Tanzanian court acquits evangelists of ‘illegal preaching’

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — A Tanzanian court acquitted two evangelists of “illegal preaching” Aug. 12. After 10 months of hearings, a Kariakoo area court in Dar es Salaam closed the case against Anglican Christians Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga, who were arrested in October 2009 after Muslims invited them to participate in a religious debate at which the opponents did not appear, but authorities did.

The two evangelists maintained that no Muslims showed up to the neutral site of the supposed interfaith debate until Islamists arrived with government security agents who charged them with “using religious sermons to incite Muslims and Christians into viewing each other with suspicion.” The accusers had claimed that the Christians’ message that Jesus is God had annoyed Muslims and therefore disrupted a peaceful coexistence between those of the two faiths. Kobelo said the Muslims failed to show up in court to support their allegation of illegal preaching.

After the verdict, Christians shouting for joy greeted the evangelists as they left the courtroom, he said. “We are grateful that the court has done justice and made its ruling based on Tanzania’s constitution that allows for freedom of religion and assembly,” Kobelo said. “We thank the Christians worldwide for praying for us.”