Africa: After Rwanda, Angola wants to close churches
Angolan President
In Angola, it is soon the “requiem” of unofficial churches. The government plans to close them next month.
In Angola, the state no longer wants unofficial churches. it promises to close them as early as November.
“The illegal religious denominations in Angola will be closed from November,” said Francisco de Castro Maria, National Director for Religious Affairs at the Angolan Ministry of Culture.
The planned closure of unofficial churches comes after the country has passed legislation to regulate religious activities on its soil.
According to M Castro Maria 50% of Angolan churches were created by Brazilians, Senegalese, Nigerians or Congolese. He thinks this measure will affect these churches.
Her boss, the minister of culture tried to defend the plan in question.
For Carolina Cerqueira, the government is forced to regulate the sector because there are unregistered churches that “engage in commercial activities or that pose a threat to human rights, to the principles of living and coexistence in urban areas”.
As a reminder, more than a thousand churches are not in good standing in Angola. The government gave them one month from 4 October 2018 to regularize their situation.
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