Persecution in Ethiopia
- Who? The traditional church and Islamic extremists
- How? Churches burnt, Christian homes attacked, believers threatened and beaten
- Why? Both persecuting groups see evangelicals as competitors for political dominance, and as evil cults
The Christian Church in Ethiopia is experiencing massive growth, but many
members of the Orthodox church are joining evangelical fellowships, sparking
violent reactions from some traditional Christians.
Additionally, Islamic extremists increasingly target Christians and Islamists are urging Islamisation of the state by penetrating Christian areas with bribes and a mosque-building programme.
Relentless drought is causing one of the worst famines in the region's history. Christians and non-Christians alike suffer both physical and spiritual hunger in this Marxist nation.
Some 40% of the population of 62 million is at least nominally Christian, particularly in the north where the majority belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Union Church which is related to the Coptic Church.
The southern provinces are mostly Muslim. 45% of Ethiopians overall are Muslim.
There are also animists and Jews.
Tradition of persecuting Christians
Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the world's oldest nations. There are over sixty references to Ethiopia in the Bible.
Ethiopia is well known for Haile Selassie's imperial regime, which lasted from 1930 to 1974 when he was ousted by Communist Mengistu Haile Mariam. It is now a Federal Democratic Republic.
There was severe persecution during the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. However, in 1991, both the national Ethiopian church and foreign missions took advantage of improved religious freedom and opportunities for evangelism.
Since then, Muslim groups and Orthodox Christianity have united in a stance against "sheep-stealing" by evangelical groups, with a sharp rise in harassment and discrimination over the last few years.
In many areas, Islamic Sharia law is implemented through the local court system.
Thousands are coming to the Lord, the majority of whom are young people without jobs and thus without income.
When young Muslims convert to Christianity they are often expelled from their homes or even considered dead by their families.
Converts from traditional to evangelical Christianity also experience persecution from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which comes mostly from family members and society.
Parents are afraid of the traditional community and are forced to expel their children from home.
Converts also face the loss of their jobs. Once they choose Christ, people won't even greet them, not even their family.
The evangelical fellowships have many homeless youngsters whom they have to support. They have to rent houses for them, and provide food, clothing and all their basic needs plus educational materials.
They are mostly high school and university students. They have nothing and thus cannot contribute anything to the church.
Harassment
While there are no established extremist groups in Ethiopia perpetrating acts of violence, there are incidents of harassment - often as racially motivated as religiously.
Tensions have erupted into harassment, intimidation and violence between Muslims and Christians in the Oromiya and Somali regions.
These actions are sometimes fuelled by the historic perception that Christians are elitists.
Tensions also exist between Orthodox churches and those belonging to Pentecostal or Protestant churches. In 1997, an Orthodox priest was arrested for inciting violence during a peaceful rally staged by Pentecostals and Protestants.
Drought and Famine
Ethiopian Christians are also suffering as their country faces a terrible famine. Ethiopia gets little rain and people cannot save enough water during rainy seasons for times of drought.
Most
years, Ethiopia has to rely on food aid from other countries as it rarely
grows enough to feed all its people. This year, however, the short rainy
season failed to supply enough water to produce a decent harvest.
As a result of the poor conditions, not only are the people's crops suffering, but their livestock as well. Unless veterinary services improve, the livestock death toll will continue to rise as the cattle's immune systems grow weaker resulting from poor conditions and common diseases.
Experts think this famine will be worse than the famine of 1984 which killed nearly a million people. The number facing starvation could rise to 15 million in early 2003 if other countries don't help out.
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