Adventist church recognized in Eritrea

[LynnDel]

Religious restrictions loosening in Eritrea

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

A sliver of hope widened a bit for Christians in Eritrea recently as the government officially recognized another Protestant group after years of persecution.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the fourth Christian denomination to gain governmental recognition. The others are Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran groups. Eritrea is west of Sudan and northwest of Ethiopia.

According to a news story from Release Eritrea, a non-governmental human rights organization, the head of the Eritrean delegation to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights said the registration process is complete and the Seventh-day Adventists will be operational as soon as the bureaucratic processes are finished.

“Naturally I am delighted that the government has now indicated its willingness to recognize and register minority faiths in Eritrea,” said Berhane Asmelash, director of Release Eritrea. “However, I am concerned about the very notion that churches which have had recognition previously are required to reregister—a requirement that does not seem to be applicable to the four main religious groups enjoying recognition.”

The move comes as Christians in unrecognized churches have faced harassment, mistreatment and indefinite detention by the Eritrean government since 2002, when officials ordered the closure of all Christian churches that were not Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Evangelical Lutheran.

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