Religious leaders have been urged to preach to their congregations Pan-Africanist sermons, which resonate with the needs and aspirations of Rwandans and Africans in general. According to Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana, for so long, Christians were made to believe that the rich will never inherit the Kingdom of God—which he believes was the deliberate misinterpretation of the gospel by missionaries – to Africans during the colonial era. He was speaking Wednesday at a seminar that explored the role of religion in promoting pan African movement, which was organised as part of the weeklong activities organised to celebrate the Africa Day. The events are organised by the Pan African Movement - Rwanda Chapter (PAM-Rwanda). Rucyahana said that when Jesus said to his disciples that it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” he wanted to mean that the rich who won’t be generous enough to give to the poor will face it rough when the judgement day comes. But not entirely to mean that rich people are evil, he said. “We should instead preach to the masses that being rich and helping our needy neighbours is all that Africa needs to promote inclusive economic growth. Why tell people that the rich will not go to heaven and encourage laziness among believers? Such was introduced by missionaries to keep Africans poor and we must change that,” Rucyahana said. He added; “religion should not be a hindrance to social-economic transformation of our people; having food in the house, good roads, schools and healthcare facilities should not be religious-motivated. Anything that divides us as people will always bring us down”. PAM-Rwanda is an Organization whose mission is to transform Rwandans’ mindsets and institutions to reflect the continental Agenda 2063 and to promote dignity and solidarity of Africans. “It is so unfortunate that we get to hear of religious conflicts in some of our African countries. Muslims killing Christians or Christians killing Muslims; these are some of the things that have impeded our progress,” Rucyahana added. Sheikh Daudi Bishokaninkindi, a Muslim cleric said that mindset change of by religious leaders will go a long way in inspiring their believers to strive for prosperity. “It is very important that everyone recognises the need to change our mindset. We must not settle for less because everything good started from Africa. Even history tells us that civilization started from Africa; we have all the resources needed to make us the global powerhouse and I believe religion has a big role to change the narrative,” Bishokaninkindi. His comments were echoed by Spacy Mbabazi, a female Pastor at Good Shepherd Church. She said that for so long, religious institutions had sidelined women from taking leadership positions which she thinks is the patriarchal system that is partly to blame for Africa’s problems. “There is a patriarchy even in religion where women were not allowed to have a say on what on religious matters. This system strongly affected how Africans think and do their things. We can’t build the Africa we want when there some of those seemingly minor but rather important issues to address,” Mbabazi said. The Chairman of PAM-Rwanda, Protais Musoni noted that African churches must also stop foreign dependency and embrace the culture of dignity and self-reliance. Musoni also urged Muslims to foster peace and security especially at a time when most radicalism in associated with the religion. During the PAM Week, different activities that include an international conference, public talks, exhibition of “Made in Africa” products, African Cultural Night, community work (Umuganda) have been organised.
