Dictator Paul Kagame wages war against God: Kagame closes over 6000 Pentecostal churches, Says Pastors Must Be Holders Of Degree In Theology Before They Can Practice : Rwanda does not need many churches: How comes no catholic church was closed???

 

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame Closes Down 6000 Churches, Says Pastors Must Be Holders Of Degree In Theology Before They Can Practice

https://www.ghanacelebrities.com/2018/04/25/rwandan-president-paul-kagame-closes-6000-churches-says-pastors-must-holders-degree-theology-can-practice/

 President of the Republic of Rwanda, Mr Paul Kagame has closed down over six thousand (6000) churches in Rwanda.

 According to the Mr Kagame, these closed down churches were being led by fake, dimwits, and uneducated people who called themselves men of God with the aim of deceiving people for their money.

 He, therefore, took to his Twitter and posted; “I have closed down 6000 churches in my country and I now demand a degree in theology for every religious leader.

 

Pres Kagame cracks down on churches and mosques to better regulate the religious sector

https://thisisafrica.me/kagame-close-churches-mosques/

By Kylie Kiunguyu on April 26, 2018 — Authorities have in the span of two months closed more than 6,000 churches and 100 mosques across Rwanda, including 714 in the capital city of Kigali, for failure to comply with health, safety, and noise regulations. The closures have been met with mixed reactions as human rights groups have long accused Pres Kagame's government of clamping down on freedom of expression. 

Rwanda’s government has made it a priority to close thousands of churches and dozens of mosques as a way to assert more control on the religious community. Authorities say the churches and mosques’ often makeshift operations have threatened the lives of followers.



At the March National Leadership retreat in Gabiro, President Paul Kagame expressed his concerns saying he was shocked by the high number of churches in the small country. “700 churches in Kigali?” he said of houses of worship. “Are these boreholes [deep wells] that give people water? I don’t think we have as many boreholes. Do we even have as many factories? This has been a mess!”
The closures have been met with mixed reactions as human rights groups have long accused President Kagame’s government of clamping down on freedom of expression. However, the government has defended the move explaining that aside from safety it also aims to tighten rules on registration and the functions of churches thus reducing the numerous fraud cases against religious leaders who take advantage of their impoverished followers.

Read: Zimbabwe’s church tax: VP says “Churches should only pay tithes to God”

Anastase Shyaka, the head of the Rwanda Governance Board that regulates faith-based organisations said in a statement that, “Prayer houses were found in such poor physical conditions, and we are not targeting any religion. We are closing prayer houses of all different denominations and asking them to meet existing health and safety standards for their followers.”

Supporting legislation
The President of the private Rwanda Religious Leaders Forum, Alexis Nkurunziza said in a  separate statement that, there is proposed legislation which aims to regulate faith-based organisations separately from civil society organisations.

Rwamagana Church in Rwanda photo credit Wikimedia Commons

The existing law on civil society organisations permit Rwandans to open churches and register after a period of months and doesn’t require pastors to go through any training. By contrast this new legislation would require pastors and church leaders to have degrees in theology to ensure they not only teach the proper doctrine but also minimise the number of hacks who claim to have received a calling to deliver the word.

Another requirement for churches is the installation of lightning rods following a lightning accident earlier this year that killed 16 worshipers and injured 140 at a Seventh – Day Adventist church in the country’s southern region. Houses of worship must also have government certification that building requirements such as adequate plumbing and parking have been met.

Read: Lagos shuts 22 churches and mosques over noisy worship
Justus Kangwagye, a Rwanda Governance Board official who oversees faith-based organisations, said to Christianity today that the government is not trying to permanently close the churches but is merely doing its due diligence. “Freedom of worship does not mean you keep churchgoers in a substandard church that is likely to fall,” he said.

Across religions
Mosques across Rwanda have also been affected by closures. Mufti Sheikh Salim Hitimana, the leader of the country’s Muslim community said that approximately 100 mosques have been closed.
“We are now trying to fix what the Government told us to do,” he said to AP.

 

Rwanda Weeds the Church Plants

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/may/rwanda-church-closures-weeding-church-plants.html 

Thousands of churches closed in attempt to curb bad buildings—and bad preaching.

Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali| April 20, 2018

 uthorities have closed more than 7,000 churches across Rwanda, including 714 in the capital city of Kigali, in the span of two months for failing to comply with health, safety, and noise regulations.

Underscoring the seriousness of the campaign, a lightning strike killed 16 worshipers and injured 140 at a Seventh-day Adventist church that had not installed a mandated lightning rod.

Lawmakers are now debating new regulations in an attempt to prevent fraudulent behavior among the East African nation’s mushrooming churches.

President Paul Kagame welcomed the shutdowns but was stunned at the scale: “700 churches in Kigali?” he said during a government dialogue in March. “Are these boreholes that give people water? I don’t think we have as many boreholes. Do we even have as many factories? This has been a mess!”

Kagame said his country doesn’t need so many houses of worship, explaining that such a high number is only fit for bigger, more developed economies that have the means to sustain them.

Many church leaders disagree, and six Pentecostal pastors were arrested for organizing protests. Rwandan authorities maintain the churches were in such poor physical condition that they threatened the lives of churchgoers.

