page_title: Rwanda
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Rwanda / Demographics / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Parish Church, Rwamagana, Rwanda. Church was built ( open 4/11/1934 ) by Peter Johannes Josephus van Heeswijk ,Africa mission (born in Son en Breugel - The Nederlands in 1/4/1882 - Rwamagana 21/5/1960
context_page_description: Rwanda, formerly Ruanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. One of the smallest countries on the African mainland, its capital city is Kigali. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. Rwanda has a population of over 12.6 million living on 26,338 km² of land, and is the most densely populated mainland African country.
  The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda, although within this group there are three subgroups: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling pygmy people and are often considered descendants of Rwanda's earliest inhabitants.
context_section_description: The largest faith in Rwanda is Roman Catholicism, but there have been significant changes in the nation's religious demographics since the genocide, with many conversions to evangelical Christianity, and, to a lesser degree, Islam. According to the 2012 census, Roman Catholics represented 43.7% of the population, Protestants (excluding Seventh-day Adventists) 37.7%, Seventh-day Adventists 11.8%, and Muslims 2.0%; 0.2% claimed no religious beliefs and 1.3% did not state a religion. Traditional religion, despite officially being followed by only 0.1% of the population, retains an influence. Many Rwandans view the Christian God as synonymous with the traditional Rwandan God Imana. Many Tutsis believe themselves to be Jews who are descendants of migrants from the Kingdom of Kush (modern-day Ethiopia).
caption: Roman Catholic church in Rwamagana
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