Crushing Christians in Eritrea

The East African nation of Eritrea has aptly been named “the North Korea of Africa.” It is a brutal persecutor of Christians, just like North Korea. It has attempted to erase religious freedom and crush the churches, just like North Korea. This country in the Horn of Africa finds the concept of freedom to worship God and obey an authority higher than the megalomaniacal egomaniac Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki something that must be destroyed, just like North Korea and its megalomaniacal egomaniac President Kim Jung Un.

 One of the most flagrant examples of Eritrea’s egregious persecution of Christians is the twenty-year imprisonment of seven Eritrean pastors – still without charges or legal counsel or a courtroom appearance after all these years. It was especially to raise a voice for these seven that a demonstration took place on Thursday, August 21 at the Embassy of Eritrea in Washington, DC.

 An initiative of the Religious Liberty Partnership’s #Voices4Justice, the small but influential demonstration was one of many that took place across the world. At the DC rally representatives of religious freedom defender organizations Jubilee Campaign USA, 21 Wilberforce, Christian Freedom International, and Katartismos Global were joined by others including two Eritrean gentlemen who traveled from Delaware to participate and blogger/activists. The demonstration was covered by The Christian Post reporter Ryan Foley, as well.

 But the cases of the seven pastors, The Reverend Gebremedhim Gebregiorgis; Dr. Tekleab Menghisteab; Dr. Kuflu Gebremeskel; Pastor Haile Nezge; and Dr. Futsum Gebrenegus, imprisoned since 2004, and the Reverend Kidane Weldou and Rev. Meron Gebreselassie, imprisoned since 2005, are not the only egregious miscarriages of justice. Hundreds and hundreds of Eritrean Christians have been persecuted, beaten, arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for their faith in the past 20-25 years.

 Early on, the crushing of Christians was explained as an attempt to maintain stability amidst internal political problems and regional conflict by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. But as the crushing continued through the next two decades, reaching more and more denominations, it seemed likely that the Eritrean government was seeking to stamp out expressions of true Christian faith wherever they are.

 At first the government-orchestrated persecution was focused on the Protestant evangelical and Pentecostal churches (Pentes). The Eritrean Orthodox Church became concerned that growing numbers of young people were leaving for Pente churches. They accused these churches of heresy.

 In response, in 2002 the Eritrean government closed all but Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran-affiliated Evangelical Church of Eritrea churches, along with mosques (but even that changed under the tyranny of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki). The government issued a decree requiring registration by all others. And no attempts at such registration were successful.

but it soon spread.