by Salim Mansur ALGIERS, ALGERIA - Notre Dame d’Afrique sits on
top of a cliff overlooking Algiers. It was completed in 1872 and
since then has been one of the landmarks of the Algerian
capital, its neo-Byzantine style architecture with an impressive
dome standing imperially over a city that still reflects,
despite its present shabbiness, the legacy of France. The view
from here of the city below is magnificent, and surveying the
scene before me it becomes obvious the French chose this spot
for the church to stand as a symbol embracing North Africans as
part of their civilizing mission. Behind the altar they
inscribed the words, “Notre Dame d’Afrique priez pour nous et
pour les Musulmans.” (“Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for
the Muslims.”) The Church now stands practically empty, guarded
by a contingent of armed police. It symbolizes today something
entirely different from what the French had once imagined. Its
emptiness speaks of how beleaguered is Christianity, or any
other minority faith, not only in