Africa

"If you are forcing me to marry a man who is a Muslim simply because of my decision to become a Christian, then I will rather have you kill me than accept to marry this man."

Evangelical Christians in Algeria faced another tense day Friday, March 31, after the Algerian parliament approved a law banning the promotion of other religions than Islam, BosNewsLife learned.

Florence Chuckwu, a Christian teacher at the Government Day Secondary School in the capital of Bauchi state, went to work on the morning of February 20 with no hint that her attempt to exercise classroom control would threaten her life and lead to the killing of more than 20 believers.

Several key Christian human rights groups have launched a united campaign against what they see as "widespread religious repression" in the Eastern African nation of Eritrea where they claim at least 1,700 Christians are detained for their faith.

A presidential order that establishes new conditions for the exercise of non-Muslim religious practice was passed in the Algerian Ummah council (Senate) on Monday 13 March, and in the Algerian National Assembly (Parliament) on 15 March. As a presidential order, the text would not have even been open to debate.

At least 11 people were killed in three Nigerian cities Friday, February 24, as fighting between Christians and Muslims further escalated, rising the overall death toll to nearly 160, several news reports said.

A Nigerian state imposed a curfew late Monday, February 20, after new religious riots reportedly killed at least 10 people, while the death toll from a weekend of attacks against Christians was put at over 50.

Nigerian Christians on Sunday, February 19, mourned those killed in violent protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, which claimed at least 16 lives.

School authorities closed a nursing institution here yesterday following the suspected kidnapping of a Christian student by Islamic militants on Friday (February 10).