Algerian authorities are cracking down on evangelical churches. The country's minister of religious affairs has equated evangelical protestantism with 'terrorism'.
After closing ten Protestant churches on the grounds that they were proselytising, the Algerian government has threatened to expel Father Hugh Johnson, an American priest based in the northwestern city of Oran for 45 years.
The Algerian government accuses Christian evangelists of taking proselytism nationwide. In Algeria, Islam is the state religion, and the overwhelming majority of Algerians are Sunni muslims. Other faiths can register for official status and are allowed to practice provided they do not recruit converts. But since 2001, North American evangelical priests have been increasingly active.
According to Mustapha Krim, president of Protestant churches in Algeria, authorities in Tizi-Ouzou, capital of Kabylie, recently suspended two churches. He added that at Fort-National, the director of the church was taken into police custody and was ordered to comply with a new law adopted in February 2006 that established stiff penalties for non-muslim religions believed to be proselytising. According to the law, “any person trying to incite, force or lure a Muslim to convert to another religion," faces between two and five years of prison and must pay a fine of 5,000-10,000 euros.
Algerian officials and Muslim leaders accuse North American evangelists of taking advantage of citizens’ social problems to convert them to Christianity, luring them with money and promises.
Christophe Courou, director of relations with Islam for France's Conference of Bishops, wonders how 33 Christian communities can challenge 32,000 mosques across the country. He says: “There is nothing alarming about this. The government is focusing on this issue to cover up its failures. And foreigners are always the scapegoat.”
In a telephone conversation from Kabylie, Krim told FRANCE 24 the 2006 law is "like something from the Middle Ages."
He went on: “It is clear that the problems that Christians face seem to be linked to a deal between the Islamists and the government. It’s time for a public debate on freedom of religion and faith in Algeria as provided in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
