REGISTRATION GRANTED TO ALGERIA'S CHURCHES

For the first time in 20 years, the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) has been given government permission to officially register its congregations throughout the country. The decision came 3 months after the governor and police commissioner in the province of Béjaia ordered 7 EPA churches to close for "exercising religious worship other than Islam without authorization." Similar orders had been issued in the past, enforcing a 2006 law prohibiting Christians from religious practices that conflict with the government's interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law). In spite of such opposition, the Algerian Church has grown from just a handful of national believers two decades ago to an estimated 80,000. (Religion Today)