Today, intolerance took over. The ancient church of Saint Hilarion was removed from its vocation and was seen shifted into a town museum. It was built in 1900, and is located in the northeastern part of the city, next to the Rehbet-Ezzitoun market and the adjacent green space. This beautiful church experienced its heyday in 1955 when it became a cathedral.

When we say it is as quiet as a cathedral, it is not a poetic whim but rather a sad reality for the believers who attended these places and whose voices were doomed to silence. Its domes still overlook the city but its bells no longer ring out. Most Christian places of worship suffered the same fate or were demolished altogether to leave room to mosques or to administrative buildings.

For the inhabitants of Laghouat, this change is a logical continuation of the Independence of Algeria. the Judeo-Christian and the Berber past of region is over. "We are Muslims. Christianity was imposed upon us by the settlers. We had had to hide our religion for 132 years", argued M'barek a seventy-year old man with a thin face. "After the settlers had left, the White Fathers and White Sisters remained. They were very helpful and people liked them and respected them. But with terrorism in the 1990s, they greatly reduced their contact with people. And even during the worst events witnessed by Algeria, they had never thought of leaving the country", he says. The Diocese of Laghouat still exists. Father Claude Rault, a White Father was ordained bishop on 16 December 2004 and was installed officially on 19 December 2004.

In a country where the Islamic identity of the State is enshrined in the constitution, the few Christians hug the walls and scrupulously practice the proverb that says to live happily, one has to hide away. Attending spiritual activities is extremely difficult and unfortunate for the few Christians who still live in the region. Most of them come from African countries or expatriates working for multinational companies. Paul Barthelemy is from the first category. "I have two defects. I am black and I am a Christian. I met people of Muslim faith who come from African countries and they suffer less than us from racism and intolerance. I arrived to Algiers, where I visited the Cathedral Notre Dame d'Afrique but I fell when Nigerian refugees were picked up and repatriated home. I was afraid of being deported and I gave everything I had money to a taxi driver. He dropped me here. Basically, I'm a practitioner, I go to church and I attend Mass but since I was in Algeria I have never dared to say that I am Christian" he added, his face deeply lined and drawn. He insists that his both names he is bearing proudly be cited. "I learned to say salam alikoum (Salvation be upon you) and hamdoullah (thank God), to be taken as like a Muslim and be accepted but even so, I do suffer distrust and intolerance," the thirty-year old man says.

Young of human rights activists try to take initiatives in tune with interfaith dialogue but these actions are often met with hostility by local people. "People were rather tolerant in the 1970s and would well accept that a person be of a different faith but with the growth of fundamentalism, we see that there is some animosity or aggression towards those who practice another religion. This situation deprives the region of an income as we could have developed religious tourism. The other day, about twenty former French settlers (les pieds noirs) came and visited the old church", regrets Badreddine, a young peace activist. His words are interrupted by the noise of Rehbet-Ezzitoun market.

Formerly, the loud voices of the believers attending the former church Saint Hilarion were mixing with the noise of vendors and merchants. The Bishop of Laghouat and Ghardaia, Bishop Claude Rault is working for the peaceful coexistence of the two monotheistic religions. He is multiplying the activities and the messages of tolerance. From the feast of Sacrifice to Ramadan through the celebration of the birth of the Prophet Mohamed, the bishop has never missed any opportunity to express the presence of the Catholic Church by the side of Muslims. "These last days were marked by the tragic death of a French citizen in the north. This assassination caused consternation and indignation both in France and in Algeria. Those who use this event to convey a false image of Islam are wrong. Many Muslims protested firmly to condemn this murder: only God indeed is the Lord of life and death, and no one can replace him", he wrote on the occasion of Eid ElAdha in 2014.

With the Algerian government, efforts are deployed to improve the conditions of the practitioners of other religions. Mohamed Aissa, Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments since May 2014, waged "war" on extremists and announced the possible reopening of synagogues. But on the ground, resistance is such that it is difficult to take the lead. To live a different religion in Algeria is indeed a permanent risk. The former president of the Protestant Church in Algeria, Mustapha Krim is denouncing "discrimination". For him, "The ideal thing is to repeal the 2006 law regulating non-Muslim worship". The problem of freedom of worship remains raised in a country that still bears the scars of the civil war experienced in the 1990s.