Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on June 18, 2020
👉 Nobel Peace Prize = License for Genocide
The current genocidal PM of Ethiopia is proudly sponsored by the Luciferian Occident & Orient, so the Ethiopia blood sacrifice assures Satan will keep him in power.
Since the Crypto-Muslim and an Oromo ethno-nationalist Abiy Ahmed Ali came in 2018 to power, there was a large scale attack in which 1000 orthodox Christians and their priests and bishops were murdered and around 50 churches burned down. This is another level of coordinated Oromo Muslim attack on Ethiopian Christians, and this kind of large scale attack has never happened in Ethiopia since the 16th century.
The massacred Orthodox priests didn’t deserve this! In this day and age It is always very dangerous to set up churches in Islamic regions even in countries where Muslims are a minority. Uncolonized, in its long history, Ethiopia has always been staunchly Orthodox Christian since Biblical times and defeated many Islamic armies and others who tried to conquer it. However, lately many Ethiopians are worried the direction their country is moving under their new, pro-Western and pro-Arab prime minister. Many Ethiopians think that Saudi Arabia and a US-backed coup has taken place in their country in 2018.
Orthodox Faithful, Prelates call to ‘Prepare for Martyrdom’ in Response to the Unending Jihad in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, with its long history and colorful traditions, has become almost synonymous with the identity of Ethiopia itself. Now, a spate of church burnings has raised the religious and political temperature.
What or Who is Behind this?
Ethiopia is one of the world’s most religious countries, in which about 98% of the population claim a religious affiliation. Hence the shock over churches belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) – an organization and faith that is integral to the idea of Ethiopian-ness – being burned to the ground, sometimes with their priests inside them.
It comes at a time when ethnic tensions are already sky high and have already resulted in much blood spilled. Ethnic-related strife has always been present in Ethiopia, but it has been bedevilling the country even more so, it appears, following the initially much-lauded reforms by Abiy Ahmed, after he became Prime Minister in early 2018.
During the first half of 2018, Ethiopia’s rate of 1.4m new internally displaced persons (IDPs) exceeded Syria’s. By the end of last year, after further ethnic-related clashes, the IDP population had mushroomed to nearly 2.4m – and remains close to that figure.
There is a feeling of siege among many followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The continued burning of churches is already leading to a wider distrust within society and could be a time-bomb.
Also, in eastern and southern Ethiopia, many people associate the Orthodox Church with northern Ethiopia, so it has already deepen political polarization.
Since July 2018, about 50 churches have been attacked, with more than half of them burned to the ground like this one. Some of the attacks have also been corroborated by US-based Christian groups. But the wider world, including the Orthodox one, remains silent.
Unique Role of EOTC
About 60% to 70% of Ethiopia’s 110m population follow the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Christian churches. Muslims make up around 25% of the population – with Protestants, Catholics and adherents to indigenous tribal religions making up the rest.
But it is the EOTC that rules supreme in terms of cultural and psychological impact in the country. It is impossible to talk about Ethiopian history without the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The church had an invaluable role in protecting the territorial integrity of Ethiopia from foreign aggression. The church was also a target of foreign invaders because they knew that it is impossible to conquer Ethiopians without destroying the church. That is why the church means so much to Ethiopians. There is no aspect of Ethiopians’ lives where religion in one way or another doesn’t have a role.
As a result, Ethiopian identify has become inextricably bound up in the EOTC, with the Ethiopian Orthodox faith evolving over the centuries into a religion that embraces culture, politics, flag, identity and nationalism, all put in one package.
Historically, Ethiopia is a state where diverse groups have excelled in relatively living together in harmony. Ethiopia is one of the few countries where Christians and Muslims live together peacefully with mutual respect and proximity.
They are a people who give precedence to their peaceful co-existence as human beings and as Ethiopians; they don’t harp on their religious differences. Sadly, religious differences are causing havoc around the world these days.
But that doesn’t mean Ethiopia is immune to pressures and competition on a larger scale –attacks on Christians have occurred since the 1990s, according to members of the EOTC – hence rising concerns that the increase in church burnings since Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 indicates Muslim extremism is gaining a foothold in Ethiopia.
If the Church burnings continue and Christians retaliate, this will be a huge setback to the peace that has co-existed between the faiths and could potentially result in a new conflict leading to millions more Ethiopians being displaced. Ethiopia cannot afford a religious conflict at a time when its very survival is in question.
Money from the Gulf region has been pouring into the country to build mosques, Islamic schools,banks and pushing the Wahhabi form of Islam to Ethiopian Muslims since the early 2000s. Wahhabism is a more strict and conservative Islamic doctrine and religious movement, which is backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Both countries have shown an increased interest in Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa region in the past few years.
The burning of Churches in Ethiopia is foreign, and we can only think this extreme view has been exported to the country.
“It is horrific and unbelievable to think monks and priests were burnt alive in such a holy place as a church. We believe, ultimately, that Saudi Arabia’s and UAE’s interest in Ethiopia is both political and religious, and there’s no doubt external extreme views of Islam are having an impact in the country.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his administration have not addressed the targeting of church burnings, nor presented a plan to safeguard churches and Christians in the areas where they are being attacked.
There is even a growing movement among his Oromo people, who were at the center of sustained protests leading to the emergence of Abiy and his so-called reforms, for an entirely separate administrative body of the EOTC dedicated to the Oromo.
Over a year after the ascent of a new prime minister in Ethiopia bred hope for reform, bursting ethnic tensions are sending the country into a spiral of violence that is leaving churches and worshipers subject to property damage and murder.
Aggressive protesters across Ethiopia’s Oromia Federal State launched several violent attacks against non-Oromos and Orthodox Christians residing in the state, displacing millions, killing at least 1000 people, leaving thousands seriously wounded, and burned numerous homes and business ventures of non-Oromos.
Orthodox Churches and Orthodox believers were singled out (in many areas Orthodox Oromos were also targeted). In the towns of Dire Dawa, Nazret,Debre Zeit, Arsi Negele, Shashemene, Ambo, Jimma, Bale Robé, the areas surrounding Harrar, and the outskirts of Addis Ababa, ethnic riots and the violent attacks took on an ugly Islamic aspect.