In America, where human rights are sacred and no one is above the law, it is hard to believe that in other countries these basic rights are nonexistent. The Constitution protects freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The Puritans came to America looking for peace and freedom to worship. It is hard to believe that there are many countries in our modern world where there is no freedom of speech or freedom of religion, just like it used to be in the 17th century. The world has made progress regarding human rights, yet many countries refuse to join in.
Religion is supposed to be between a human being and God; it is a personal feeling and belief that gives people comfort and hope. Why would the government interfere between a believer and God, choosing their religion and punishing them if it does not conform to what the despotic and dictatorial power wants them to be?
The power of the dictatorship and the lack of human rights have grown so big that it even controls faith and citizens’ relationship with God. In some Gulf countries, it can cost you your life as an autochthonous person for being a Jew or a Christian, whether born as a Jew or a Christian or converted to it.
In North Africa, from Egypt to Morocco, Jews and Christians have been living for thousands of years, since antiquity, approximately the 6th century BC, the Roman time, and even the Babylonian time with the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The Mizrahi Jews and the Sephardic Jews who fled the Inquisition, as well as the Muslims, shared the land and God.
Christianity existed since the Numidian times, even before Saint Augustin became a monotheist and a Christian. The first missionaries came not only from Europe but also from Jerusalem and the Levant, the birthplace of monotheism. In a previous French colony, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in peace, just as in Cordoba, the capital of Al-Andalus. People were friends and neighbors, and the town square often had a mosque, a church, and a synagogue facing each other, where the faithful worshipped the same God.
After independence, that was confiscated by the group that authored a coup against the first independent and free government of the time; it became hard to be a Jew or a Christian or even a free Muslim. Religious schools were closed, and places of worship were confiscated by the government, and Islam became the only religion of the state. The country started with a military coup and shifted to the left under communism, with the USSR as a model. Flourishing agriculture was bankrupted; exit visas were created, shelves were emptied, and food shortages, water outages, intentional penuries, corruption, and embezzlement followed. All part of a communist strategy to control everything and everyone, including people’s thinking. Having an opinion became a crime, and religious freedom disappeared. Even when the republic changed to a less left-leaning regime in the late seventies, the dictatorship remained, and the government still controlled people’s lives, including their religious rights.
Synagogues disappeared, churches became rare, and worshipers often used back doors to stay discreet. The autochthones who were Jews or Christians had to hide and deny their faiths in public. The Christians were mainly Roman Catholics, but recently some of the population has embraced Protestantism through the Evangelical Church. As a result, in 2006, a law was made public stating that the government monitors citizens’ religious activities, and sharing the Christian faith with a Muslim and proselytizing were forbidden by law and would lead to fines and prison time. As a result of the non-voted law, people were arrested, fined, and condemned to prison, including a pastor in 2021, and 47 churches were closed. We have a hard time believing this happened in the 21st century, not Medieval times.
While visiting the country in 2026, Pope Leo XIV said:
“The future belongs to those who do not allow themselves to be blinded by power or wealth, and those who refuse to sacrifice the dignity of their fellow citizens for the sake of personal or collective gain.” Pope Leo XIV
“Authorities are called not to dominate but to serve the people and foster their development”. Pope Leo XIV
“Justice will always triumph over injustice, just as violence, despite all appearances, will never have the last word.” Pope Leo XIV
“The future belongs to men and women of peace.” Pope Leo XIV
“We must educate people in critical thinking and freedom, in listening and dialogue, and in the trust that leads us to recognize in those who are different fellow travelers and not threats.” Pope Leo XIV
“Africa knows all too well that people and organizations that dominate others destroy the world, which the Most High has created in order that we might live together.” Pope Leo XIV
The government calls itself Muslim, but the Quran preaches tolerance, calls the Jews and the Christians the People of the Book, and says to respect them.
“Do not argue with the people of the book unless in the best way and say: We believe in what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to you. Our God and yours is one, and to him we have submitted.” Quran 29:46
Religion is a calling of the heart; it is strictly personal, and freedom is a right as much as the right to live. The male tyranny made many Muslim women convert to Christianity because of Muslim men’s misogyny and the way they treat them, a treatment forbidden by Islam itself. Neither the People of the Book nor women are victims of Islam; they are victims of the ignorance and despotism of Muslims. Islam forbids violence and attacking people for their faith, not even the non-believers in God, as stated in the scripture:
“Say, ‘O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I will never worship what you worship, and you will never worship what I worship. You have your religion, and I have mine.” Quran 109.
Religion is supposed to unite human beings and not separate them; it means human brotherhood, not enemies fighting over who is right and who is best.
“O humanity! Indeed, we created you from a male and a female and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most pious among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware.” Quran 49:13
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