IDEOLOGICAL VIOLENCE TOWARDS THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHIDO CHURCH IN THE POST-1960s

Abstract

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) is one of the religious institutions in Ethiopia. The EOTC has encountered many challenges that caused physical and epistemic violence. This study explores the two historical trends that the EOTC and its believers faced with epistemic and physical violence. The two trends are Marxism and ethnicism. This article argues that Ethiopian political elites have orchestrated Marxism and ethnic ideology inappropriately to analyze Ethiopian contexts in the post-1960s. These trends have caused violence on the EOTC. Investigating these two historical trends is very important as the EOTC is still facing violence. This study concludes that considering the EOTC as the past feudal regimes' tool of oppressing non-Christians and viewing the EOTC as an Amhara's institution are still the perspectives of some radical Ethiopian elites. The study synthesizes the elite's inappropriate use of these ideologies for analyzing some contexts in Ethiopia with the violence caused on the EOTC and its worshipers.