“The president of the Protestant Church in Algeria reported to Agence France Presse that the Algerian authorities ordered the closure of seven Protestant churches in the Province of Bejaya, in the ‘Little Kabyle region’ of eastern Algeria. The reason given was that these churches had not complied with the law governing the practice of religion within the country.
“Mustapha Kareem Kareem, the overseer of the churches in the area declared that on the 8th of May, 2011, the Governor of Bejaya ‘ordered us to close seven of our churches, without giving any justification for his order. However, it appears that the decision was taken in accordance with the law of February, 2006, that required obtaining permission from the provincial authorities for the practice of any religion, other than Islam.’
“Kareem went on to explain: ‘We have continued our activities in these churches, since they had been organized prior to the passing of the law of 2006. Having contacted the authorities in order to comply with the order, we found out that there were many obstacles standing in our way, thus delaying the granting of the permit.’
“Algeria requires that all those desiring to practice a religion other than Islam, must obtain two permits: one regarding the place of worship, and the other information about the person or leader responsible for the local church.
“The Algerian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and the right of non-Muslims to practice their faith. According to the daily Algerian newspaper Al-Watan, Hamou al-Touhami, the governor of the province where the seven churches were closed said, ‘We don’t oppose the practice of non-Islamic religions, but their followers must honor the law of the land.
“It is to be noted that the Algerian Church is experiencing a growth, especially in the Kabyle[1] district of the country. According to Mustapha Kareem, the number of Evangelicals in Algeria has reached 30,000.
“Muslim leaders in Algeria have been very critical of the activities of Evangelicals who engage secretly in their work. They assert that such activities are contrary to Islam, which is, according to the Constitution, the State Religion, and the faith of the majority of Algerians.”
Analysis
The Algerian Constitution in theory guarantees freedom of religion. In practice, however, the authorities have put obstacles in the way of those who actually choose to practice a religion other than Islam. The report states that non-Muslims must get permits which state the location of their church and its leader before they can operate. This is not unreasonable on its face, but by closing churches which had been in operation before these conditions were applied to their situation, and before they could even comply, appears to indicate that this is just an excuse to close the churches down. The governor of the province where the churches were closed may have been bowing to pressure from leaders in the Muslim community who have become fearful of the Evangelical presence and effectiveness in the area. It will be interesting to see how this story will play out in the days ahead.
Comments
During the second half of the twentieth century, millions of Muslims from South-East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, moved to Europe and the Americas where they experience the personal freedoms that all Westerners enjoy. This includes the freedom of religion. They have built mosques in most of the cities and towns where they settled. Not only do they practice their faith freely, but they engage in Da’wa, the Islamic equivalent of missions to non-Muslims. However, Christians and those of other faiths who live in the lands under Muslim control do not experience similar freedoms. They face discrimination and outright persecution in some instances. As for engaging in evangelism, like Muslims in the West do, it is totally unacceptable and criminal. Converts to Christianity in particular live in constant danger.
Algeria has not been as hostile to non-Muslims as have the authorities in other Islamic countries. That is why the reported closing of those seven churches is not a good sign. When the Christians seek to comply with the authorities, they are rebuffed as well. Rules are put in place and then the officials refuse to allow the Christians to comply when they seek to do so. There are other sources that believe the authorities are threatening to close all the churches, not just the seven listed in the report translated above.This report from Algeria, coupled with the other examples of viciousness against Christians in those very “liberated” Middle Eastern nations that have been striving to see democracy succeed, indicates that the political situation may not be as rosy as many commentators in the West have been saying.
The Iraqi “democracy,” for instance, has not proven to be very amenable to the thousands of Iraqi Christians who have lived in the country since the early years of the Christian era. The United States’ military presence, contrary to what one might have expected, has not made things easier for the Christians. More than half of Iraq’s Christians have been forced to leave their homeland, since the American military presence began! And even though the forty-year old rule of Hosni Mubarak came to an end in Egypt, the Copts thus far, have not benefited from the power shift that occurred with Mubarak’s departure. Serious confrontations between the authorities and Christians have occurred and churches have been burned. Whether the so-called “Arab Spring” brings true democracy has yet to be seen; but thus far, it has certainly not brought any basic improvement in the conditions of Christians living in these countries.
