS. “In the present state of affairs, it’s the poor who’re suffering exploitation.”
Rwanda — an East African country with 12 million people — is essentially Christian. According to the 2022 census, about 48% of its residents are Protestants, however the Roman Catholic Church forms the most important single denomination, with 40% of the population identifying as such.
The country, roughly the dimensions of the U.S. state of Maryland, had 15,000 churches in 2019, in line with official figures. Only 700 were legally registered on the time.
After the 1994 genocide, which killed an estimated 800,000 people, mostly members of the Tutsi ethnic group and a few moderate Hutus, the country’s churches were widely accused of complicity within the violence. Some of the churches were sites of massacre where fleeing civilians had sought refuge. Priests and pastors faced accusations of killing or aiding the murders.
Later, a few of the clerics faced charges of crimes against humanity on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in the town of Arusha, in neighboring Tanzania.
Paul Kagame, now Rwanda’s president, after which the overall hailed for stopping the killings, has often raised concerns over the proliferation of churches.
In August last 12 months, Kagame threatened to arrest Catholic pilgrims visiting sites within the country, accusing them of worshipping poverty. He voiced a priority that many young people were spending more time praying at prayer sites than working to finish their impoverishment.
“No one must worship poverty. Do not ever try this again. … If I ever hear about this again, that individuals travelled to go and worship poverty, I’ll bring trucks and round them up and imprison them, and only release them when the poverty mentality has left them,” Kagame, a Catholic, was quoted within the press as saying recently.
Some critics fear the federal government is infringing on people’s freedom of worship, but clerics and officials say it’s concerning the safety and protection of worshippers.
“Rwanda has freedom of worship,” said Mbanda. “I believe we’re starting churches where they shouldn’t be. Sometimes we’re having church structures that a god cannot live in, let alone an individual.”
The archbishop also highlighted the rise of unlicensed preachers, cautioning that some were taking their followers to dangerous caves, rivers and forests for prayers and retreats.
At the identical time, Rwanda’s approach to regulating religious groups is influencing motion across the East African region.
In Kenya, a task force formed to research the recent Shakahola starvation massacre within the coastal region has really useful the formation of a Religious Affairs Commission, renewed registration of all religious organizations and the establishment of educational standards for religious leaders, amongst other actions.
© Religion News Service
