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Libya is a major seedbed for Islam in Africa. Its leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi , has longstanding ambitions to spread his religion throughout the continent. His government uses the oil wealth of Libya to fi nance the promotion of Islam elsewhere, and the staterun Islamic university trains Muslim clerics from non-Arab countries to promote its version of Islam in their own contexts.
Yet the Islam that Libya promotes is not extreme. Although Sunni Islam is the state religion, the government strongly opposes militant Islamism, which it perceives as a threat to security, and forbids Muslim practices that confl ict with its interpretation of sharia law. All religious activity is carefully regulated by the state, and there is no law guaranteeing religious liberty. But non-Muslims are free to practise their faith largely without harassment provided that they do not engage in activities that are judged to be political.
The Christian community in Libya comprises only some 3% of the population, and it is composed almost entirely of expatriates, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. Christian worship is largely unrestricted, apart from a limitation of one church per denomination per city. However, evangelism among Libyan citizens is forbidden, and the government’s surveillance networks actively pursue offenders. There are a few Libyan converts from Islam to Christianity (only the Lord knows how many), but they are very vulnerable.
