Algerian church ordered to cease worship for breaching 2006 law

Chiqui Guyjoco Tuesday, May 17, 2016

A church in Maatkas in Algeria was ordered to close down on April 24 after an official notice charged it of breaching a 2006 law.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika looks on during a swearing-in ceremony in Algiers April 28, 2014. | REUTERS/RAMZI BOUDINA

"The house where church conducts its worship was rented on behalf of the EPA, which has an official agreement from the Ministry of the Interior," Rev. Mahmoud Haddad, president of the legally registered Protestant Church of Algeria (also known by its French acronym, EPA), told World Watch Monitor. The Maatkas church is said to be affiliated with the EPA.

"The majority of churches affiliated to the EPA are in the same situation. They rent rooms or houses to celebrate their worship. Are authorities going to send such notifications to all these churches?" Haddad added.

The 2006 law regulates non-Muslim worship and stipulates that permission must be granted in order for a church to use a building for worship, and that their religious activities can only be legally carried out at these designated premises. However, the government has failed to respond to most applications so church leaders are left with no choice but to rent the buildings and notify the authorities afterwards.

Haddad refers to the 2006 law as a "persecution tool" aimed at regulating all religions except Islam.

"It is an unjust law against Christians, who were denied their right to worship and the opportunity to share the Gospel freely," he asserted. He also argued that this law is in violation of Article 36 pertaining to the freedom of religious worship law in the new Constitution that was passed in February 2016.

The EPA has created a special fund to help affiliated churches in need especially since only 15 out of 45 of the churches own places of worship. Haddad said that the goal is that every church owns its place of worship. Those who don't have designated places, especially in the remote areas, turn to the forest or mountaintops in order to avoid persecutions.

The church in the north-eastern province of Kabylie is only the second case in the year receiving such orders. The first church given the notice in February is located in a town of Ait Djima.