Study On Christianity And The Rwanda Genocide

Landlocked in Africa,there is a small country called Rwanda,which is called the "land of thousands of hills" because of its hilly land.Rwanda is small but beautiful.Yet Rwanda is often associated not with its beauty but with genocide.In 1994,while the world rejoiced at the birth of a new South Africa,the appalling "genocide" in Rwanda took place.In just 100 days,nearly one million people were killed,and more than two million were displaced as refugees.This is another human tragedy of the 20 th century.This tragedy has complex factors,also has a wide and far-reaching impact.There is a strong connection between Christianity and the genocide.On the one hand,Christianity was an important factor in the genocide.The concept of racism,introduced by European missionaries during the colonial period and instilled in churches and mission schools,was gradually accepted by Rwandans.The Christian church became involved in the racial politics of the colonial government.First,there is the division of Rwandans into ethnic groups,and the Rwandans are mainly divided into ethnic hutus and tutsis.Second,they strongly supported the tutsis to suppress and rule the hutus.On the eve of Rwanda’s independence,the Christian church changed its position from supporting tutsis to supporting hutus,which intensified the contradiction between the two ethnic groups and led the two solidified ethnic groups to the road of constant conflicts.After independence,the Christian church continued to influence ethnic politics through alliances with the first and second republics of hutu,and there were power struggles within the church based on ethnic divisions.In addition,the inaction of the Christian church in the civil war and its indifference to violence,together with the previous historical activities of the church,constituted an important factor in the occurrence of the genocide.The Christian church played a complex role in the genocide.Although the church played a role in fighting and rescuing the genocide,its main role was as a participant.On the other hand,theIV occurrence of the genocide also had a profound impact on Rwandan Christianity.Itmade the relationship between politics and religion,the development of the church and the role of the church changed greatly after the genocide.In terms of the relationship between politics and religion,after the genocide,the new government that took over Rwanda tried to get rid of the influence of the Christian church on politics and public policies,advocated freedom of religious belief,and implemented the policy of separating politics from religion.In terms of church development,the Catholic church was increasingly questioned and criticized for its involvement in the genocide,and its power was greatly weakened.However,the "new" church brought by refugees from all over the country took the opportunity to flourish.At the same time,Islam also took advantage of this opportunity to rapidly expand its development space,with more and more converts and more and more influential followers.In terms of social role,the Christian church has changed its role,played a public role and actively participated in the process of national reconciliation in Rwanda.Against all odds,some achievements have been made.This paper focuses on the relationship between Christianity and the genocide,and mainly discusses the following three aspects: first,what are the characteristics of the development of Christianity before,during and after the Rwandan genocide?Therefore,the Rwandan genocide is taken as a time node to analyze the development process of Christianity in different periods in Rwanda.Second,does the outbreak of the genocide have anything to do with the Christian church? What role did the church play during the genocide? Although the church was not the direct cause of the genocide,it also contributed to it.During the genocide,the role of the church was also complicated.On the one hand,many missionaries risked their lives to actively help the victims,but on the other hand,they were more likely to act as accomplices.Third,how did Christianity develop after the genocide? This mainly studies the development of Christianity in Rwanda after the genocide,and discusses the role of the church in the important historical process of Rwanda,namely national reconciliation.Based on this,this paper takes Rwanda as a case and materials to further explore the interactive influence of religion,politics and social development,and dual role of religion.