Christians Banned From Building Churches in Sudan

No one should be surprised about this inasmuch as the building of new churches is banned by the Quran. 

FROM BBC.CO.UK:

14 July 2014 Last updated at 13:39 ET

Sudan anger at 'church-building ban'

St. Matthew's Catholic Cathedral near the Sudanese capital Khartoum Sudan has a minority Christian population

The Sudan Council of Churches has criticised the authorities for banning the construction of new churches.

Over the weekend, a Sudanese government minister said there were already enough churches to provide for Christians.

The council's secretary-general told the BBC the announcement came after a church was demolished near the capital, Khartoum, this month by town planners.

Sudan is majority Muslim, but officially guarantees freedom of religion.

Following the secession of South Sudan in July 2011, many of Sudan's Christian inhabitants moved to the South.

Shalil Abdullah, a minister of Guidance and Endowments, was quoted as saying on Saturday that the remaining churches were enough for those Christians who stayed in Sudan.

But Rev Kori El Ramli, the secretary-general of the Sudan Council of Churches, said he was surprised by the move as church leaders had always had a good relationship with the authorities.

"We are growing, we need more churches," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme.
'Threatening stance'

Mr El Ramli said town planners were in the process of forcibly moving Christians from a shanty area of Omdurman city - and the church that was bulldozed had been in that suburb.

The new ruling would mean that area where the people were being relocated to - north of the city - would have no church, he said.

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