Christianity in Algeria
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Currently, North Africa is primarily Muslim: Islam is the state religion of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. While the practice and expression of other faiths is guaranteed by law, the same legal framework tends to restrict minority religions from actively seeking conversion to their religion, or even building or repairing churches. Converts to Christianity may be investigated and searched by the authorities as well as punished.[2] There is some evidence that there has been an increase in conversions to Christianity among North African Muslims in recent years, even though in many cases the government will not change the religion from Islam on any citizens' identity cards. Despite this, the total number of Christians remains very low relative to the populations of these countries. In 2009, the percentage of Christians in Algeria was less than 2%. In this same survey, the United Nations counted 100,000 Catholics and 45,000 Protestants in the country. [3] Although Christians are a religious minority in Algeria, churches built during French rule can still be found.
Conversions to Christianity have been most common in
In 1996,
History (Catholicism)
Indigenous Christianity after the Arab conquest
The conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic
However, new scholarship has appeared that disputes this. There are reports that the Christian faith persisted in the region from
Local Christianity came under pressure when the Muslim fundamentalist regimes of the
Reintroduction of Christianity during French Colonialism
The
Under
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Algiers
- Diocese of Laghouat (Immediately subject to the Holy See)
During French rule, Christianity was used as a tool of assimilation. French colonizers attempted to convert the Muslim population to Christianity as a form of modernization. Laws were put in place to establish Algerians’ rights as citizens based on religion. The Crémieux Decree of 1870 denied Muslim Algerians full citizenship status while granting local Christian and Algerian Jewish inhabitants full citizenship. Very few Algerians converted because of this law. The religion-based citizenship divides established during the French colonial rule sparked animosity between groups that would impact the stance of minority religions in Algeria for years post-colonial rule.[16]
Christianity after independence
After Algeria became independent in 1962, about 800,000 Pieds-Noirs of French nationality were evacuated to European France. The majority of those who evacuated were Christian or Jewish. Approximately 200,000 Algerian inhabitants of French nationality chose to remain in Algeria. The number of people with French nationality has continued to decrease over the decades. There were approximately 100,000 in 1965 and about 50,000 by the end of the 1960s.[17]
Proselytization of the Muslim population was at first strictly prohibited; later the prohibition was less vigorously enforced, but few conversions took place. The several Catholic missions established in Algeria mostly worked on charitable and relief work, the establishment of schools, workshops, and infirmaries, and the training of staff for the new establishments. Some of the missionaries of these organizations remained in the country after independence, working among the poorer segments of the population. In the early 1980s, the Catholic population numbered about 45,000, most of whom were foreigners or Algerians who had married French or Italians.[1]
Since independence, there has been a rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The 1996 murder of Pierre Claverie, Bishop of Oran was an act of violence by Islamic extremist terrorists against the Christian community.[18] In the same year, seven monks of the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas were killed though it remains uncertain as to who killed them.[19] Pierre Claverie and the seven monks were beatified in a mass also attended by Muslims at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Cross in Oran on 8 December 2018.[20]
Protestantism
Protestants numbered approximately 45,000 in Algeria in 2011, according to more conservative estimates.[21] Figures in 2020 suggest that Protestants make up 0.03% of the country's population (or one in 10 Christians).[22]
Since 2006 missionary outreach among Muslims can be punished with up to five years of prison. The
According to the
Since November 2017, 17 churches, members of the Protestant Church of Algeria, have been closed by the Algerian authorities, who justify these closures by a lack of authorisation from the National Commission for the exercise of non-Muslim worship.[25][26] According to the Protestant Church of Algeria, this Commission has always refused to grant any authorisation to evangelical Protestant communities.[27] The Church of the Full Gospel in Tizi Ouzou, which is described as the largest Algerian Protestant church was closed by police in 2019;[24] in March 2023, a court sentenced the president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), Pastor Salaheddine Chalah, to 18 months in prison for proselytizing on social media, although this was later reduced to non-custodial sentence.
The 2018 report of the Human Rights Commission expressed the committee's concern about the risk of criminalization of non-Muslim activities, the closure of churches and attacks & intimidations against people not practicing Ramadan.[28]
In addition, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief together with various other UN Special Rapporteurs sent two communications to the Algerian government. A first letter, dated 4 October 2018, expresses their concern about "the administrative and judicial barriers faced by members of the Christian minority"[29] and the second, dated 2 December 2020, mentions an "administrative closure campaign".[30] Only the second letter was answered, in two parts, in which the Algerian government stated that "the allegations concerning the situation of Protestants in Algeria are false and unfounded".[25][26]
However, various joint NGO’s and international organization’s statements, including from the world evangelical alliance and the World Council of Churches, have continued to call on the government of Algeria to bring the legal framework on religious minority rights in line with its international obligations on the right to freedom of religion or belief, allow re-opening of all Protestant churches, and overturn convictions of individual Christians.[31][32][33]
Protestant denominations in Algeria include:[34]
- Armée du Salut
- Assemblées de Dieu
- Eglise Adventiste du Séptieme Jour
- Eglise Evangélique Copte
- Eglise Protestante d'Algérie
- Frères Larges
- Anglican Diocese of Egypt
- Mission Baptiste Evangélique
- Mission Biblique de Ghardaia
- Mission d'Afrique du Nord
- Mission Evangélique au Sahara
- Mission Evangélique de Médéa
- Mission Evangélique du Sahara
- Mission Rolland
See also
- Religion in Algeria
- Berber Christians
- Protestantism in Algeria
- Catholic Church in Algeria
References
- ^ a b Deeb, Mary Jane. "Religious minorities" Algeria (Country Study). Federal Research Division, Library of Congress; Helen Chapan Metz, ed. December 1993. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. [1]
- ^ "Echorouk Online - A postal executive in Tlemcen province under security investigation into the shady circumstances surrounding his decision to embrace Christianity". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
- ^ a b "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census | Duane A Miller Botero - Academia.edu". academia.edu. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ^ "Kabylia: Christian Churches Closed by Algerian Authorities". Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. 28 May 2019.
