HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
came to
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
in the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
era. According to historian
Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centur ...
what is now Mediterranean Algeria was fully Christian by the fifth century. A notable Berber Christian of Algeria was
Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
(and his mother
Saint Monica Monica ( – 387) was an early North African Christian saint and the mother of Augustine of Hippo. She is remembered and honored in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, albeit on different feast days, for her outstanding Christian virtues, partic ...
), important saints in
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
. Christianity's influence declined during the chaotic period of the Vandal invasions but was strengthened in the succeeding
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
period. After the
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
invasions of the 7th century, Christianity began to gradually disappear.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 The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...
.'

/ref> Currently, North Africa is primarily Muslim:
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
is the state religion of
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
,
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
,
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
and
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
. 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. 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 The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
counted 100,000
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and 45,000
Protestants Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
in the country. 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
Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of ...
, especially in the
wilaya A wilayah ( ar, وَلاية, wālāya or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu and fa, ولایت, ''velâyat''; tr, vilayet) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes fr ...
of
Tizi-Ouzou Tizi Ouzou or Thizi Wezzu (, Kabyle: Tizi Wezzu) is a city in north central Algeria. It is among the largest cities in Algeria. It is the second most populous city in the Kabylie region after Bejaia. History Etymology The name ''Tizi Ouzou' ...
. In Tizi-Ouzou, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%. Christians have at times been subjected to religiously motivated attacks. A 2015 study, estimated 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. In 1996,
Pierre Claverie Pierre-Lucien Claverie, OP (8 May 1938 – 1 August 1996) was a French Catholic prelate who was a professed member from the Order of Preachers and served as the Bishop of Oran from 1981 until his murder in 1996 by Islamic extremists. He was ...
,
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
of
Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
, was assassinated by
terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. This murder occurred soon after that of seven monks of the Trappistes of Tibérine, and of six nuns. This terrorist act was part of a general trend of violence during the
Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various I ...
in the 1990s, commonly known as the Black Decade. During this time, between 100,000 and 200,000 Algerians lost their lives.


History (Catholicism)


Indigenous Christianity after the Arab conquest

The conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic
Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
between AD 647 and 709 effectively ended Christianity in North Africa for several centuries. The prevailing view is that the Church lacked the backbone of a monastic tradition and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the
Donatist Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and the ...
heresy that contributed to the earlier obliteration of the Church in the present day
Tamazgha Tamazgha ( Berber: Tamazɣa, Arabic: تامازغا) is a fictitious entity and toponym in Berber languages denoting the lands traditionally inhabited by Berbers coined in the 1970s by the Berber Academy in Paris. The region claims the geographi ...
. However, new scholarship has appeared that disputes this. There are reports that the Christian faith persisted in the region from
Tripolitania Tripolitania ( ar, طرابلس '; ber, Ṭrables, script=Latn; from Vulgar Latin: , from la, Regio Tripolitana, from grc-gre, Τριπολιτάνια), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province o ...
(present-day western Libya) to present-day Morocco for several centuries after the completion of the Arab conquest by 700 AD. A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in Qal'a in central Algeria. There is also evidence of religious pilgrimages after 850 AD to tombs of Christian saints outside of the city of
Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of
Muslim Spain Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
. In addition, calendar reforms adopted in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of
Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...
, which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome. Local Christianity came under pressure when the Muslim fundamentalist regimes of the
Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire ...
and
Almoravids The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...
came into power, and the record shows demands that local Christians of Tunis convert to Islam. There are reports of Christian inhabitants and a bishop in the city of
Kairouan Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by t ...
around 1150 AD - a significant report, since this city was founded by
Arab Muslims Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...
around 680 AD as their administrative center after their conquest. The indigenous Christian population in
M'zab The M'zab or Mzab ( Mozabite: ''Aghlan'', ar, مزاب) is a natural region of the northern Sahara Desert in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. It is located south of Algiers and there are approximately 360,000 inhabitants (2005 estimate). Geolog ...
persisted until the 11th century. A letter in Catholic Church archives from the 14th century shows that there were four bishoprics in North Africa, admittedly a sharp decline from the over four hundred bishoprics in existence at the time of the Arab conquest.
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
Christians continued to live in Tunis and
Nefzaoua Nefzaoua (نفزاوة) is a region of south-west Tunisia, bounded by Chott el Jerid to the west, the Grand Erg Oriental to the south and the Dahar plateau to the east.


