Advocates For The Persecuted

May 28, 2008: (Sources: Open Doors USA, Barnabus Fund) Christian churches in Algeria are under massive attack.

Over the last six months, Algerian authorities have closed half of the Protestant churches in the country. If the trend continues, the Algerian Protestant church will be non-existent by the end of 2008.

Algerian officials have closed 26 Algerian churches by either written order or verbal warning since November 2007. Ranging in size from several dozen to more than 1,000 members, 32 congregations in Algeria belong to the Protestant Church of Algeria, while another 20 small fellowships exist independently. Algeria, a country of 33 million in northern Africa, is home to at least 10,000 Protestants.

Religious Affairs Minister Bu’Abdallah Ghoulamullah has called on Christian groups in Algeria to re-register according to Algerian associations’ law. But Algerian Christians have claimed that the government has blocked them from carrying out the required re-registration of their churches. “The administration offices in Tizi-Ouzou did not want to or could not say which measures to take in order to obtain the ‘certificate of conformity,’” church leaders say.

Nevertheless, authorities require the certificate to show that a church is in line with the March 2006 law governing non-Muslim places of worship. But because these regulations are unclear, churches are closed and services are forbidden. Expressing the Christian faith in a church service, by worship and prayer, has become almost impossible. Earlier this year an Algerian Christian was detained five days for carrying a personal Bible and study books. He was fined $460 and handed a one-year suspended prison sentence. On April 29 a court charged the Muslim Background Believer with “printing, storing and distributing” illegal religious material.

Algeria’s official state religion is Islam, and religious minorities are seen as a threat to the government’s internal affairs. Anyone found trying to convert a Muslim to Christianity can receive a sentence of two to five years imprisonment and given a fine up to $15,430. Christianity has been compared to terrorism, and Muslim schools and mosques have been encouraged to continue the attack that threatens to wipe out the Christian community in Algeria.

Advocates For The Persecuted is joining other organizations and asking for those concerned about deteriorating conditions hampering religious freedom in Algeria to express their concern to the Algerian government, as well as their congressional representatives.

Click here for a sample letter available on barnabusfund.org.

Contact information for the Algerian Embassy in Washington, D.C.:

Embassy of The People s Democratic Republic of Algeria
2118 Kalorama Rd, NW
Washington , D.C 20008
Tel: (202) 265-2800
Fax: (202) 667-2174

If you want to write congressional officials and share your concern regarding the treatment of Christians in Algeria, you may click here for a congressional directory.