教会政治与卢旺达大屠杀

在1994年卢旺达大屠杀中,卢旺达基督教教会深深地卷入了这场血腥暴行。教堂成为主要的杀戮场之一,许多教会的神职人员甚至直接参与了对图西人的屠杀。教会之所以支持大屠杀,原因在于从历史上看教会就与国家政权保持密不可分的关系,并且种族歧视和斗争就存在于教会内部。此外,在内战和民主运动兴起的这样一个特殊历史时期,就像政府官员企图利用大屠杀作为保持权力的手段一样,教会也利用大屠杀作为打击竞争对手、应对内部民主化挑战的重要手段。卢旺达大屠杀的实例说明,推进教会民主化的斗争已经成为非洲大陆政治改革运动的重要组成部分。

Church Politics and the Genocide in Rwanda

Christian churches were deeply implicated in the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsi in Rwanda.Churches were a major site for massacres,and many Christians,including church personnel and lay leaders,participated in the slaughter.Due to the historic link between church and state,acceptance of ethnic discrimination among church officials,church got involved in the genocide.In addition,just as political officials chose genocide as a means of reasserting their authority in the face of challenges from a democracy movement and civil war,struggles over power within Rwanda’s Christian churches led some church leaders to accept the genocide as a means of combating competitors and coping with challenges of internal democratization.The genocide in Rwandan shows that promoting the democratization of the Church’s struggle has become an important part of the political reform movement on the African continent.