By Seif Gracien Hasingizwimana/Kigali,Rwanda,
In ancient Rwanda, belief was practiced through traditional rituals, which involved invoking Ryangombe and practicing ancestor veneration (guterekera), leading towards purity, alongside other practices performed before the arrival of the white people.
Upon arriving in Rwanda, the white people introduced their religious doctrines to Rwandans. At that time, religions and churches were not very numerous; however, over the past 16 years, they have significantly increased. Since ancient times, religions and their leaders were viewed as caretakers of Christians on the path to true righteousness, which made them appear holy and incapable of doing any evil.
Nowadays, conflicts rooted in selfishness and the monopolization of property have emerged within some religions, causing Christians to view them as aimed at draining their resources instead of guiding them on the true, straight path.
Ntagengwa Omar, a Rwandan living on the European continent in Belgium, states that the “Sacred” (Sacre) is the essence of religion and can also exist in different things.
He says: “You can say a tree is Sacred or that river is Sacred. Returning to the problems of religion, when the Sacred is present, people must agree on how to coexist with it because it provides instructions, sets a direction, and outlines prohibitions and commands.”
Ntagengwa Omar states that the Sacred is what religious people have in common, serving as their guiding framework. He says: “Therefore, you cannot mislead my direction, yours, and someone else’s for things to work out. Instead, the problem in religion is not the existence of religions, but rather that religions lose the idea of the Sacred and rely on rituals/traditions.”
He continues to emphasize, saying: “Rituals/traditions—when words transcend myths and symbols, they express those words and manifest the Sacred, showing its physical image. Just as when we talk about a country, we mention the flag, but out of respect for it, we understand that it represents the country; that is what gives it value. The final aspect is rituals. These rituals explain that absent country. Practicing them there explains the country. Religion itself is not the problem; rather, the problem in today’s religions is being deceived and relying on rituals instead of ideas.”
Ntagengwa Omar continues by saying that the idea is good, but people built rituals to practice traditions and established their symbols, like a neck of principles in faith so that it translates into actions. Here, he gives an example of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, saying: “The Genocide was planned together and executed, yet people would kill and then go to pray in mosques, and they would take that word of God and preach it in the church as well. This means we are in rituals that contradict the idea of love upon which we base ourselves, because that is where the problem lies. We want to view religion within the person instead of viewing them through their actions.”
He says: “Even among us Muslims, it happens, and you find people saying so-and-so is religious, they pray (arasali), but they can leave there and exterminate people, steal, or do other things after praying. This means our lifestyle—because rituals are what is visible—is what we have turned into religion. The evil in religion is relying on rituals while abandoning sound ideas.”
Ntagengwa Omar continues to say that religions themselves are not bad, but they cause a problem regarding what others call a higher power or a guiding idea that directs us and gives us a framework. He says: “People have enthroned God but abandoned Him to engage in rituals. That is why you will hear them say so-and-so is a good religious person. If you ask where they see this, they answer that the person attends prayers and sings loudly with rolled-up eyes, yet they can stab you in the back. An example is the wars that occur within religions themselves. Yet, when they are praying, they offer comfort with rolled-up eyes.”
He gives an example of the Anglicans, stating that this religion was founded in the year 1517, and after its establishment, those called Catholics killed Protestants in a war that began in 1525 in France and lasted until the year 1610, fighting and killing Protestants, leaving one wondering what they were killing them for. He says: “An example I can give you is that those who killed them would attend mass, leave with the Priest, and go look for Protestant women who were buried to exhume and rape them, and this was supposedly done after coming out of the church led by a Priest.”
“I can also show you this among Muslims, and in tradition.” He says: “In tradition, we understand that Musinga was an extraordinary person, but do you know the people from Musinga’s side who were killed by those from Mutara’s side? Did that tradition prevent them from killing each other? When we look at the wars of Gatarabuhura and Gahindiro, they were all within the same tradition. Therefore, people, you should be careful. Stop thinking that this religion is the true one and that one is not; leave that aside because if you go into any religion, you will find it has the same problems. I am not speaking about Christians alone because Muslims are also constantly in confrontational wars.”
Omar Ntagengwa also touches upon the Shia religion, stating that it originated when the Sunnis were led by a person named Muawiya in the year 1680, when they killed the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. He says: “Today, when Muhammad (SAW) is mentioned, it means peace and blessings be upon him. If you mistakenly say it is impossible, you are left behind. But those who were with him killed his grandson and killed his children. When someone tells you this, you think it is a joke or something minor. It was after killing him in Karbala that the Shia religion immediately emerged. This, therefore, is a tragedy that initiates a religion, and then people who believe in it are born.”
He says: “What is religion? It is an Opinion de Partage, meaning shared ideas. They tell us, and we immediately believe it; if we gain power, it grows. That power comes from political authority. Without it, there is no single religion on earth that did not originate from an idea.”
Omar Ntagengwa continues to speak about conflicts within religions, stating that everyone feels the religion they pray in is the true one and that the truth is with them, hence whoever is not with them is in error. He says: “So where does the problem lie? It lies in what you were told, and you also feel you must tell it to people, whether gently or by force. When they mistreat you in the name of religion, they do not realize they are mistreating you; instead, they see it as doing you good because they are promoting the true truth that comes from God.”
He says: “Who wouldn’t promote the truth from God to save people, to save those who perish? That is why you hear them say, ‘Come follow the path of life and be saved.’ The way I understand things is the only truth. A Muslim tells you that the accepted religion is Islam, and anyone who does not pray in it is condemned and lost. Catholics also tell you that outside the Church, there is no salvation. Protestants also say, ‘I found salvation,’ meaning I survived. Once you obtain that salvation, you view those who haven’t obtained it accordingly, which is why you spend days roaming the hills saying, ‘Be saved,’ yet being saved is in everyone’s pocket.”
From the time Rwanda gained independence in 1962 until the year 2012, there were no more than 180 registered religions and churches in the country. After a registration system was established, they multiplied greatly, reaching 1,500 by the year 2016; these were the officially registered ones, while there were many others that never registered with the RGB.
In that same year, the City of Kigali alone had 685 religions, with 184 in Nyarugenge, 289 in Gasabo, and 212 in Kicukiro.
It was in the year 2024 that the RGB conducted an audit of over 13,000 churches, which resulted in at least 59.3% of these churches being closed because they did not meet the requirements. Meanwhile, the RGB announced that an audit conducted in February 2025 resulted in 20 religions and churches being stripped of their right to operate in Rwanda.
