As Algeria prepares to host Pope Leo XIV for the first time from April 13-15, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has released a new report documenting what it describes as systematic discrimination, church closures, and legal harassment targeting the country’s small Christian community.
“Christians are bearing the brunt of a policy that imposes a single Arab and Muslim national identity,” the ECLJ said in a press release emailed to Zeale News April 9. “Religious diversity has no place in [President Abdelmadjid] Tebboune’s Algeria.”
The report, based on investigative work and interviews with Algerian Christians, argues that government policy leaves no room for religious minorities. More than 150,000 Christians live in Algeria — most of them Evangelical Protestants, alongside a small Catholic community largely made up of foreigners — yet they operate in a legal gray zone without official recognition for non-Muslim worship.
The report identifies several points that demonstrate that, in Algeria, Islam “is not merely the majority religion: it is a central component of national identity and political organization.” It highlights the following evidence:
A 2006 decree requires prior government approval for any non-Muslim place of worship, effectively making such worship impossible. Authorities have rejected all applications to open new Christian places of worship.
A place of worship may exist legally only if it is affiliated with an approved religious association, yet a 2012 law makes registering such associations nearly impossible. As a result, many Christians gather in private homes, outdoors, or online.
Authorities impose criminal penalties — including up to five years in prison and heavy fines — for “proselytizing,” an offense that has been used to prosecute pastors and lay Christians for distributing religious books, holding prayer meetings, and posting Christian content online.
Authorities have brought dozens of recent cases against Christians, according to the report.
The report calls for concrete reforms, including restoring freedom of conscience in the constitution, reopening closed Protestant churches, legally recognizing religious minorities, and abolishing the criminal provisions of proselytism and blasphemy.
“On the eve of this historic visit by the Pope,” the ECLJ said in its release, “many hope that it will contribute to real progress for freedom of conscience and religious pluralism in Algeria.”
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