On Rwanda

Today I've been working on a project that has the potential to dramatically help the young people of Rwanda, with the ultimate effect of strengthening the nation as a whole.

I spent the afternoon studying several analyses of the Rwandan situation. For instance, in 2000 the Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning articulated a grand vision for Rwanda's future in a document entitled "Rwanda Vision 2020".

Here's a quote.

"During the colonial period, the Belgian administration applied contemporary
Darwinian theories
, thereby deeply dividing the people of Rwanda. This
unfortunate development can be seen as laying the foundations for periodic mass
killings even after independence was gained in 1962, culminating in the the 1994
genocide."
The idea put simply is this. Darwin believed that animal species survived through "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest". Weaker members die off as the strongest members of a species survive to pass on their genetically-based traits to their ancestors.

Thus the entire species adapts towards strength rather than weakness.

Whether or not you believe this is how the animal kingdom works is irrelevant to this discussion. Because the Social Darwinism/eugenics folks take a huge leap from the animal kingdom. They apply Darwinism to human culture.

They essentially say "Oh, well..." when racism, and its logical twin brother genocide, remove a race of humans from the planet. They believe it's just evolution at work.

Social Darwinism - eugenics - whatever you want to call it - I call it Evil with a capital "E".

Why is this shocking? Why do I bring this up?

Because the situation in Rwanda isn't ancient history - it played out in the mass murder of 500,000 to 800,000 Rwandan human beings in 1994. Not to mention the rapes, mutilations and other atrocities that are continuing to pay their grotesque dividends to this day.

I'm not free to go into alot of detail on the current Rwanda project here, but suffice to say, I'm a bit dizzy trying to connect what this project can offer to such a nasty, complicated situation.

Economics, values, education, beliefs - ultimately worldviews.

Yes, there it is again friends. Worldview. That's a great place to start.

The gospel of the Kingdom is the story we Christians both tell and live while standing against these kinds of things. But the challenge, as always, is in its precise application.

Father, give us strength and insight to wisely apply our gifts on your Great Project - the redemption and restoration of the entire world.

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