A member of the Sudanese Armed Forces is suspected of setting fire to a Church of Christ building in El Daoka, located approximately 248 miles east of Khartoum. The 20-year-old structure was home to a congregation of 100 people.
According to Morning Star News, a church building in eastern Sudan was reportedly burned down by a man believed to be a Muslim extremist serving in the Sudanese military on Friday. An investigation was underway, according to a church lawyer. The lawyer characterized the attack as a criminal act that infringed on religious freedom and could be penalized with a prison sentence of two to five years.
Church Building in #Sudan Burned Down https://t.co/gD3N9QZcPd Pls retweet #persecution #christianpersecution #religiousfreedom pic.twitter.com/iWlWKBZCYx
— Morning Star News (@morningstarnewz) December 20, 2022
Community Mourns Destruction of Place of Worship
Sudanese Christians have been using social media to demand the arrest of the suspect involved in this incident. As reported by Christian News, Osama Saeed Musa, chairman of the Christian Youth Union, stated on social media, "We strongly condemn this incident and call on the government to investigate and bring the perpetrator to justice." After experiencing progress in religious freedom in Sudan following the end of the Islamist regime under Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the threat of state-sponsored persecution reemerged with the military coup on October 25, 2021.
After Bashir was dismissed in April 2019, the transitional civilian-military government managed to repeal some sharia (Islamic law) provisions, including the labelling of religious groups as "infidels" and the apostasy laws that made leaving Islam punishable by death. However, with the October 25, 2021 coup, Sudanese Christians fear the return of the most repressive aspects of Islamic law. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who had led the transitional government since September 2019, was detained under house arrest for almost a month before being released and reinstated in a power-sharing agreement in November 2021. Hamdok had been working to root out corruption and an Islamist "deep state" from Bashir's regime, the same deep state suspected of orchestrating the October 25 coup.
Also Read: Worshippers Hold Easter Service In Church Building Destroyed By Tornado
Fight for Freedom of Religion of Christians in Sudan
Persecution of Christians by non-state actors continued before and after the coup. Sudan remained at No. 13 on Open Doors' 2022 World Watch List of countries where it is most challenging to be a Christian, with attacks by non-state actors continuing and religious freedom reforms not being implemented locally. The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report states that conditions have improved somewhat with the decriminalization of apostasy and a halt to the demolition of churches. However, conservative Islam still dominates society, and Christians face discrimination, including difficulties in obtaining licenses for constructing churches.
According to USCIRF, in 2019, the U.S. State Department removed Sudan from its Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list. These countries engage in or tolerate "systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom." Instead, Sudan was placed on a watch list. In December 2020, Sudan was removed from the Special Watch List. Before this, Sudan had been designated as a CPC from 1999 to 2018. There are approximately 2 million Christians in Sudan, about 4.5% of the total population of over 43 million people.
Related Article: Religious Freedom Violations Persist Globally, Report Says
