Since the early 1990s, an estimated 100,000 Algerians have died in a civil war that pits the Algerian government against Islamic extremists. The extremists have targeted not only the government and the military, but also anyone expressing what they call “non-Islamic” views, like journalists and foreigners.
As you might expect, at the top of their list of targets is Algeria’s Christian community. In 1996, seven Trappist monks were kidnapped and then beheaded by Islamic militants, an act that Pope John Paul II called “despicable.” Less than three months later, as if to emphasize their disregard for world and Christian opinion, they assassinated the Catholic Bishop of Oran.
All of this is part of their promise to “eliminate” all “Jews, Christians” and other non-Muslims from Algeria.
You would think that such a campaign would deter conversion to Christianity, but reports out of Algeria suggest just the opposite.
Since the beginning of recorded history, a people called the Berbers have lived in North Africa. The Berbers, who are referred to in ancient Egyptian records, were originally pagans, but many of them eventually embraced Christianity in the first centuries after Christ as the Gospel spread across Roman North Africa.
Then, in the seventh century, the Muslim army conquered North Africa. Within a century, the Christian presence there, a presence that produced theologians like Saint Augustine, disappeared. The Berbers, like nearly everyone else in North Africa, became Muslims.
Now that’s beginning to change. A recent issue of MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY tells us “people of all ages are converting to Christianity” in Kabylie, the heart of Berber culture. Despite obstacles that forced pastors to work in “absolute secrecy,” “the number of [Berbers] who have embraced Christianity has grown rapidly.”
What lies behind this spate of conversions? Well, the media plays a role. The magazine reports that radio broadcasts originating in France have played “an important role in the legitimization of Christian doctrines.”
But the conversions also point to a profound dissatisfaction with Islam among Berbers. The QUARTERLY cites the deterioration of the “image of Islam” as a factor in “the rise of conversions to Christianity.”
Berbers, you see, have seen the atrocities committed in the name of Islam in their own communities, and they had to ask the question that many Westerners don’t dare ask: Does the problem lie with extremists, or is the problem inherent in Islam itself?
The Berbers have seen the impact of Islam on the lives of ordinary people, especially women, and they have summed up the difference between the two faiths in startling fashion: “Christianity is life; Islam is death.” These aren’t my words; they are the words of numerous Berber converts.
These Berber conversions should serve as a reminder to pray for Muslims. Islamist extremists are causing Muslims to rethink what they believe. As a result conversions to Christianity are occurring in North Africa, Iran, and elsewhere.
Christianity’s message of God’s love and grace through the cross stands in such marked contrast to Islam that people are choosing — they’re choosing life over death.
For further reading and information:
“Christianity Is Life,” MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY, summer 2001.
The Middle East Forum, a think tank, works to define and promote American interests in the Middle East. Learn more by visiting its website .
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Copyright © 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. ‘BreakPoint with Chuck Colson’ is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.