Since 2000, thousands of Algerian Muslims have put their faith in Christ. Algerian officials estimate the number of Christians at 50,000, but others say it could be twice that number.
- ^ "Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada". Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
there is an estimated 20,000 to 100,000 evangelical Christians in Algeria, who practice their faith in mainly unregistered churches in the Kabyle region
- ISBN 9781317233794.
- ^ "U.S. Report on Religious Freedom in Middle East". Wilson Center. 30 May 2013.
some Algerian Muslims who converted to Christianity kept a low profile due to concern for their personal safety and potential legal and social problem
- ISBN 9781608991167.
many as 20,000 to 40,000 Algerians, mostly Berbers, who have become Christian
- ^ *(in French) Sadek Lekdja, Christianity in Kabylie, Radio France Internationale, 7 mai 2001 Archived 2019-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Office of the President | Bethel University". bethel.edu. Archived from the original on 30 July 2001. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ^ The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam C. J. Speel, II Church History, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Dec., 1960), pp. 379-397
- ^ Francois Decret, Early Christianity in North Africa (James Clarke & Co, 2011).
- ^ a b c "The Last Christians Of North-West Africa: Some Lessons For Orthodox Today". orthodoxengland.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ISBN 0852550936.
- ISBN 0-8153-4057-5.
- ^ "Religious Conflicts in Algeria (Christianity)". Algerian Review. 17 January 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ "Pieds-noirs": ceux qui ont choisi de rester, La Dépêche du Midi, March 2012
- ^ "BBC News - Middle East - Algerian court sentences bishop's killer". news.bbc.co.uk. 24 March 1998. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ^ "Algerian army accused in massacre of French monks". France 24. 7 July 2009. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Martyrs of Algeria: A historical day that became an interreligious ceremony - Vatican News". www.vaticannews.va. Vatican News. 9 December 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- ^ "Operation World: Algeria". Retrieved 12 December 2011.
- ^ The ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-28
- ^ "PC (USA) Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study".
- ^ a b US State Dept 2022 report
- ^ a b République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, « DZA 15.03.2021 (5.2020) », 22 janvier 2021 (consulted on 22-03-2022)
- ^ a b République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, « HRC/NONE/2021/SP/6 », 12 janvier 2021 (consulted the 22-03-2022)
- ^ world evangelical alliance, « Algeria: Arbitrary Closures of Protestant Churches and Prosecution of Christians Continue through 2021 », 20 août 2021 (consulted the 22-03-2022)
- ^ United Nations Human Rights Committee, « Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Algeria », 17 août 2018 (consulted the 22-2022)
- ^ UN special rapporteurs, Internal Communication AL DZA 4/2018, 04-10-2018 (consulted the 22-03-2022)
- ^ UN special rapporteurs, Internal Communication AL DZA 5/2020 , 04-10-2018 (consulted the 22-03-2022)
- ^ The World Evangelical Alliance; Middle East Concern; The Protestant Church of Algeria, « Algeria: Allow re-opening of all Protestant Churches », 15-03-2021 (consulted the 22-03-2022)
- ^ The World Evangelical Alliance; Middle East Concern; The Protestant Church of Algeria, « Algeria: Arbitrary Closures of Protestant Churches and Prosecution of Christians Continue through 2021 », 20-08-2021 (consulté the 22-03-2022)
- ^ The World Evangelical Alliance; Middle East Concern; The Protestant Church of Algeria, « Algeria: Allow Re-Opening of All Protestant Churches, Overturn Convictions of Individual Christians », 4-10-2021 (consulté le 22-03-2022)
- ^ The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, p. 57
Translated from fr:Christianisme au Maghreb: Introduction and Christianisme en Algérie sections
External links
- Theology in Africa
- The African roots of Latin Christianity by Henri Teissier, Bishop of Algeria
- Muslims Turn to Christ in Algeria - CBN Report
- Statistics relating to the Catholic Church in Algeria
Further reading
- Vöcking, Hans. "Algeria." In The Encyclopedia of Christianity, edited by Erwin Fahlbusch and Geoffrey William Bromiley, 39–40. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999. ISBN 0802824137