Background:

Cornelis Hulsman was invited by Rev. Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund in the U.K. to attend a Christian conference in Cyprus that dealt with the position of Christians in various predominantly Muslim countries.

The countries in focus are Algeria, Uganda, Malaysia, Nigeria, Lebanon and Ethiopia; Algeria and Malaysia are prominent Muslim countries and Lebanon is a Muslim country with a sizable Christian minority. The first part of the recording concerns Algeria, in particular, the civil war that began in 1991 between the government and militant Islamists. Second, Uganda’s religious persecution is brought to light whereby the nation’s predominant Christian population is suffering from many issues including the rise in fundamentalist Islam. Malaysia with its extremely strict regulations of censorship causes difficulties for non-Muslim groups to practice their religion or getting access to religious literature. Additionally, Nigeria, like Lebanon has very little difference between the percentage of Christians and Muslims in the country, suffers from interreligious clashes, whereby Islamisation plays a significant role. The issue of Islamisation is again an issue in the predominantly Christian country, Ethiopia, where there are Christian sectarian tensions and Islamic groups taking advantage of this in order to convert the Christians to Islam.

Side A:

Algeria

In September 1989, the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut - FIS) officially became a political party. Approximately a year later, FIS received more than half of Algerian votes in the 1990 local governmental elections. When the party appeared to be leading the upper hand again during elections in January 1992, a military coup ousted the party and was then officially banned two months later.

Due to the threats from the fundamentalists, many churches were forced to close down (temporarily or permanently) until the situation would cool down. A number of Christians had to flee the country, many of whom went to France. Some of the Catholic priests and nuns whom had devoted their lives to their faith had been killed cold blooded, simply because of their faith or nationality (most were French) according to a local bishop in Algeria.

As a result, many Christians developed a strategy of fasting and praying as a form of peaceful settlement. 16 November, 1995, the elections were held in Algeria, and this marked a day when many Christians continued their religious strategy as an attempt to ask God for help and not have the fundamental Islamists take over. Their prayers were answered and the churches rejoiced.

Uganda

Approximately 85.2% of the population in Uganda is Christian. However, churches in Uganda have gone through difficult times by means of religious persecution, but also a rise in fundamentalist Islamists, according to local Ugandan Bishop James (last name unidentified). One pastor may earn 5 dollars a month and the churches have very low budgets.

Many years, churches co-existed peacefully with Muslims without any issues, but Islamist militant groups are creeping into Uganda including Jamāʿat al-Tablīghī (translation: group of intimidation). Jamāʿat al-Tablīghī is a youth group that has been threatening Christians causing Christian-Muslim relations to be tense in Uganda.

Furthermore, churches also face other problems considering poverty, diseases and refugees. It is not uncommon in Uganda for soldiers to rape women or for women to go into prostitution as a result of poverty. Due to this, AIDS is quite prominent in Uganda says Bishop James. Many villages suffer from AIDS, and the churches find it difficult to look after these people considering their low budget as well. Additionally, many Rwandan refugees have situated in Uganda as a result of the Rwandan Genocide as well as many Southern Sudanese refugees due to the Sudanese Civil War. Hundreds of thousands refugees have fled to Uganda and the church does not know how to respond to this overwhelming change in demographics. Besides that, the bishop argues that the government of Al-Kharṭūm thinks the Ugandan government is funding the SPLA and due to such speculations, Sudan is now considering to invade Uganda.

Malaysia

Malaysia is predominantly a Muslim country with an Islamic government, but also consists of many other religious populations, of which 8% are Christian. According to a local bishop, Christian relations with non-Christians are good ever since an interreligious body was created that compromises non-Muslims in Malaysia. By means of this body, top spiritual leaders of different religions meet on a regular basis for dialogue, in which they adopt an attitude of working together for the good of the nation of Malaysia. This dialogue is not meant for pursuing the religion’s mission of spreading the word or converting people, but solely about finding solutions to problems the religions face with each other and with the Islamic government. Common problems are places of worship, education, immigration and burial grounds.

