Conference Presentations

The Faith, Forgiveness, and Family study provides a large cross-sectional data set from a nationwide sample population with a similar age, gender, and geographic distribution as the general population. The data enables investigation of gender and generational differences in psychosocial factors and posttraumatic effects in Rwanda. Statistical findings show the interrelated influences of perceived community support, changes in interpersonal and conflict relationships, and reciprocal giving, together with hope, compassionate love, posttraumatic stress, and posttraumatic growth. The paper discusses the contribution religious groups can make to fostering personal and societal post-Genocide healing and reconciliation.

The principal investigator of the nationwide study Jehovah’s Witnesses During and After the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda: Psychosocial Factors Related to Faith, Forgiveness, and Family (JW-RWA) describes the research methodology and objectives, the approach to designing the survey instrument, and how the research team overcame challenges in fielding the survey in Rwanda, where 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas with limited digital connectivity and literacy. After discussing the demographic composition of the study population, the paper provides a brief historical overview of religious and social characteristics of the faith community of Jehovah’s Witnesses that impacted their personal and collective experiences before, during, and after the Genocide. The Witness community teaches a nonviolent, nonpolitical ethic, a position that resulted in the political suppression of this small group during the Habyarimana years and was in evidence during the 1994 Genocide. In the aftermath of the Genocide, the faith community experienced significant numerical increase. Its present demographic composition mirrors that of Rwandan society as a whole. Rwandan Witnesses face the same challenges as does Rwandan society as a whole in healing the wounds and ruptured social ties of the past. A large body of scientific research has demonstrated the general link between religious faith and psychosocial benefits. Survey results from the JW-RWA study provide a religious profile of respondents, including their motivations to adopt the religion, and how their faith affects their relationships, ability to cope with post-Genocide effects, and perspective on the past, present, and future. The study offers correlational (but not causal) conclusions by investigating the relationships between religious identity, community support, and prosocial behaviors and thereby provides insights into the potential role of religious communities in providing mutual aid and fostering reconciliation and personal and group resilience in post-conflict settings.

This presentation examines prosocial helping behavior as a form of nonviolent resistance. It is based on a survey of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Rwanda, most of whom came from diverse religious backgrounds and became baptized Witnesses after the Genocide against the Tutsi. Research results demonstrate multidimensional genocide rolesituations and patterns of helping shaped by gender, geography, duration of danger, and social networks. Evidence shows the value of having a small, trusted network especially during prolonged danger and that religious identity influenced helping patterns but did not limit crossgroup assistance. Children helped in instrumental and emotional ways, although their recall of their roles during the Genocide differed somewhat from what parents reported about their children during the Genocide. Overall, the findings highlight the complexity of moral action under extreme threat and underscore how prosocial behavior—across ages, genders, and rolesituations—functioned as a significant form of resistance, survival, and community resilience.

Forgiveness, an age-old religious concept, is a subject of growing interest in psychosocial research and peace and conflict studies. Research has shown a positive correlation between the practice of various forms of forgiveness and improved physical and mental health. Closely linked to the process of reconciliation, forgiveness involves effecting change from negative emotion to positive emotion that can promote other prosocial cognitions, feelings, and behaviors for both giver and recipient. Most forgiveness research has been conducted with samples composed of college students, romantic partners, and on occasion, victims of violent crime. Few studies thus far have involved populations affected by mass violence. The Faith, Forgiveness, and Family study investigated three interrelated aspects of forgiveness that are particularly relevant to the highly Christianized context of post-Genocide Rwanda: interpersonal forgiveness as a personality trait; divine forgiveness, the perception that God has forgiven the transgressor; and the lesser-known aspect of self-forgiveness (not to be confused with self-exoneration), which involves reconciliation with self and requires remorse, changed behavior, and where possible, reparation. Like other social groups, among those who are now Jehovah’s Witnesses, the diverse genocide situations of congregants test the depth and boundaries of religious identity and social bonds within the faith community. The study population includes those who acted in one or more roles as perpetrators, accomplices, victims, bystanders, and helpers. As such, forgiveness is relevant not only to those who directly inflicted harm but also those who regret having refused or missed opportunities to help, those whose helping efforts were in vain, and even to victims of violence. An additional subgroup includes those born after the Genocide, who carry what have been called “unlived memories” that can produce trauma effects that profoundly affect their outlook. This paper discusses findings on the three types of forgiveness and subgroup analysis by generational cohorts, religious profiles, and genocide situations.

