DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (BP) — The Glory of Christ Tanzania Church remains shuttered six weeks after the government shut it down following the pastor’s sermon against human rights violations, persecution watchdog group CSW lamented.

Glory of Christ Tanzania, with at least 70,000 members worshiping at 2,000 locations across the nation, appealed the closure in court for the second time as recently as July 11, The Citizen Tanzania newspaper reported, but no decision was announced. The church’s initial effort to secure a temporary injunction from the High Court in the Dodoma Zone to block the government’s decision failed, based on a name discrepancy in the government’s order to deregister the church.

“The closure of the Glory of Christ Tanzania Church highlights a phenomenon whereby registration legislation is being used to control, coerce and silence legitimate dissent,” CSW CEO Scot Bower said July 11. CSW is formerly Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Tanzania cancelled the church’s registration June 2 after the June 1 sermon of founding pastor Josephat Gwajima announcing a seven-day prayer campaign for justice and peace, and repeating his condemnation of ongoing abductions and enforced disappearances in Tanzania.

Gwajima, who also represents the city of Kawe in Parliament as a member of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party, had been accused by Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan of ‘Gwajimanisation’ of the party. 

After the sermon, the government accused Gwajima of violating Chapter 337 of the Societies Act through politically charged sermons intended to undermine public trust in the government, which Bower said is a misuse of the law.

“Tanzania’s constitution guarantees the freedoms of expression, religion, association and the right to participate in public affairs, yet a denomination whose adherents reportedly number in the tens of thousands has been deregistered, simply because its founder continues to air legitimate concerns over grave and ongoing human rights violations for which there has been no accountability,” Bower said. “CSW urges the Tanzanian government to reverse this decision.”

July 13, church members worshiped at the Tanzanite Social Hall in Kimara Korogwe, Dar es Salaam, The Guardian posted on Instagram. Previously, church members were meeting at home, The Citizen newspaper of Tanzania reported June 8, and all activities formerly held at the church were suspended, including weddings and baptisms. A riot-control vehicle is posted at the church’s entrance. The church is commonly called “Nyumba ya Ufufuo na Uzima” in Swahili, translated The House of Resurrection and Life. 

About 63 percent of Tanzania’s 65.6 million people are Christian, 34 percent are Muslim, and the remainder practice other religions or are unaffiliated, the U.S. State Department reported in its 2023 International Religious Freedom report.

Christians are approximately evenly divided between Roman Catholics and Protestant denominations, according to the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; while other observers say most Christians there are Catholic, followed by Lutherans. Other Protestants include Anglicans, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, the State Department said in its report.

All churches and religious organizations in Tanzania and on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar are required to register with the government, renewing registration every five years, CSW said. While the government has been led by Christians and Muslims, the current president is Muslim.

Tanzania is among countries in Sub Saharan Africa suffering increased religious persecution in recent years, watchdog groups have noted. While Open Doors does not include Tanzania in its World Watch List of the top 50 persecutors of Christians, the country ranked 52nd in 2024, Open Doors reported, describing persecution there as extreme.

The church closure has increased concerns of religious persecution in Tanzania. On July 6, police surrounded a joint prayer meeting held by former members of the Glory of Christ Church of Tanzania, hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church. And in May, Bishop Benson Bagonza of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Karagwe Diocese, who has also spoken publicly about a rise in killings and abductions, said he was receiving death threats.

Accusations and reports of human rights violations have increased as the nation nears October elections, CSW said, including reports of enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests and detentions of journalists, opposition leaders and their supporters. Several have been released with severe injuries and at least one was killed. By Diana Chandler, Baptist Press Senior Writer, Baptist Press