This dialogue is essential considering the many restrictions in Malaysia and according to some, trails of religious persecution. There are restrictions about preaching the gospel, restrictions regarding importation of books, and so on. One difficulty many non-Muslim groups face, is the pervasive effect of censorship in Malaysia, it is so strict that even a number of words and phrases are banned. Islamic words such as Allāh, Nabī or Salām ʿAlīkum are banned to non-Muslims solely and they are penalised if they use these words. This is very difficult for the Sikh community for instance, who uses the same word as the Muslims for God (Allāh). They are now forbidden to use a word of their own faith. Additionally, as aforementioned, the importation of literature is very difficult as books that include the forbidden words are not allowed to enter Malaysia.

Side B:

Nigeria

Josiah Idowu-Fearon, an Anglican Nigerian Bishop whose spiritual responsibility covers the area of Sokoto, Nigeria, shares his viewpoints on Muslim-Christian relations in Nigeria. He argues that there are approximately 200,000 Anglican Christians in Sokoto. The majority of the people in the South (85%) are Christian while in the North, the majority are Muslim (statistics according to Idowu-Fearon). The middle part of Nigeria is a mixture of both religions, and overall Nigeria is about 50/50 Christian/Muslim. Idowu-Fearon argues that because of this more or less equal amount of people practicing the two religions, many clashes occur in Nigeria. Politically, Nigeria is going through a rough period as well, because of the military who desire to govern the nation, and the politicians who are fighting back. The hanging of nine people, (three weeks prior to the interview), by the military caused outrage across Nigeria and beyond. One of the victims; Ken Saro-Wiwa (famous Nigerian poet/activist) was also part of the incident. As a result of the public outrage, Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations.

Economically, Nigeria is struggling as many businesses are facing bankruptcy causing Westerners to be reluctant of investing in Nigeria’s poor economy. Due to the failing economy, poverty is a big issue in Nigeria and many highway armed robberies have been reported.

In terms of Islamisation, Nigeria is dealing with the spread of Islamic groups such as Daʿwah al-Islāmīyyah, whom are also backed by many Muslim countries. Due to the interreligious clashes in Nigeria, Idowu-Fearon advocates a need for dialogue. According to the bishop, thousands of lives were taken because of lack of understanding of the other’s religion. Therefore the Anglicans in Nigeria encourage “dialogue for life” or “dialogue for survival” – to live in peace and harmony with fellow Nigerians who are Muslims. Although Idowu-Fearon’s obvious support for dialogue, he elaborates upon the difficulties they face in North Nigeria, where establishing dialogue is very much flat. The Christian population in the North is no more than a minority, which is why they have not been having dialogue officially like in the middle of Nigeria where Christians and Muslims meet officially and regularly.

Lebanon

Rita Ṣawāyyā is a Lebanese Orthodox Christian and represents the Human Rights Movement in Lebanon. The role of the organisation is to defend not just the Christians situated in Lebanon, but everyone as a human being. She argues that the organisation has been very helpful in facilitating dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

Ethiopia

A local Ethiopian Christian argues that Ethiopia is going through perhaps the most difficult period yet. Momentarily, the nation is divided on basis of ethnicity, which threatens the country of becoming totally disintegrated and encourages Christians to also divide. According to the man, different Christian denominations are not cooperating, and as a result five respected bishops have already left the country.

Besides the sectarian tensions within Christianity in Ethiopia, there is also the issue of Islamisation. Although Ethiopia is predominantly a Christian country, other Islamic nations have allegedly taken advantage of Ethiopia’s hostile situation in order to convert Christians to Islam in an attempt to turn Ethiopia into a Muslim country. There has been an increase in the building of mosques and schools that offer Islamic education, and the local is afraid of Ethiopia turning into Saudi Arabia. He argues that this will in fact happen, unless Christian denominations unite. He also mentions the religious persecution of non-governmental Islamic organisations helping Muslim Ethiopians, but neglecting the Christians.