IGIHE

Category: Religion

  • Deported Rwandan Priest Returns to Zambia

    {{A Rwandan Catholic priest, Father Viateur Banyangandora who was deported from Zambia has reportedly returned to the southern African nation.}}

    Zambian authorities in November revoked the deportation of Fr Banyangandora after “extensive consultations”.

    Fr Banyangadora was received at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport on Monday by senior Catholic leaders from Eastern Province, where he was based before deportation.

    Neither Fr Banyangadora nor Catholic officials addressed journalists at the airport.

    The deportation of the Father Banyangandora in August last year angered Catholics who exerted consistent pressure on government to revoke the order.

    His deportation was shrouded in a reason which was not clearly explained apart from Home Affairs minister Edgar Lungu saying he was “preaching messages likely to incite people to rise against the government”.

    The decision was seen as a move by President Michael Sata’s regime to gag dissent.

    The Catholic Church is seen to be “sympathetic” to President Sata’s regime, a first Catholic to be leader of a predominantly Christian nation.

    Father Banyangandora who was based in eastern Zambia’s Lundazi district was deported after he criticised the government over the handling of the prices of cotton and the growing inequality in the southern African nation during a church service.

  • Zimbabwe Finance Minister Dares ‘Miracle Cash’ Pastors

    {{Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti has challenged Spirit Embassy founder Prophet Uebert Angel and United Family International Church leader Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa to “produce” over US$10 billion.}}

    required to liquidate Government’s debt and fund national programmes.
    This follows claims that Prophet Angel enables congregants to “miraculously” receive money in their pockets and bank accounts.

    Prophet Makandiwa is on record as saying he can assist people to amass material wealth.

    “I respect the men of God, Angel and Makandiwa because of the miracles they are performing. But if they are printing real money, I am asking them to deposit the money in our (Treasury) account at CBZ so that we can pay some of our arrears,” said Minister Biti.

    He said he would not comment on the implications of this “miracle money” to the United States Federal Reserve because it had not been officially confirmed that it was happening.

    “I have no knowledge of that (miracle money) happening. I have never known it to happen, so I can’t comment on hearsay and speculation.

    “However, on a lighter note, I want to tell these men of God that we have US$10,1 billion external debt and US$260 million local arrears. We also need US$200 million for the referendum.

    So if they are printing real money, I would be grateful if they can deposit it in our account so that we can settle these debts.”

    It was reported that Prophet Angel delivered miracle money to congregants at the Botswana miracle night crusade recently and at the crossover night at City Sports Centre in Harare.

    In one of his sermons on Youtube, Prophet Angel told congregants in South Africa that he started prophesying when he was in Grade two when he was seven-years-old.

    He said if people could not explain how Peter found money in the fish’s mouth as instructed by Jesus then they could not question how miracle money was found.

    The bank, Prophet Angel said, had no records of how the fish found the money.

    Prophet Angel said his bank account had been credited with large sums of money on several occasions after praying.

    He said this happened because he believed in God and instructed automated teller machines to give him cash despite the fact that his bank account was in the negative.

    Prophet Angel said money answered all problems as mentioned in the Bible.

    He said people who criticised the miracles were poor, adding that poverty made people jealous.

    However, leaders of other churches have questioned how this miracle money was being made.

    Secretary-general for Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference Father Fredrick Chiromba was quoted in the media as saying it was the duty of the State to regulate on financial matters and to consider whether the “miracle money” complied with financial systems of the country.

    Apostle Patrick Zimba of Kairos International Ministries said money was owned by central banks all over the world and every note had a serial number.

    He said it was not clear whether the ‘miracle money’ had serial numbers.

    {Herald}

  • Pope Marks End of Difficult Year, Notes God’s Good

    {{Pope Benedict XVI has marked the end of a difficult year by saying that despite all the death and injustice in the world, goodness prevails.}}

    Benedict celebrated New Year’s Eve with a vespers service Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica to give thanks for 2012.

    In his homily, Benedict said it’s tough to remember that goodness prevails when bad news — deaths, violence and injustice — “makes more noise than good.” He said taking time to meditate in prolonged reflection and prayer can help “find healing from the inevitable wounds of daily life.”

    This past year was full of highs and lows for the pope, including a successful trip to Mexico and Cuba but also the betrayal of his butler, convicted of stealing Benedict’s personal papers and leaking them to a journalist.

