Mereja.Forum

[ethiopianunity]

I really am not interested to get into the trap of religious altercation. But, some of the comments here are bit outlandish!
First Pente is very diverse name and there comes no money that rains or sent from foreign countries. Infact members have to pay tith to church and give donation to sustain their church. The Derge cadres thought pentes were a foreign agents and they ended up incarcerating innocent citizens even killing. That is what is going on in Eritrea. There are people in prison for over 30 years because of similar misconception. It is dangeourous to conceive pentes eat this, feed this, get foreign money etc. If you love your religion no one forces you to convert to another. Changing religion is a personal decision. No body should force no body.
Secondly bad apples are in all corners. In pente, orthodox, Islam and others.
Currently there is a problem because religion is deliberately politicized. The ethnic rulers are exploiting evangelical christianity to their advantage. Pastors and fanatics are exploiting their relation with government to secure land and money favor which is against the rubrics of evangelical christianity.
Regulation of religious fringe groups by church/or other religious authorities and perhaps by secular law for defemation, money +property mismanagement or outright deception is something that should be considered.

However hate for a particular religion from any party is not acceptable. Law abiding citizens should have the right to exercise their religion in “peaceful” way with out interfering in the rights of others. There is no reason to advocate to uproot pente because of some individuals/groups that probably don’t have deeper understanding of the bible.

The country has enough headache already and add religion to the complex equation, then the fire will keep burning even brighter than now. Orthodox and evangelicals have the same origin and name (christians) only differing in canons. Instead of uniting in common things and narrowing differences peacefully (if possible), fighting is not holly thing to consider. Personally I would not get into that. No body will be able to create a single country with single religion!!

Odie

I agree to what you said but tell me Protestant have been deliberately made to increase and take power in Ethiopia since Tplf and deliberately began nt made to overpower Orthodox that was endogenous. This is politicization . It is being prepared to create war with Orthodox as well. Proof enough there is foreign funded to convert Ethiopians. If followers are funding it, unlike the Orthodox, why are pastors targeting the poor for conversion? In Orthodox you see clear live donations taking place, but you don’t see in Protestant churchs clear enough there is foreign funding. Considering the Western influence in Ethiopia and Bush jr born again ,had world funded to spread Protestant throughout developing countries. Since Tplf rule, Protestants were hand picked to open businesses, work in natural resources etc so that money is into the hands of the Protestants, shunning Orthodox. They are also hand picked to be officials and take office and hardly you see any Orthodox in govt or private office , huge discrimination against the Orthodox has been taking place, the faith that united population, against colonialism. What you are equalizing is foreign faith not indigenous to the nation to take over that makes open for take over Ethiopia.

The frank answer is 'no" and most likely "yes". What does that mean? TPLF to some extend favored protestants because TPLF had a logic that said, whoever did not oppose me is not my enemy and can work with that. So, protestants did not oppose TPLF, and TPLF thought they are not thieves and reliable, trustworthy to be employed for office and it followed that policy. However, as protestants are humans, TPLF expectation was not always true. During Derg era, protestants were prosecuted hence TPLF gave more freedom (partly to appease the west by showing there is religious right/democracy in Ethiopia bla bla..). I don't believe, TPLF deliberately promoted Protestantism as TPLF authorities mostly were orthodox believers themselves. But because of their hate to Amhara, which was wrongly associated with EOC, there may be a bit of truth in that. Remember also there is a thinking among ethnonationalists that Ethiopia froze in time and space because of EOC traditions and Amhara, which clearly is leading to abuse and ethnic cleansing or genocide [All ethnonationalists, especially Tigre and Oromo blaming Amhara for all their failures. By same token, the shabiyans believed their trouble was Amhara/Ethiopia and EOC related and fought over and over but when they got so called freedom, they froze in time and space by themselves instead of becoming Singapore-I hope they now understand the problem is within themselves]. With regard to OPP, well it is different. Firstly, the Oromuma ethno-fascists has a so-called renaissance agenda which is tearing Ethiopia apart and tailoring it to fit Oromuma and Tigre ethnonationalist. For the so-called renaissance, who did they want to tear? Simple. Addis Ababa, in the name of corridor development, tearing the culture (Doro Wot also a victim in this ], EOC (the big pillar of the country) and Amhara. You don't have to be a witch to figure out this. They have single handedly changed all signs of the orignal Ethiopia. Attack on the flag, attack on the lion figure as statue, on Ethiopian airlines log, all logos of ministerial offices in the country and many other things have been deliberately torn. So, no question Ethiopian Orthodox has suffered gravely in the past over 30 years. Wherever ethnonationalists attacked, EOC was attacked. Protestantism was abused in the sense, it appeared as a state religion for the antifascists because the PM, his wife and many other office holders were presumably from protestant. Their loyalty was abused by both Zenawi and current PM. Of course, the system provided them land for church and even sometimes money which were unthinkable in past Ethiopia. The problem is that will not go well with the protestant churches because that is buying them an enemy as a religion to the hated system and perception that they are receiving Favour. As a protestant myself, the protestant churches should show restraint, go back to their evangelical work than mix up in politics as that is not the goal of the great commission. The great commission is to spread gospel to all corners of the world, not to benefit from government or strike a deal with politicians. Remember prosperity gospel is not the mainstream evangelical protestant doctrine. It is a wrong doctrine. Propsperity Party emanates from the same prosperity gospel that makes it a wrong political ideology.

Odie,

When l began the top reading your comment, there was contradiction but now l understand it was because you revealed you are Protestant too. I agree though you said it should be apolitical. I doubt it and you have to remember where Protestant originate from and in relation to who Ethiopia was and is why Protestant has to be radical in Ethiopia. I think you know deeply inside the reason . Regarding freezing in time about Orthodox, may think like Axumezana, Orthodox being archaic, in that case, why follow 2000 years of faith as religion following Christ, is that not archaic, froze in time? Is Christ anything to do with modernity? Advancement? Asset collection? Comfort? It is about humanity, period. How about other nations such as Greece or Russia with Orthodox faith, did they froze in time as well ? I am not arguing with you by the way, just replying my opinion based on your insightful comment.

Tplf is Orthodox? Or communist and atheist like Shabia? Tigray being devout Orthodox, don’t you think Tplf should be arch enemy of Tigray as it is destroying their faith and promoting Protestant?

There is Prosperity evangelical movement in the West, which is completely diverts from the true teaching of Christ and nothing to do with being prosper. Because the West being capitalistic, they use any means to create money, and religion is one of them. If that is considered Christianity, l am not sure