Children at a Barnabas-supported Ethiopia has considered itself
a Christian country since the fourth century, and its Christian
roots are sometimes traced back to the Ethiopian eunuch who met
Philip on the road while reading the book of Isaiah (Acts
8:26-40). Today it is the only Christian-majority country in the
Horn of Africa, surrounded by a “sea” of Islam. Islam first came
to Ethiopia in 615 AD when a small group of Muhammad’s early
followers fled there to escape persecution in Mecca. Ethiopia
was considered a place of safety, and numerous Muslims followed
in this first hijra (migration), living peacefully among the
Christians. This relationship changed in the succeeding
centuries as Islam began to spread throughout Africa and
developed a negative attitude to Christians. Muslims comprise
around a third of the Ethiopian population and have generally
lived quite peacefully with the Christian majority. However
Muslim extremism has become increasingly influential in
Ethiopia, as Islamists (for example, from A