Here’s what you seem to get when you mix a hard core, fundamentalist view of Islam with government.
Police issued written orders for three Algerian churches to cease activity this week, bringing to 19 the number of congregations told to shut down since November, an Algerian Protestant leader said.
In addition to the three churches, registered under the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), two independent congregations were verbally ordered to close their doors, EPA President Mustapha Krim said.
The church closures come amid a flurry of antagonistic media articles warning of campaigns by Protestants to “Christianize” Algeria.
“Muslims do not accept seeing their holy symbols attacked,” Religious Affairs Minister Bu’Abdallah Ghoulamullah said this week in reference to a “Christianization campaign” targeting the country. …
In addition to restrictions on church building and worship locations, the 2006 religion law also bans evangelistic material and attempts to convert Muslims to other religions. As most Algerian Christians are converts from Islam, the law could be interpreted to make nearly all Christian churches in the country illegal.
Police detained two Algerian Christians traveling by public bus from Tizi Ouzou to Bejaia the evening of March 21 for carrying 11 Bibles.
Authorities held the two men for “proselytism” after finding the Bibles while searching their bags at a routine check-point in Beni Ksila, collectifalgerie.free.fr website reported. One Christian was carrying a personal Bible, while the other, a church council member in Bejaia, was carrying 10 Bibles. …
“I equate evangelism with terrorism,” Religious Affairs Minister Ghoulamullah said in an article in L’Expression on February 12.
“I’ve asked the imams to remind the people that pastors don’t come to Algeria because they love the country, or because they love Christianity,” news service France24 reported Ghoulamullah as saying. “They come here to create minorities, which would give foreign countries a pretext to interfere in our internal affairs.”
What ever happened to all the stories that we read about civilization flourishing in Muslim countries? Whatever happened to the reasonable, rational discourse and the free-flow of ideas?
What this tells me more than anything is that the leaders and imams in Algeria (and other countries that attack other religions in this fashion) are afraid of the strength and power of the Christian religion. They hold their people in thrall by outlawing ideas and keeping them ignorant of options. Those people who have a strong faith and who are convinced of the truth of their beliefs don’t need to make it illegal to think.
The truth of the matter is that Ghoulamullah and the other bullies like him know that if they allowed Christianity to stay, it would flourish and many Muslims would be converted.
