Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda

by Timothy Longman

• ISBN13: 9780521269537
• ISBN10: 0521269539
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Although Rwanda is among the most Christian countries in Africa, in the 1994 genocide, church buildings became the primary killing grounds. To explain why so many Christians participated in the violence, this book looks at the history of Christian engagement in Rwanda and then turns to a rich body of original national- and local-level research to argue that Rwanda's churches have consistently allied themselves with the state and played ethnic politics. Comparing two local Presbyterian parishes in Kibuye before the genocide demonstrates that progressive forces were seeking to democratize the churches. Just as Hutu politicians used the genocide of Tutsi to assert political power and crush democratic reform, church leaders supported the genocide to secure their own power. The fact that Christianity inspired some Rwandans to oppose the genocide demonstrates that opposition by the churches was possible and might have hindered the violence.

Table of Contents

Introduction

'People came to mass each day to pray, then they went out to kill': Christian churches, civil society, and genocide

'River of Blood'

'Render unto Caesar and Musinga …': Christianity and the colonial state

Churches and the politics of ethnicity

'Working hand in hand': Christian churches and the postcolonial state (1962-1990)

'Giants with feet of clay': the churches and democratization (1990-1992)

'It is the end of the world': Christian churches and genocide (1993-1994)

'God Has Hidden His Face'

Kirinda: local churches and the construction of hegemony

Biguhu: local churches, empowerment of the poor and challenges to hegemony

'Commanded by the devil': Christian involvement in the genocide in Kirinda and Biguhu; Conclusion

Churches and accounting for genocide

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