Religious Freedom

Here is how the Ethiopian government organ, Walta, re-arranged "International Religious Freedom Report 2008" put out by US State Department:

The U.S Department of State said the Ethiopian government respects religious freedom in practice ... The law at all levels protects this right in full against abuse, either by governmental or private actors ...The Government, through the Ministry of Justice and regional state authorities, continued to support the Interfaith Peace-Building Initiative, the report added.

And here is the actual document before Walta transformed it into a propaganda tool.

Protestants reported inequities in treatment and access by local officials when seeking land for churches and cemeteries. Evangelical leaders felt that as perceived newcomers, they remained disadvantaged in the allocation of land compared with the EOC and the EIASC. The EIASC ... was favored for mosque locations ...The Meserte Kristos/Mennonite Church, Mekane Yesus Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the EIASC made no progress in securing the return of property confiscated by the Government under the Derg regime between 1977 and 1991. The Seventh-day Adventists sought the return of two hospitals, among other property. Read on.

Interestingly, the US State Department continues to have its statistics all wrong regarding religious demography in Ethiopia. Here is a previous post where we tried to address this issue.

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