RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Angolan Justice has ordered the closure and seizure of all temples of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) in Angola, and the process of closure is being conducted “gradually,” said the police source to Lusa news agency.
“By order of the Prosecutor’s Office, all of the UCKG‘s temples in national territory are hereby seized and closed, but the process of sealing is being conducted gradually,” said the source, adding that there are 211 temples in the Angolan capital Luanda alone.
The UCKG in Angola expressed its “surprise” on Sunday with the order to close four of its temples during the service, saying that none of them were in the lot of the seven buildings seized by the Prosecutor General’s Office in August and classified the police operation as “disproportionate and excessive”
In statements to Lusa, a police source said the temples are seized and will be closed. “Therefore, while the proceedings are ongoing they can not hold services,” said the same source, adding that “so as to avoid further doubts about the matter, the parties will be notified in the coming days to clarify the situation.”
This was the first weekend that religious services were restarted in Luanda since March when a state of emergency was declared in Angola due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement sent to Lusa, the UCKG said it was “surprised” by the arrival of police at the Kilamba, Estalagem, Km 30, and Samba temples, and decreed their closure, although the agents were not “equipped with any mandate or supporting documentation”.
The UCKG claimed that the police acted “in a truculent and excessive fashion, constraining the members and faithful who, at the time, were exercising their right to freedom of worship” and stressed that there was no legal impediment or judicial mandate to prevent the service in such temples, “because they were not seized or sealed by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR)”.
In August, the Angolan PGR seized seven of the UCKG’s temples in Luanda (Alvalade, Maculusso, Morro Bento, Patriota, Benfica, Cazenga, and Viana), as part of a criminal proceeding for the alleged practice of criminal association crimes, tax fraud, and illegal capital exports.
In the same statement, the UCKG stresses that some bishops and pastors were taken to a police station unaware of “the real reason for such action”, having been released after giving evidence. According to the UCKG, the agents only said “that there was a ”decision” that the Universal temples should not be open” and, therefore, they would be “in contempt”.
The UCKG has been involved in several controversies in Angola after a group of dissidents stepped down from the Brazilian leadership in November last year. Tensions escalated in June with the reformist wing taking over temples, in the meantime established in a Committee for the Reform of Angolan Pastors, with an exchange of mutual accusations of committing illegal activities.
The Angolans, led by Bishop Valente Bezerra, claim that the decision to break with the Brazilian representation in Angola headed by Bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, faithful to the founder Edir Macedo, was due to practices contrary to religion, such as the demand for the practice of vasectomy, chemical castration, racism, social discrimination, abuse of authority, and the evasion of foreign currency abroad.
The allegations are denied by the UCKG Angola, which in turn accuses dissidents of “xenophobic attacks” and attacks on pastors and has also brought legal proceedings against the dissidents. The UCKG Angola has earlier accused the Angolan judicial authorities of having made illegal seizures and violating religious freedom.
At this time, several judicial proceedings related to the UCKG Angola are underway in the Angolan courts.
The conflict has led to the opening of criminal proceedings in Angola’s PGR and has reached the diplomatic level, with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asking his counterpart João Lourenço for protection guarantees for Brazilian pastors and the Church’s property, with the Angolan head of state pledging an “adequate handling” of the matter in justice.
Source: Agência Lusa