The Churches and Ethnic Ideology in the Rwandan Crises 1900-1994To many observers, Rwanda was a colony of the White Fathers. That Roman Catholic religious order, created in Algiers in 1868 by Cardinal Lavigerie, evangelized the country from 1900 onwards, effectively becoming the state church. To maintain its domination, the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy supported the theory of the so-called "hamite supremacy" by selecting, educating, and establishing an elite among one of the three Rwandan social groups, the Batutsi, who were given the monopoly of power. Frustrations and recriminations that resulted from this injustice and its accompanying exclusion of other groups from power, led to the bloodshed of the uprisings of the 1959 revolution that preceded independence in 1962. Then, in 1959, the Roman Catholic Church abandoned the Batutsi in favour of the Bahutu majority. From 1973 to 1994, both Catholic and Protestant leaders entered into close political relations with the regime of the MRND (Mouvement Revolutionnaire National pour le Developpement), which alienated them from the people of Rwanda when human rights abuses were widespread, culminating in the war in 1990 and the genocide of 1994. If the church's mission remains that of teaching and evidencing love, justice and righteousness (Micah 6:8), there is the need for it to recover its credibility so that it can play its part in the healing and reconciliation of the country, and this can only be done through its confession and repentance of it failures and complicity in the tragedies. |
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The Churches and Ethnic Ideology in the Rwandan Crises, 1900-1994 Tharcisse Gatwa Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
According administration African army attack authorities Bahutu Batutsi Batwa became Belgian bishops Burundi called Catholic central chiefs Christian church church leaders clans colonial confession considered created cultural described Dialogue domination elite ethnic existed fact factors Father force former genocide German Habyarimana Hamite hand hierarchy human human rights Hutu identity ideology influence initiative institutions issue justice Kabgayi Kigali killed king later leaders lived major March massacres Minister mission missionaries monarch MRND myth Office opposition organization Paris participated particular party peace period person political population position present President promoting Protestant question race reconciliation referred refugees regard regime region relations religious remained repentance responsibility role RTLM ruling Rwanda schools shows social society studies suffering theory traditional tragedy Tutsi victims violence