The majority are small Pentecostal gatherings. Many are shepherded by charismatic preachers who draw followers with promises of signs and wonders. Often, such churches meet in houses, tents, or crude structures that lack adequate water systems. They often blast sermons down streets through megaphones and loudspeakers.

The existing law on civil society organizations permits Rwandans to open churches and register after a period of months and doesn’t require pastors to go through ...

Pope begs God's forgiveness for Church sins in Rwanda genocide

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4331466/Pope-begs-Gods-forgiveness-Church-sins-Rwanda-genocide.html

 

By Afp

Published: 13:13 BST, 20 March 2017 | Updated: 23:38 BST, 20 March 2017 

Pope Francis on Monday begged for God's forgiveness for "the sins and failings of the Church and its members" implicated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed around 800,000 people.
The pontiff "conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the genocide against the Tutsi," the Vatican said in a statement after a meeting between Francis and the Rwanda President Paul Kagame.
"He implored anew God's forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom priests and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission," it said.
Francis's pardon plea followed a request from Rwanda in November for the church to apologise for its role in the massacres.
Since the genocide, whose victims were mostly from the Tutsi minority, the Catholic Church has been accused of being close to the Hutu extremist regime in power in 1994.
A number of churches became scenes of mass killings as Hutu militiamen found people seeking refuge in them, sometimes turned over by priests, with no way out.
- 'Renewed trust' -
Francis, 80, said he hoped "this humble recognition of the failings of that period, which, unfortunately, disfigured the face of the Church, may contribute to a 'purification of memory'" and promote "renewed trust".
Several Catholic priests as well as nuns and brothers were charged with participating in the genocide and tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and by a Belgian court, leading to some convictions while others were acquitted.
The highest-ranking Church official to be tried for genocide was the late bishop Augustin Misago, who was acquitted and freed from prison in June 2000.
During the 20th anniversary commemorations in April 2014, Kagame accused the Catholic Church of having "participated fully" in establishing the colonial ideology that created the divide between Hutus and Tutsis, which he claimed led to the genocide.
In November, a letter of apology signed by the bishops representing the nine dioceses in Rwanda was read in all churches.
But the Rwandan government said the local apology was not sufficient considering the crimes committed.
Jean-Pierre Dusingizemungu, head of the Ibuka survivors group, called the pope's words a "giant step taken by the church" that would "help us fight the negationism and ideology of genocide".
- 'Shielded from justice' -
Rwanda Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, who accompanied Kagame to the Vatican, said Monday's meeting was held in "a spirit of openness and mutual respect".
The Catholic Church is "facilitating" efforts to help survivors and repentant perpetrators live and work side by side, she said.
But the minister said that there were those in the church who were still protecting genocide perpetrators.
"Today, genocide denial and trivialisation continue to flourish in certain groups within the Church and genocide suspects have been shielded from justice within Catholic institutions," she said.
About half of Rwandans are Catholic, but since the genocide many have turned to pentecostal churches.
"The pope's gesture is a way for him to put back into play a Rwandan Catholic Church effectively discredited" by the scandal, wrote Nicolas Seneze, the Rome correspondent for the French daily La Croix.

 

Kagame closes 6000 churches for robbing flock

http://edge.ug/2018/04/25/kagame-closes-6000-churches-for-robbing-flock/

ByOur Reporter

-

April 25, 2018

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has closed down 6000 churches and arrested nine pastors for alleged subversion.

According to military intelligence, the churches were being operated by retired soldiers and most of the pastor who are ex-soldiers [including a retired colonel] were connected to Ugandan pastors who President Museveni controls directly.
“So the onslaught on churches was because of they have connections with Uganda,” a source said.
“Seven hundred churches in Kigali? Are these boreholes that give people water?” asked Kagame when he heard that more than 700 churches had been closed down by authorities.
“I don’t think we have as many boreholes. Do we even have as many factories? But 700 churches, which you even had to close? This has been a mess!”
The closure this week by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) was meant to tighten rules on registration and functioning of churches in the country in the face of rising cases of fraud and security concerns.
Religious and rights groups said the closure amounts to infringement on the right to worship, but the government says the crackdown is timely, in the face of thousands of mushrooming churches in the largely Christian country.
Kagame, while officiating at the closure of a four-day national leadership retreat on Thursday, commented on the ongoing operation saying that he was surprised by the large number of churches.
He pointed out that had there been proper planning, the situation would not have got to a level where the government has to close churches.
He said that Rwanda has not reached a level where it needs all these churches, noting that such a big number of churches is suitable in bigger and developed economies that have the means and systems to sustain them –which is one of the two scenarios such a development can be explained.
“The second scenario is that you will find such a mess [of churches] in societies which have nothing like ours for different reasons. In Rwanda and Africa, there are those who want to see us in such chaos. When authorities intervene and stop them, they lament that it is a human rights abuse. People should have a right to worship in whatever church, they say,” said Kagame.
He however said that Rwandans do not have the luxury and means to sustain such churches, supporting the move to shut them down.
The heads of Pentecostal churches which are the most affected have lamented the decision to close churches, which they said was hastily implemented.
“We needed more time to put things in order and later an inspection would determine which churches to close,” said Bishop Liliane Mukabadege of Mountain of Hope, pointing out that some of the closed churches can meet the standards given a grace period.