As small as Rwanda is, there are more than 6,000 churches?

In a bid to maintain and control the operations of religious community that threaten the lives of followers, the government of Rwanda has closed down about 6,000 churches and 100 mosques in the small East African Country.

The President of Rwanda was shocked by the outrageous number of religious houses in Rwanda, hence the closure. In a report, President Paul Kagame said

“700 churches in Kigali?” “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!”

Most of the religious houses affected were ones that have failed to comply with the building safety standards of the country and some of the pastors of these churches were suspected of growing rich off impoverished followers.

New laws that are expected to be passed soon will require that the church pastors must have a theology degree before they start their own churches so that they can teach their followers the right doctrine.

As mosques too were affected by the closure, actions have been taken by the Muslim community to get their mosques opened. The leader of the country’s Muslim community, Mufti Sheikh Salim Hitimana said

“We are now trying to fix what the Government told us to do,” 

While some christian leaders protested against the closure of the churches, many of the christian leaders have supported the action. According to the President of Evangelical Free Church of Rwanda, the closure was necessary for their safety.

“Government efforts to have churches build better structures are welcome to all of us,” 

OUR THOUGHT

Really, we are not against religious houses opening more brances, but in the case of Rwanda, we think the President took a good step in closing down many of these religious houses, for the good of the followers.

Do you think the President of Rwanda did the right thing by closing down religious houses? ?