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State Department reports no churches or Christian schools survive in Afghanistan

No churches or Christian schools remain in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.

“There is no longer a public Christian church,” reads a State Department report on religious freedom. “[Private] chapels and churches for the international community of various faiths are located on several military bases, PRTs [Provincial Reconstruction Teams], and at the Italian embassy.”

Over the last decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan’s new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country, reports CNS News:

The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

In recent times, freedom of religion has declined in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.

“The government’s level of respect for religious freedom in law and in practice declined during the reporting period, particularly for Christian groups and individuals,” reads the State Department report.

“Negative societal opinions and suspicion of Christian activities led to targeting of Christian groups and individuals, including Muslim converts to Christianity,” said the report. “The lack of government responsiveness and protection for these groups and individuals contributed to the deterioration of religious freedom.”



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Comments read comments(3)
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Laurence Ringo

posted October 11, 2011 at 11:24 pm


Is anyone particularly surprised that a nation like Afghanistan has finally divested itself of its Christian population? I’m not;after all,that’s the norm where Islam dominates;you think Saudi Arabia was an accident? That’s what makes Islam’s claim of being a religion of “peace and tolerance”utter and complete nonsense.So,once again,let me state the obvious:Where Islam reigns,democracy cannot.



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Arnie Petro

posted October 12, 2011 at 12:47 am


maybe it is time to pull out of Afghanistan and take our money with us considering that they have been playing us for far too long already.
We can use the money we give them here and our troops would be safer here.



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Richard Johnson

posted October 12, 2011 at 2:05 pm


“We can use the money we give them here and our troops would be safer here.”

Welcome to the anti-war movement. Better late than never.

” As a community organization, I know we work on different things. Does this seem like an issue that we need to be putting our fingers in? I mean, because these are our children that they’re talking about sending over there and shedding their blood, and these are our dollars that they’re taking out of our community, and our programs are going to be cut. So is this something as a community organization we should be doing?” – from PBS story , published in November 2002.



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