  • Bishop Calls For Spiritual Transformation

    {{As hundreds flock the respective churches to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, different messages have been disseminated as regards Christmas.}}

    Slightly different from expected messages, the bishop of Shyira Diocese The Rt. Rev. Dr. Laurent Mbanda has called for spiritual transformation in order to build the nation significantly.

    Bishop Mbanda who was presiding over the Christmas celebration service at St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Muhoza sector in Musanze District says that Rwanda as a nation needs transformed people to transform the country.

    “We should celebrate Christmas remembering that Jesus Christ came to die for our sins to be transformed right from our hearts to impact our neighbors positively,” Bishop Mbanda said amidst hundreds of
    worshipers that flocked the church to celebrate this year’s Christmas.

    “If you are transformed, it is possible to transform your neighbors, then your community and certainly the whole nation will can be transformed hence conserving the good values of our country,” Mbanda said.

    Bishop Mbanda also called upon all Christians to learn how to extend love to non Christians and especially to the less privileged people in the communities.

    “Jesus Christ’s birth reminds us of the grace and mercy God had towards us, a way to know God and receive a gift to called children of God,” Mbanda added.

    Bishop Mbanda also wished all Rwandans a merry Christmas not only focusing on eating and drinking but also allowing to repent and receive internal joy and peace for the rest of their lives.

    Jointly helped by the retired bishop John Rucyahana they also led a holy communion session as a symbol to remember what Jesus Christ did to redeem mankind.

    Shyira Diocese is one of the 10 high level structural leadership in Anglican churches of Rwanda (EAR) that has transformed lives of people both spiritually and physically in Northern Province.

    The diocese has been involved in education, health, hospitality, and savings schemes among others that have changed lives in different communities.

  • Pope Against Rising Gay Marriages

    {{The pope pressed his opposition to gay marriage Friday, denouncing what he described as people manipulating their God-given identities to suit their sexual choices — and destroying the very “essence of the human creature” in the process.}}

    Benedict XVI made the comments in his annual Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches of the year.

    He dedicated it this year to promoting traditional family values in the face of vocal campaigns in France, the United States, Britain and elsewhere to legalize same-sex marriage.

    In his remarks, Benedict quoted the chief rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, in saying the campaign for granting gays the right to marry and adopt children was an “attack” on the traditional family made up of a father, mother and children.

    “People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being,” he said.

    “They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.”

    “The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned,” he said.

  • Report Says Atheists Suffer Persecution, Discrimination

    {{Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven nations can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a report issued on Monday.}}

    The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), showed that “unbelievers” in Islamic countries face the most severe – sometimes brutal – treatment at the hands of the state and adherents of the official religion.

    But it also points to policies in some European countries and the United States which favor the religious and their organizations and treat atheists and humanists as outsiders.

    The report, “Freedom of Thought 2012”, said “there are laws that deny atheists’ right to exist, curtail their freedom of belief and expression, revoke their right to citizenship, restrict their right to marry.”

    Other laws “obstruct their access to public education, prohibit them from holding public office, prevent them from working for the state, criminalize their criticism of religion, and execute them for leaving the religion of their parents.”

    The report was welcomed by Heiner Bielefeldt, United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who said in a brief introduction there was little awareness that atheists were covered by global human rights agreements.

    The IHEU – which links over 120 humanist, atheist and secular organizations in more than 40 countries – said it was issuing the report to mark the U.N.’s Human Rights Day on Monday.

    According to its survey of some 60 countries, the seven where expression of atheist views or defection from the official religion can bring capital punishment are Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

    The 70-page report lists no recent cases of actual execution for “atheism” — but researchers say the offence is often subsumed into other charges.

    In a range of other countries – such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait and Jordan – publication of atheist or humanist views on religion are totally banned or strictly limited under laws prohibiting “blasphemy”.

    In many of these countries, and others like Malaysia, citizens have to register as adherents of a small number officially-recognized religions — which normally include no more than Christianity and Judaism as well as Islam.

    Atheists and humanists are thereby forced to lie to obtain their official documents without which it is impossible to go to university, receive medical treatment, travel abroad or drive.

    In Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin and North America, countries which identify themselves secular give privileges to or favor Christian churches in providing education and other public services, the IHEU said.

    In Greece and Russia, the Orthodox Church is fiercely protected from criticism and is given pride of place on state occasions, while in Britain bishops of the Church of England have automatic seats in the upper house of parliament.

