Ethiopia: Governance and Religion

The International Crisis Group published on 22 February 2016 a study titled "Ethiopia: Governing the Faithful." 

Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and Muslims alike have accused the government of undue interference in their internal religious affairs, while the government sees itself as holding the secular line against politicization and extremism.  The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front has shifted from mediating conflict between faith groups to regulating religious practice, especially where there are political or extremist overtones. 

Ethiopia: Muslim-Christian Relations

This posting constitutes a summary of my remarks titled "Ethiopia: Muslim-Christian Relations" made on 16 January 2014 to a group at Bolling Air Force Base in Maryland.

Christianity and Islam in Africa

The highly respected Pew Research Center has published a series of reports on religion that add to our knowledge about the subject in Africa. In 2010, it published a study titled "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa." The study noted that while sub-Saharan Africa has almost twice as many Christians as Muslims, on the entire African continent the two faiths are roughly balanced with 400 to 500 million followers each. Since northern Africa is heavily Muslim and southern Africa is heavily Christian, the great meeting place is in the middle, a 4,500-mile swath from Somalia in the east to Senegal in the west. Click here to read the study on sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2011, the Pew Research Center published a report titled "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population." Click here to read the report.

The Pew Research Center's most recent contribution appeared on 9 August 2012 and is titled "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity." Click here to read the executive summary.