Blogger/Jaalala As an evangelical Christian, I find myself concerned with events in the region regarding my religion. Many people say Ethiopia today is almost perfect with religious freedom but I disagree. If there is no religious equality, religous freedom can be dangerous as we have seen the violence already. I can go to the president's office in Addis Ababa or one of his associates, while singings evangelical music about Christ and ask him about organizing a religious event, starting a church etc etc and he will say Yes. But if you go to your local official in most parts of Oromia, nobody will give you their attention. In fact, preach and sing too loudly, and you are likely to get butchered up by extremists, with the local police never arresting the perptrators because they always take one side. Of course all of these problems are isolated and most of Ethiopia is peaceful with near perfect freedom of worship. But one must wonder why the government is not monitoring favoritism and anti-evangelical movements at the local level, even if they are isolated.
When it comes to religous freedom in Eritrea, it is hard to imagine. The only thing I can think of or relate it to is what my parents told me about the persecution during Mengistu Haille mariam in 1980s Ethiopia. At that period, we (Evangelicals) were seen as enemies of the state of Ethiopia, with many facing torture and even death. The situation in Eritrea today seems exactly what happened in Ethiopia before. These Eritreans have de facto become illegal to live. IF I can meet Eritrean President Isayas Afwerki today, at this minute, the one and only question that will come to my mind would be, how can the same evangelicals WHO MADE your state, all of the sudden become enemies of your state?!?
What is happening in Eritrea is very strange because all Ethiopians know that Eritrean evangelicals were the number one groups of Eritreans that fought hard for Eritrea’s independence. Basically they played a big part in the making of the Eritrean state. So when we see Eritrean evangelicals coming back to Ethiopia, people don’t even know how to react. Especially for many evangelicals in Addis Abaaba, Eritrean evangelicals are the poster child or the face of a pure traitor that made Ethiopia landlocked forever. Fortunatly, there is no deep animosity because most of the older Ethiopian Evangelicals know how it feels to be enemy of the state too. For now, Ethiopia is their home away from home for all evangelicals in the horn of Africa.
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