Christianity in Algeria

The basilica of Notre Dame d'Afrique in Algiers.

Christianity came to North Africa in the Roman era. Its influence declined during the chaotic period of the Vandal invasions but was strengthened in the succeeding Byzantine period, only to disappear gradually after the Arab invasions of the seventh century.

Today, North Africa is primarily Muslim; Islam is the state religion of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. While the practice and expression of other faiths is guaranteed by law, the same legal framework tends to restrict them insofar as overt proselytising is concerned. Although the current number of Christians in North Africa is low, churches built during the French and to a lesser extent Italian rule can still be found. There is some evidence that a number of North African Muslims have converted to Christianity in recent years. The total number of Christians remains very low relative to the populations of those countries. The percentage of Christians in Algeria is less than 2% (2009). In 2009, the UNO counted 45,000 Roman Catholics and 50,000 to 100,000 Protestants in the country. Christianity is growing faster in Algeria than anywehre else in the Arab World.

Conversions to Christianity have been most common in Kabylie, especially in the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou. In that wilaya, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%.

Christians have at times been subjected to religiously-motivated attacks. In 1996, Mgr Pierre Claverie, bishop of Oran, was assassinated by Islamists. This murder occurred soon after that of seven monks of the Trappistes of Tibérine, and of six nuns. It is worth noting that during that era, commonly known as the black decade, between 100,000 and 200,000 Algerians lost their lives.

Fate of indigeneous Christianity in northwest Africa after the Arab conquest

The conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate between AD 647–709 effectively ended Catholicism in Africa for several centuries. The prevailing view is that the Church at that time lacked the backbone of a monastic tradition and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the so-called Donatist heresy, and this contributed to the earlier obliteration of the Church in the present day Maghreb. Some historians contrast this with the strong monastic tradition in Coptic Egypt, which is credited as a factor that allowed the Coptic Church to remain the majority faith in that country until around after the 14th century AD.

However, new scholarship has appeared that disputes this. There are reports that the Roman Catholic faith persisted in the region from Tripolitania (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 Catholic saints outside of the city of Carthage, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of Arab Spain. In addition, calendar reforms adopted in Europe at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of Tunis, which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome.

Local Catholicism came under pressure when the Muslim fundamentalist regimes of the Almohads and Almoravids came into power, and the record shows demands made that the local Christians of Tunis to convert to Islam. We still have reports of Christian inhabitants and a bishop in the city of Kairouan around 1150 AD - a significant report, since this city was founded by Arab Muslims around 680 AD as their administrative center after their conquest. A letter in Catholic Church archives from the 1300s shows that there were still four bishoprics left in North Africa, admittedly a sharp decline from the over four hundred bishoprics in existence at the time of the Arab conquest. Berber Christians continued to live in Tunis and Nefzaoua in the south of Tunisia up until the early fifteenth century, and the first quarter of the fifteenth century, we even read that the native Christians of Tunis, though much assimilated, extended their church, perhaps because the last Christians from all over the Maghreb had gathered there.

Reintroduction of Christianity in the 19th Century

The Roman Catholic Church was reintroduced in Algeria after the French conquest, when the diocese of Algiers was established in 1838. 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 were concerned with 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 or Italians.

Under French rule, the Catholic population of Algeria peaked at over one million, but most of them left following Algeria's independence in 1962. In recent years, there has been a rise of Islamic fundamentalism, culminating in the 1996 murder of a Pierre Claverie, bishop of Oran[2]

The country is divided into four dioceses, including one archdiocese.

• Archdiocese of Alger
  • Diocese of Constantine
  • Diocese of Oran
• Diocese of Laghouat (Immediately subject to the Holy See)

The diocese of Algeria was established in 1838 with the conquest of Algeria by French colonial troops. All proselytism among Muslims has long been prohibited and the role of the Catholic Church is limited to acts of charity.

Protestantism

Protestants number some 50,000 to 100,000 in Algeria. This small population generally practices its faith without government interference. However, converts from Islam can be exposed to the risk of attack by extremists. 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 is a Reformed Church with about 10,000 members. The Protestant Church of Algeria is one of only two officially recognized Christian organizations in the country. Most Christians meet in homes, to protect themselves, according to ICC. The country's Minister of Religious Affairs has called the evangelical churches "dangerous".

Protestant denominations in Algeria include:

• Armée du Salut
• Assemblées de Dieu
• Eglise Adventiste du Séptieme Jour
• Eglise Evangélique Copte
• Eglise Protestante d'Algérie
• Frères Larges
• 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

This is a translation of

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
• Statistics relating to the Catholic Church in Algeria

Please note that Christianity did not come to Algeria during the Roman era but North Africa actually brought christianity to the Romans! Remember, the first martyrs of the Church were Christian Berbers from North Africa. Look up the history of Perpetua to better understand the relation between North Africa, Christianity and Rome.