In 2015, Rwanda’s National Dialogue Council called for social and religious institutions to document their histories from the Genocide era to counter disinformation and preserve memory. Responding to this call, the national office of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kigali conducted the 2023 online survey discussed in the study report titled Jehovah’s Witnesses During and After the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda: Psychosocial Factors Related to Faith, Forgiveness, and Families (JW-RWA). The JW-RWA study aimed to document the 1994 Genocide’s impact on the Witness community, addressing challenges such as digital access and literacy across Rwanda’s largely rural population. With 13,590 respondents and a response rate of over 50%, the survey’s sample aligned with the geographic, gender, and age demographics of the general population. It covered topics such as genocide experiences, helping behavior, posttraumatic stress, growth, resilience, and intergenerational communication. Participants were categorized into “Genocide Generation” (present during the Genocide), “Returnees” (returned post-1994), and “Post-Genocide Generation” (born after 1994). The paper focuses on findings related to the Genocide Generation’s geographic and demographic characteristics. Less than 5% were baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1994, and their unique religious identity significantly shaped their Genocide-era experiences.This study situates its findings within the broader context of epistemic violence, exploring how marginalized religious narratives are represented. It emphasizes the importance of such documentation in resisting miseducation and fostering a nuanced understanding of faith and forgiveness in pre-conflict societies.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Genocidal regimes coerce the populace to adopt a genocidal identity that supersedes or subordinates all other social ties, including religious, moral, even familial bonds. Recovery from these ruptures and reconciliation in Rwandan society is still a work in progress three decades later. This paper presents preliminary findings from the nationwide quantitative study Jehovah’s Witnesses During and After the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda: Psychosocial Factors Related to Faith, Forgiveness, and Family. The anonymous online survey covered the following areas: (a) demographic composition, religious orientation, and motivations for affiliation with the Witness community; (b) genocide situations and other traumatic events and related psychosocial factors; (c) relationships between identity, support, and helping behavior; (d) interplay between various types of forgiveness and other prosocial attributes; and (e) perceived family satisfaction and intergenerational communication about genocide. The paper first provides an overview of the study sample (n = 13,590). About 90 percent of respondents became Witnesses after the 1994 genocide. The present Witness community is demographically similar to Rwanda as a whole, including those with a range of genocide experiences and those born post-Genocide. Thus, Witness congregations today include people who were targeted for harm (Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu), those who participated in harmdoing, those who witnessed violence, and those who attempted to help or rescue victims and thus faced harm themselves. Survey responses indicate that many filled multiple roles. The sample includes respondents who are currently imprisoned for participation in genocide. The paper then presents findings from several psychosocial measures. Although forgiveness is an age-old theological and philosophical concept, recent psychosocial research has investigated various types of forgiveness as useful approaches in seeking to heal ruptured social ties and facilitate social reconciliation. Three kinds of forgiveness will be discussed—self, divine, and interpersonal. This paper also examines survey findings regarding the relative salience of these three types of forgiveness among survey respondents. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of outcome indicators, such as (a) posttraumatic distress/growth; (b) sense of temporality toward past, present, or future; and (c) community support, which helps assess the degree of intrapersonal and interpersonal healing. These data can illuminate the relationship between forgiveness and healing, with implications for mental health counseling. The study was sponsored by the Organisation Religieuse des Témoins de Jéhovah du Rwanda and was approved by the Rwanda National Ethics Committee and reviewed by the Ministry for Civic Engagement and Reconciliation. It is the first nationwide study of an entire religious community in post-genocide Rwanda. The presenter is the co-principal investigator of the study.

Commemorative event.

(Invited presentation)

Genocide seeks to annihilate a people by dividing a populace into “Us” and “Them.” In post-Genocide Rwanda, what role can religious groups play in bringing former perpetrators, victims, bystanders, and helpers together again as neighbors?

Researchers identify three kinds of forgiveness as key to healing and reconciliation: interpersonal, self, and divine forgiveness. The first nationwide survey of its kind in Rwanda explores these aspects of forgiveness and their effect on those whose genocide situation differed widely.