ICC Note:
Christians in Sudan continue to express outrage over Sudan’s July decision to ban any and all new construction. Relegated to lives of economic hardship, social discrimination, and informal second-class citizenship, Sudanese Christians suffer immensely at the hands of their mostly-Islamic peers, and increasingly radically Islamic government.
08/10/2014 Sudan (The Christian Century) – Christians in Sudan frequently face arrests, impromptu questioning, and expulsion. But conditions worsened after the government announced a ban on the construction of new churches.
Shalil Abdullah, the Sudanese minister for guidance and religious endowments, made the announcement in July, sparking criticism from top Christian clerics who warned of shrinking worship space in the mainly Muslim and Arab north.
South Sudan became an independent nation in 2011, and many Christians moved to that country, which has a large Christian population. But a sizable number remained in Sudan.
Abdullah argued that there is no need to grant plots of land for new churches since the existing ones are enough.
Kori Elramla Kori Kuku, general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, said the government’s intentions were shocking and misleading.
“We have the right to have new plots of land and building of new churches,” he said. “We need the churches for the growing of Sudanese Christians.”
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