Religious Prejudice Still Prevails in 'Moderate' Morocco
Morocco is slowly opening up to Christianity, but deep-seated norms and traditions continue to limit the movements of its members. The government has been credited for passing laws to protect minorities, but the social stigma attached to converts compromises their safety.
Estimates by the American State Department put the number of Christians between 2,000 to 6,000 — most of which are Protestants. The growth of Christianity is attributed to the drafting of its 2011 Arab spring-inspired Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and favors tolerance and coexistence.
While Moroccans have become open to other people's faiths, this rule is limited to foreigners as locals who converted to Christianity are viewed with disdain. This is the reason why many Christians prefer to keep their newfound faith a secret and meet in small groups to worship, so as not to attract attention.
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One such Christian who experienced persecution is Mustapha, who didn't want to give his full name. He talked about his faith in an online video sometime in the middle of 2015 after keeping it to himself for two decades. "Family and close friends turned their backs on me, I was shunned at work. My children were bullied at school," he said.
Last month, Mustapha and other Moroccan converts petitioned the National Council of Human Rights to end the persecution of Christians. "We demand the right to give our children Christian names, to pray in churches, to be buried in Christian cemeteries and to marry according to our religion," Mustapha said.
While the Constitution assures religious freedom, Article 220 of the penal code prescribes a punishment of six months to three years in prison to "anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion." This prohibits evangelizing to Muslims.
"The people do not accept converting from one's religion and are opposed to it," Hussein Daoudi, a deputy in the Islamic Development and Justice Party said. For him, "as long as [Christianity] remains on a personal level, then there is no problem. The problem arises at the social level. Problems arise when proselytizing occurs or when children or teachers come to school wearing crosses. Clearly this cannot be tolerated."