    While freedom of religion and speech is protected in the United States, the report said, a social and political climate prevails “in which atheists and the non-religious are made to feel like lesser Americans, or non-Americans.”

    In at least seven U.S. states, constitutional provisions are in place that bar atheists from public office and one state, Arkansas, has a law that bars an atheist from testifying as a witness at a trial, the report said.

  • Rwandan Jehova Church Appoints Female Apostle

    {{The Rwanda Jehovanis Church, Sunday, 2nd December elected Mutesi Josephine to become the Church’s apostle after being anointed together with other four Pastors.

    After anointing Session, Mutesi confirmed that her appointment to Apostle Position is the call from God.

    “Being a female Apostle, I will serve as other women Heroes like Deborah in the Bible” She declared tears shading around her eyes
    Jehovanis Church started came to Rwanda in 2007.}}

  • Africa Gets First Anglican Woman Bishop

    {{The Anglican Church of Southern Africa has consecrated its first woman bishop in Africa.}}

    Ellinah Wamukoya, 61, will serve as the church’s bishop in the small, conservative kingdom of Swaziland.

    Her consecration comes as the Church of England is due to vote on whether to allow women to become bishops.

    “We have taken this step, and we wish the Church of England ‘God speed’ as they deliberate this week,” Cape Town’s Anglican archbishop said.

    The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said in a statement: “The thunder is rumbling as I write: We have witnessed a great occasion, and now it does indeed seem that the heavens are about to fall upon us – the falling of rain, which this country and its people so desperately need.

    David Dinkebogile led Saturday’s ceremony and stressed that the gathering was to consecrate a bishop “not a black woman, not an African, not a Swazi woman”.

    “She was to be pastor to all, to men and women, to black and white, to Swazis and all others in her diocese,” he said.

    Bishop Wamukoya is a former mayor of Swaziland’s economic capital, Manzini.

    “I am going to try to represent the mother attribute of God,”

    “A mother is a caring person but at the same time, a mother can be firm in doing whatever she is doing,” she said.

  • Egypt’s New Coptic Pope Enthroned

    {{The new pope of Egypt’s Orthodox Coptic church was enthroned in an elaborate ceremony lasting nearly four hours, attended by the nation’s Muslim prime minister and a host of cabinet ministers and politicians.}}

    Pope Tawadros II, 60, was elected November 4, but the official enthronement ceremony was held on Sunday at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo.

    He replaced Shenouda III, who died in March after leading the ancient church for 40 years.

    The packed cathedral repeatedly erupted into applause as the ceremony progressed.

    The ceremony’s climax came when the papal crown was placed on Tawadros’ head before he sat on the throne of St Mark, the Coptic church’s founding saint.

    Tawadros did not address the televised ceremony, but had a brief speech read on his behalf by one of the church’s leaders in which he pledged to work for the good of Egypt, with its Muslims and Christians alike.

    Egypt’s Christians make up about 10 per cent of the nation’s estimated 83 million people, making them the largest single Christian community in the Middle East.

    Christians have long complained of discrimination, particularly in the last four decades as the country’s Muslim majority moved toward religious conservatism.

  • 8 000 Pilgrims Meet in Rwanda

    {{At the initiative of the Taizé Community based in France, 8,000 young people, 5,000 Rwandans met from 14 to 18 November 2012 in Kigali for a big meeting on the theme “Together seek paths of hope.”}}

    “The forum brings us together from different countries to show that Christ unites us in one communion. And this communion gives us hope to move forward to build the Church, to build the country. “Says Brother Alois, Prior of the Taizé Community.

    In 2008, the same meeting was held in Nairobi (Kenya) to which 250 young Rwandan took part.

    “And these are young people who have said: We would also like to organize this international meeting here. We already have a database with the forums that we organize every year.

    We can therefore expand the forum and make such an international meeting of Taizé home in Rwanda, “said Brother Alois.

    “It will be an experience of unity,” according to Brother Alois hope that “the Catholic Church has the mission to create unity so as not to disperse into multiple groups to be truly united in Christ.”

    The Taizé Community is an ecumenical community in Taizé based in France. Founded in 1940 by Brother Roger, it gathers over a hundred brothers from around the world who have chosen to live together a life of prayer and celibacy in simplicity.

    The unity of the Christian denominations and reception of young adults are part of the Community’s commitments since its foundation.