ALGIERS, ALGERIA (BosNewsLife)-- Five Algerian Christians remained jailed in north-eastern Algeria Tuesday, November 1, after they were reportedly detained this weekend for "worshiping in an unregistered location."
Another Christian, a minor, was released and placed on probation following Saturday's raid in a village near the town of Bougous in north-eastern El Tarf province bordering Tunisia, news reports said.
Christians are not even allowed to worship in the privacy of their own homes:
The arrests were made under legislation introduced in 2006 to regulate the worship of non-Muslims by requiring churches to obtain government permission to hold services, Christians said.
It also states that Christians must worship in recognized buildings, not houses or apartments.
We are called to obey the law as Christians, but this law is just an intrusion of people's privacy.
Even though the government gives the "freedom" for Christians to register their buildings, this legal right is not taken seriously:
Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, noted that “While progress was made earlier this year when the Algerian government permitted the EPA to apply for registration" provincial authorities "are undermining that decision by detaining Christians on baseless charges and denying congregations their...right to worship freely."
Just like in Egypt, Christians have nominal "freedom", but at the end of the day, those freedoms don't count when they want to practice their Christianity.
And we are talking about normal people, not Taliban or Al Qaeda radicals. This is what a normal, average, muslim citizen does.
We better take a second look at what's really happening in these, newly "liberated" countries.
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