"The birth, death and resurrection of the Algerian Church,and present day persecution of Algerian Christians"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Jun 14, 2008 at 16:57

To sTs

North Africa was a stronghold of the early Christian church, with those such as Clement of Alexandria, ~150 to 215AD, a Christian apologist and missionary theologian to the Greek cultural world, Tertullian who lived in Carthage in what is now Tunisia ~200AD, a writer of impeccable Christian orthodoxy, and Origen of Alexandria, ~185 to 254AD, who became the third head of the school of Alexandra, taking over from Clement, Origen was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant of the leaders of the early church, taking over from Clement at the age of only 18.

It seems that the Gospel must have reached Cyrene (in present-day Libya), soon after the day of Pentecost.

"………………….Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

Acts of the Apostles 2:7-12

"Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus."

Acts of the Apostles 11:20

By 200 AD there well established, flourishing churches in what is now, modern-day Algeria.

One of the most influential leaders of the early church was Augustine, a Berber, born in 354 AD in Thagaste (Souk-Ahras in present day Algeria). A great theologian, philosopher and writer, in 396 AD he became Bishop of Hippo (Annaba in present day Algeria).

Despite having survived several bouts of persecution under the Roman Empire, the Christian Church in the whole of North Africa (apart from Egypt), was eventually extinguished by the advancing tide of Islam. In 670 AD, Arab Muslim forces established a garrison at Quiaraywan (Qayrawan in present day Tunisia), and in 700 AD, the territory of what is now modern Algeria came firmly under Arab control.

The historic record is patchy, but we know that in the ninth century AD, there were still Christians in the major towns of Algeria, although they were no longer numerous. In 986 AD, there was still a Christian community with a church building at Tlemcen, and a good sized Christian community existed at Ouargla.

By the middle of the eleventh century AD, the number of Bishops in the whole of North Africa was reduced to five, whereas there were perhaps forty at the time of the seventh century Arab invasion, and by the late eleventh century AD, there were only two Bishops left, one at Bougie (Bejaia) in Algeria. In 1114 AD there was still a Bishop in Bougie, but it is not clear whether he was still there in 1151 AD, when the Algerian born Muslim commander, Abd al-Mumin conquered the city. Just 8 years later however, Christianity was finally extinguished in North Africa, when Abd al-Mumin conquered Tunis (in present day Tunisia).

Thus, 1159-1160 is considered to be the date in which the original indigenous Christian church in Algerian was finally destroyed.

In the 1970's, a number of Algerian Muslims became Christians, and gradually, small fellowships independently grew up around the country, such that in the 1980's, the number of Christians was probably a few hundred.

At the same time, an Islamist movement was gaining in popularity, under the leadership of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which was legalized in 1989. Elections held in 1992 would have resulted in a victory for the Islamists, but the army intervened to annul the results, leading to a civil war in which an estimated 100,000 people were killed.

The FIS and the even more violent Armed Islamic Group (GIA), committed such atrocities in their war against the secular Algerian regime, that Islam became very negatively perceived by many, which may have caused some to become more open to considering Christianity, and a wonderful period of church growth began, with even former terrorists becoming Christians, several of whom are now church leaders.

The civil war period between 1992 and 2000, was very difficult for Christians, and the growing Algerian church operated underground for many years, but then, with the end of the civil war, came a remarkable change. With peace, came religious liberty, but the period of freedom has been brief. While many people considered Christians made a positive contribution to Algerian society, Islamists were demanding that the government "do something" about all the new churches, and now it has; a new set of regulations signed on 28^th.February 2006, by President Abdelaziz Boutiflika, severely threatens the Algerian Christian Church.

The new regulations are self-contradictory, in that the preamble (article 4), states that "It is forbidden to use religious affiliation as the basis for discrimination towards any person or group of persons." However, the regulations then go on to do just that, discriminating in numerous ways against the religion of Algerian non-Muslims, who, for the most part are Christians.

As Algerian Christians face up to the likelihood of persecution, it seems to be illegal to even own materials "likely to shake the faith of a Muslim," and the case of Habiba Kouider which I have referred to in my previous postings, shows this can even result in a Christian being arrested and put on trial for carrying a Bible.

So much for telling me to "Be realistic for once."

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".