Christianity Thrives in Marxist Ethiopia : Churches Are Still Filled Under ‘Scientific Socialism’

A young Ethiopian, a hammer-and-sickle emblem pinned to the breast pocket of his party’s uniform, or “comrade suit,” bowed low as he kissed the heavy silver cross held out by a bearded bishop.

Like about 10,000 other faithful, he braved the early morning downpours and the sticky mud outside Addis Ababa’s St. Gabriel’s Church to celebrate the monthly feast of the saint for which the church is named.

Other party members stood among ordinary worshipers outside the church to collect alms from the Christian flock--bread for the poor and colorful velvet umbrellas for the priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who carry them as a sign of their authority.

A few miles away, next to the headquarters of the Workers’ Party of Ethiopia, dozens of passers-by engaged in a daily ritual of kneeling on the pavement and kissing the outside walls of Trinity Church.

“We are Marxist-Leninist, but we believe people have the right to practice religion,” said Berhanu Bayeh, Ethiopia’s foreign minister and a member of the country’s Soviet-style Politburo.

‘Scientific Socialism’

Thirteen years after President Mengistu Haile Mariam toppled the imperial government, adopted “scientific socialism” as the philosophy of state and became Moscow’s closest African ally, religion, especially Christianity, is still deeply ingrained in Ethiopia.

Every Sunday, Addis Ababa’s six dozen churches and many of the 15,000 others throughout the country are filled to capacity.

Every January at Epiphany, the observance of Jesus Christ’s baptism, thousands of pilgrims gather in the 14th-Century, rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, 220 miles north of the capital.

Founded in the 4th Century, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the oldest branch of Christianity in Black Africa, and has strongly influenced the country’s history, art and culture.

“She is the mother of the people,” said Abebaw Jegzaw, secretary general of the church.

Calendar and Alphabet

The church gave Ethiopia its 13-month calendar, its alphabet, recorded much of the country’s history on illuminated goatskin manuscripts and instilled a strong sense of national pride in the tribally disparate country.

The church has a vast number of home-grown saints and conducts its services in Gheez, a long-forgotten language used only for religious ceremonies. It also has retained many Judaic practices, such as circumcision and respect for the Sabbath.

It is in full communion with the four other Oriental Orthodox churches--the Coptic, Syrian, Armenian and Indian--that split from western Christianity in the 5th Century.

Unlike other Christian denominations, the Oriental Orthodox churches believe that the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ are inseparable.

The Ethiopian Orthodox church claims about 28 million members out of a total population of 47 million, while the Islamic faith is estimated to have about 17 million Ethiopian followers.

Airlift of Black Jews

The remainder is made up of Roman Catholics, Protestants and a small group of black Jews known as Falashas, who drew international attention when more than 10,000 of their number were secretly airlifted to Israel at the height of the 1985 drought.

Berhanu admitted that more people go to church today than before the 1974 revolution, but said the party has “a duty to show them all this mystification of religion is absurd.”

“People here are still very uneducated,” he said. “Through education they will realize they are mistaken.”

“I was born a Muslim, I used to believe in Allah. Now, through education and exposure to reality, I don’t take these things seriously any more,” said Ali, a one-time beggar in Addis Ababa, who now lives in a government-run resettlement camp.

Sitting in his traditional mud, wattle and wood hut, Ali, chairman of his local peasants’ association, said he is now a Marxist-Leninist and believes only in “work production.”

‘Religion Interferes’

Nine years’ worth of “discussion forums” at the camp taught him that “religion interferes with productive activities,” he said.

“Party cadres come here and teach us about the principles of socialism and what it means to be a socialist person in society.”

But Ali may be an exception.

Deep-rooted religious feeling throughout the country has forced the government to form an uneasy alliance with the church.

“They know state atheism could bring about a counterrevolution,” a Western diplomat said.

But diplomats also said they believe that authorities are trying to harness the church and limit its influence by appointing party sympathizers to key church positions.

Abebaw admitted that the government nominated him secretary general of the Orthodox Church--the top administrative position. But he pointed out that the practice was the same under the emperor and strongly denied being a party member or a Communist.

“I am not a Marxist-Leninist, I am a theologian,” he said. “Ideologically, they are not reconciled, they will never be reconciled.”

But “each have its own social ministry” and can peacefully coexist, he said.

“The church does not contradict proclamations and legislations which benefit the fundamental rights of the people because she is a church of the masses,” he said.

Abebaw said the Orthodox Church was “never persecuted” by the Marxist government.

After the 1974 revolution, the much smaller Lutheran Church appeared to be singled out when the authorities closed many of its 2,000 churches and arrested dozens of pastors. They have now been freed but a number of churches remain closed.

The only open move against the Orthodox Church came in 1975 with the nationalization of its lands, which were estimated to total up to 30% of Ethiopia’s cultivated areas.

But since then, the government has paid the church an annual compensation fee to cover the salaries of its patriarch, bishops and priests.

“Under the emperor, it was only the imperial family and those in high positions in the church who reaped the benefits from the land,” Abebaw said. “The ordinary priests were invited once a year to a feast at the palace. That’s all they got.”

Haile Selassie, who called himself the “Elect of God” and the “Defender of the Orthodox Faith,” played a predominant role in church affairs and was its official patron.

Much of his authority during his 50-year rule was derived from his claim to being a direct descendant of Solomon and the biblical Queen of Sheba.

Portraits of the emperor and imperial flags still adorn the walls of Trinity Church in Addis Ababa. The deacon of the church still refers to the late Haile Selassie as “His Imperial Majesty.”

Even before he took power, Mengistu was cautious in his dealings with the church and did not move against the throne until the patriarch endorsed the revolution in 1974.

In June last year, the leaders of the Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic and Evangelical churches in Ethiopia were asked to stand as candidates in parliamentary elections. Only the Catholic archbishop declined, while the three others were elected members of the country’s new parliament.

When Mengistu decided in January of last year that the time had come to prepare a new constitution to replace the one abolished after the revolution, Mengistu included the four religious leaders in the drafting committee.

The result was the inclusion in the constitution, adopted in July, of an article guaranteeing freedom of religion, as long as it does not contradict “the interests of the state and revolution.”

“It is minimalistic,” said a Western diplomat.

“But at least it is not followed by another paragraph, like in the Soviet constitution, saying it is also the freedom of the state to carry out anti-religious propaganda,” he said.