09/04/2020 Sudan (International Christian Concern) – Despite great strides forward for the Country of Sudan, Christians continue to fear that they will always be second class citizens. After the coup that toppled the Omar al-Bashir regime in April of 2019, many people believed or hoped that freedom would come to all of Sudan’s people and there have been increasing freedoms since that time. The new transitional government has ended the religious committee that abused its power by demolishing churches. They have increased women’s rights in the country, ended the apostasy death sentence, and returned some church properties.
Yet despite all of these gains, many Christians still fear that they will never gain their rights to worship freely. This week, the government of Sudan released the list of educational classes that will be taught in all primary schools. Among that list were Islamic studies. However, absent from the list was any Christian education. According to Omer Ahmed al-Garay, director general of the National Centre for Curriculum and Educational Research (NCCER), “All the subjects not mentioned are to be considered omitted and will not be taught in schools.” This shows that though the country has made strides toward freedom and democracy, they still hold Islam in higher regard than other religions.
With this release, Christians will likely feel a loss of hope. They will feel like they will never gain their right to freedom of worship without discrimination. This will also force many Christians families to decide whether or not to send their children to school, where their children will be indoctrinated with Islamic teachings. Please pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who continue to suffer at the hands of an unfair and biased government.
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