State regulation of religion in Uganda: Fears and dilemmas of born-again churches

Abstract

Since 2016 when the government of Uganda announced its intention to enact a policy about regulating religions and faith-based organizations, there have been contrasting responses from those this policy intends to regulate. The mainstream religious groups especially; the Moslem community, Anglican Church of Uganda, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Roman Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox church and generally all those that subscribe to the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda have welcomed the State's proposal. On the other hand, the proposal has met both stiff and liberal minded resistance from both the born-again churches and relatively newly founded religious faiths and groups. This is partly so due to the historical relationship between the State and Religious institutions which has been characterized by uncertainty at one time, and flowering at another. The contemptuous attitude of the born-again church towards the State's proposed religious and faith based organisations policy (RFBOs) calls for renewed interest in analysing church-state relations in Uganda. Using the institutional approach, this paper analyses the historical relationship that has subsisted between the state and religious institutions in Uganda, over the years, showing how this influences reaction of religious institutions to a State's attempt to provide a regulatory framework over them.

Does participation in livelihood education programs impact household food security? A comparative study in rural Uganda

“…Certain household characteristics were believed to influence both participation in LEPs and food security status. Author note: Born Again resonates with the Ugandan understanding of Pentecostalism and the wholewide evangelical Christianity and emphasizes a spiritual rebirth to get saved from eternal fire especially members having ascribed to other religious affiliations in their previous life (Isiko, 2019).…”

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“…Certain household characteristics were believed to influence both participation in LEPs and food security status. Author note: Born Again resonates with the Ugandan understanding of Pentecostalism and the wholewide evangelical Christianity and emphasizes a spiritual rebirth to get saved from eternal fire especially members having ascribed to other religious affiliations in their previous life (Isiko, 2019).…”

‘The memory of persecution is in our blood’: documenting loyalties, identities and motivations to political action in the Ugandan Pentecostal Movement

“…8 Throughout the second wave of global Pentecostalism new churches were planted in Uganda through missionary work in the 1950s and 1960s. These churches are generally more formally organised with, for example, councils of elders (Isiko 2019: 101) and formal theological training. The third wave of global Pentecostalism, that had a huge influence on the growth of African charismatic Christianity, initiated a far greater number of churches towards the end of the 1970s and 1980s.…”

“…This is recorded as the first, of many, presidential appearances in Pentecostal churches. It was during the electoral campaign and in front of the church membership that the President was asked to remove the annual renewal for Pentecostal churches through the NGOs Regulation Act, as it was creating a dual treatment for different Christian denominations in the country, as mainline churches were exempted from doing so as they had been registered as trusts and not NGOs (Isiko 2019). ‘And according to Article 29 of 1C of the Constitution, there should be freedom of worship in Uganda, and this should be properly extended to Pentecostal churches too.…”

“…Then, he commissioned three of his ministers, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the then third deputy PM and Minister of Information and National Guidance, Ali Kirunda Kive Jinja, and the then Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr James Nsaba Butoro, to work and realise his promise. Urged by the ministers, Dr Serwadda was appointed chairman of a national taskforce to unify all Pentecostal churches and fellowships into a unitary national organisation, but many refused to commit and sign a binding agreement, seeking instead to reclaim their identity from mainline churches and assert their diversity and informal nature (Isiko 2019). In this moment of confrontation, Dr Serwadda 15 separated from the NFBPC and initiated a new Fellowship that would bring together all the Pentecostal and Evangelical churches keen to create a formalised and accountable network able to negotiate with the government and to sit in relevant religious organisations, as per the Inter-Religious Council of Ugandan (IRCU).…”