Christianity has been the established religion in the country for over half of the 2,500-year reign of its emperors. When the Derg, a group of army officers led by Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu, deposed the last Emperor, Haile Selassie , in 1974 and inaugurated Africa's first Marxist-Leninist revolution, it was not at all clear what would happen to the Church. The Revolution has attempted dramatic changes despite wars, insurrections, drought and famine. Literacy campaigns, land reforms and workers' unions modelled on its ally, the Soviet Union, are all designed to create 'scientific socialism'. Yet the numbers going to church have increased, and the priests have found a new role, both as mediators in the civil wars, and in helping the famine victims.