Reintroduction of Christianity during French Colonialism

The
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
was reintroduced in Algeria after the French conquest, when the Diocese of Algiers was established in 1838. As of the last census in Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1,050,000 non-Muslim civilians (mostly
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
) in Algeria (10 percent of the total population including 130,000
Algerian Jews The History of the Jews in Algeria refers to the history of the Jewish community of Algeria, which dates to the 1st century CE. In the 15th century, many Spanish Jews fled to the Maghreb, including today's Algeria, following expulsion from Spai ...
). Under French rule, the Catholic population of Algeria peaked at over one million. The country was divided into four dioceses, including one archdiocese: *
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Algiers ) is the metropolitan see for the ecclesiastical province of Algiers in Algeria. History * August 10, 1838: Established as Diocese of Algiers from Diocese of Islas Canarias in Spain * 1838: United with Diocese of Iulia Caesarea * July 25, 186 ...
** Diocese of Constantine ** Diocese of Oran * 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.


Christianity after independence

After Algeria became independent in 1962, about 800,000 ''Pieds-Noirs'' of French nationality were evacuated to
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an 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."Pieds-noirs": ceux qui ont choisi de rester
La Dépêche du Midi ''La Dépêche'', formally ''La Dépêche du Midi'', is a regional daily newspaper published in Toulouse in Southwestern France with seventeen editions for different areas of the Midi-Pyrénées region. The main local editions are for Toulouse, ...
, March 2012
Proselytization of the Muslim population was at first strictly prohibited; later the prohibition was less vigorously enforced, but few conversions took place. The several Roman 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 Roman Catholic population numbered about 45,000, most of whom were foreigners or Algerians who had married
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
or
Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...
. Since independence, there has been a rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The 1996 murder of
Pierre Claverie Pierre-Lucien Claverie, OP (8 May 1938 – 1 August 1996) was a French Catholic prelate who was a professed member from the Order of Preachers and served as the Bishop of Oran from 1981 until his murder in 1996 by Islamic extremists. He was ...
, OP, Bishop of Oran was an act of violence by Islamic extremist terrorists against the Christian community.


Protestantism

Protestants number approximately 45,000 in Algeria, according to more conservative estimates. A 2015 study, however, estimated 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. This small population generally practices its faith without government interference but incidences of persecution have been recorded. Missionary groups are permitted to conduct humanitarian activities without government interference as long as they are discreet and do not proselytize openly. Since 2006 missionary outreach among Muslims can be punished with up to five years of prison. The
Protestant Church of Algeria The Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA french: Eglise protestante d'Algérie) is a federation of Protestant churches from the Reformed and Methodist traditions established in 1972 in Algeria. It is officially recognised by the government of Algeri ...
is a
united church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...
formed by the
Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
and
Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
with about 10,000 members.World Council of Churches
Regional Members: Protestant Church of Algeria
/ref> The Protestant Church of Algeria is one of only two officially recognized Christian organizations in the country. According to the ICC, most Christians meet in homes, to protect themselves. The country's Minister of Religious Affairs has called the
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
churches "dangerous." 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.République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, �
DZA 15.03.2021 (5.2020)
», 22 janvier 2021 (consulted on 22-03-2022)
République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, �
HRC/NONE/2021/SP/6
», 12 janvier 2021 (consulted the 22-03-2022)
According to the Protestant Church of Algeria, this Commission has always refused to grant any authorisation to evangelical Protestant communities. The latest report of the Human Rights Commission, dating from 2018, 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. 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" and the second, dated 2 December 2020, mentions an "administrative closure campaign". 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". However, various joint NGO’s and international organization’s statements, including from the
world evangelical alliance The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is an interdenominational organization of evangelical Christian churches, serving more than 600 million evangelicals, founded in 1846 in London, England, United Kingdom to unite evangelicals worldwide. WEA ...
and the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
, 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. Protestant denominations in Algeria include:The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, p. 57 * Armée du Salut * Assemblées de Dieu * Eglise Adventiste du Séptieme Jour * Eglise Evangélique Copte * Eglise Protestante d'Algérie * Frères Larges *
Anglican Diocese of Egypt The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria is a province of the Anglican Communion. Its territory was formerly the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. On 29 June 2020 the diocese was elevated to the status of an eccles ...
* 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

*
Berber Christians The name Early African Church is given to the Christian communities inhabiting the region known politically as Roman Africa, and comprised geographically somewhat around the area of the Roman Diocese of Africa, namely: the Mediterranean littoral ...
*
Protestantism in Algeria Protestants are a religious minority in Algeria. The small Christian community generally practices its faith without government interference. The Protestant Church of Algeria, a Reformed Church, likely has tens of thousands of followers.Catholic Church in Algeria The Catholic Church in Algeria is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Prior to independence, Algeria was home to a million Catholic settlers (10%). Some Moroccans of Berber (mostly Kab ...


References

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


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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Christianity In Algeria Christianity in the Arab world Berber Christians