The situation in Algeria reminds us again how difficult it is for Christians and those of other faiths to practice their religion in Islamic countries. To obtain permission to build houses of worship or to meet at all is not easily come by. Muslims who have settled in Europe and the Americas, however, experience no such difficulties. They have total freedom to practice their faith, build mosques, and propagate their faith and worldview. And this despite the fact that some mosques in the West, thanks often to Saudi money, have become centers of radicalism. Many Saudi-backed Imams have been imported into the West to preach Jihad against the very nations that had welcomed them.
The mosque, beginning with Muhammad in Medina, has served both as a place of worship, and a center for political activities. Over the years, I have listened to the Friday sermons broadcast on short wave radio stations, from the mosques in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and in Cairo, Egypt. The ethical elements of the messages are minimal, and limited to clichés interspersed with Qur’anic texts. The majority of the Khutbas[2] are devoted to political issues, with references to the glorious Islamic past, while deploring present-day conditions within the Islamic Umma that stand in the way of its ascendancy.
We should not forget that the leader of the 9/11/2001 attacks on the United Sates, Muhammad Atta, attended the Jerusalem Mosque, in Hamburg, Germany, where he would have heard his share of fiery sermons from its Imam. He was confident his crime on 9/11, was done “Fi SabeelAllah” (In the Pathway of Allah.)
To amplify this point I quote from the Introduction to Professor Ephraim Karsh’s book, “Islamic Imperialism: A History” published in 2006 by Yale University Press, in 2006.
“The worlds of Christianity and Islam, however, have developed differently in one fundamental respect. The Christian faith won over an existing empire in an extremely slow and painful process and its universalism was originally conceived in spiritual terms that made a clear distinction between God and Caesar. By the time it was embraced by the Byzantine emperors as a tool for buttressing their imperial claims, three centuries after its foundation, Christianity had in place a countervailing ecclesiastical institution with an abiding authority over the wills and actions of all believers. The birth of Islam, by contrast, was inextricably linked with the creation of a world empire and its universalism was inherently imperialist. It did not distinguish between temporal and religious powers, which were combined in the person of Muhammad, who derived his authority directly from Allah and acted at one and the same time as head of the state and head of the church. This allowed the prophet to cloak his political ambitions with a religious aura and to channel Islam’s energies into ‘its instruments of aggressive expansion, there [being] no internal organism of equal force to counterbalance it.’” (P. 5)
As I write these lines, the turmoil in the Arab world continues and outcomes are not clear. President Mubarak is facing trial for the crimes he has committed during his forty-year rule. Colonel Gadhafi is hanging on in Libya .Yemen’s president has refused yielding to the pressure of the opposition seeking to dislodge him from his autocratic rule, until his stronghold came under attack. He was wounded and left the country seeking medical attention in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the first week of June, 2011. And in Syria, the land I know so well, and where I spent the early years of my life, the blood-letting continues. President Bashar al-Assad resorts to unbelievable measures to suppress the peaceful demonstrations of the people, causing more than 1,100 deaths in the streets of numerous cities, towns, and villages in every part of Syria. Interestingly, the situation in Algeria is fluid. According to other sources the churches in question continued to meet. They also continue to check with the authorities to comply with the new rules, but the authorities do not cooperate with them.
When the dust finally settles, it remains doubtful whether the condition of the Christians would improve. I am not deploring the attempt of Middle-Eastern people to rid themselves of decades of oppression. However, if having liberated themselves from dictatorial rule, they return to the core beliefs of Islam, no basic changes would have taken place; and minorities, both ethnic and religious, would continue to suffer discrimination and persecution. My fear is legitimate having read recently in an Arabic-language journal, an article by a Syrian intellectual (in exile) who warned against the possible take-over of these countries by the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood. My hope and prayer is that such a catastrophic event would be averted by the concerted efforts and actions of reformist leaders who realize that such a Salafist[3] group would plunge the area into another era of darkness.
[1] The Kabyle district is in the north-central part of Algeria, east of Algiers. The Kabyles are one of the Berber groups that have retained their identity, along with the Chaoul, Tuareg, and Mozabite. This retention of identity is evidence that the Arab-Muslim invaders having succeeded in Islamizing them nevertheless failed to completely arabize them.
2. Khutba is the sermon delivered by the Imam of the Mosque during the Friday Prayer Service.
3. Salafist is an Arabic term that refers to those Muslim thinkers who claim that the only way for Islam to catch up with the rest of the world, is to go back to early Islam, possibly re-establishing the Khilafat (Caliphate.)
Written By Jacob Thomas, Faith Freedom International
source : http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2011/5/657445.html
