Clearly the Copts' plight in Egypt is becoming better known, internationally; yet it is still obvious that the world outside still seems to view it as something of a "sectarian" split, where Copts and Muslims are equally "to blame." While this may sound plausible, it defies Islamic theology (not to mention Christian), as well as history, past and contemporary.
"Fragile Muslim-Christian peace crumbles in Egypt," by Jack Shenker for the News.Scotsman, September 29:
IN THE shadows of the Moqattam cliffs that tower over Cairo's eastern fringes, Safwat Nazeem is picking his way through tens of thousands of empty plastic bottles."Zabaleen" literally means "garbage-people." They are all Copts. Here's a YouTube video about their plight.Safwat, like his father before him, is one of the Zabaleen, Egypt's invisible army of refuse collectors who gather the urban waste around them and welcome it into their homes. Their neighbourhood, known as Garbage City, overflows with rubbish all waiting to be sifted and recycled. And after a recent spate of national violence and media intrigue, the Zabaleen have become a community on the defensive.
Like the vast majority of Garbage City's residents, Safwat is a Coptic Christian – part of an eight million-strong religious minority in Egypt that predates the presence of Islam in the country by over 500 years.It may be "bureaucratic in nature, but it is product of sharia law, which makes clear that, churches are not to be repaired, but, as the religion of Christianity in Islamic lands itself, left to crumble into oblivion.In the past months, the country's fragile sectarian balance has been rocked by violent clashes, accusations of discrimination on both sides and rumours of "special interests" spreading disruption from abroad.
In late May, four Christians were gunned down in a Cairene jewellery shop. The government dismissed it as a robbery, neglecting to explain why nothing was taken. Pope Shenouda, the ageing patriarch of the Coptic Church, opted to stay quiet and maintained his silence even when a similar attack took place on a Coptic jeweller in Alexandria a few days later.
But he was forced to speak out on 31 May when a serene Coptic outpost, the 1,700-year-old monastery of Abo Fana, was besieged by dozens of Muslims following a land dispute with local farmers. Although the Abo Fana controversy occurred 300 miles south of the Egyptian capital, its impact was felt throughout the country.
Copts have consistently complained that archaic building regulations hamper the repair or expansion of their churches, strangling the ancient faith with bureaucracy. They also claim they are denied access to key positions in government because of their religion.
Muslim commentators have argued that most Copts are better off than their Muslim counterparts, and that the Christian faithful are being manipulated by external forces using the guise of "minority rights" to interfere with Egypt's internal affairs....In other words, dhimmi Copts, amazed at the sort of religious freedom and equality existing outside the Islamic world, are beginning to desire the same thing.
Safwat shares the fears of many Christians that the changing political landscape in Egypt is threatening his way of life.Glancing up at a figurine of the Virgin Mary, he sighs: "Islam is the solution is their slogan. But there is no place for Christians in that, no place for anyone else."
I realize it is not easy for every Christian, Copt or not, to just pack up and move out, but those who can should...Eventually, they will face that or death anyway.
Copt immigration is preferable to muslim integration.
US Christian Churches could finance Christian (Copt) immigration from muslim countries.
Egypt has a grand and glorious history, but that was then, this is now. It used to be Moses saying 'let my people go', now it is Jesus.
The promise land at the moment is the US.
There are no mosques where I live, and I will actively resist any that try to spring up, but if Copts want to move into the area and want to build a Church, I will help them pound nails.
I am not a Christian. But I have no objection to Christ....And most importantly, I know which side of the bread the butter is on...
This is exactly the way the jihaddist propaganda has worked on Israel for many years now.
Think of all the fool talk about "the endless cycle of violence" and the alleged grievances and "legitimate claims" of the alleged Palestinians.
Once a jihaddi attack is noticed by the outside world, once jihaddi aggression can not be hidden, it gets presented as an even handed fight, a question of which side has the better claim of justice.
And the rest of us get treated to a recitation about the competing claims of the rapist and the victim, the competing claims of the robber and the victim, the competing claims of the murderer and his target.
You can see the pattern in action in any number of jihaddi border battles.
Standard jihaddi operating procedure -- for propaganda, for idea war.
I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if Waliid Phares has written this up somewhere.
And the Egyptian counsellor at the human rights commission has the gall to silence the mere mention of Sharia or Islam, abetted by the invertebrate chairman. While Copts are treated like sub-humans.
This cries out for the world's attention. But still the lazy media take the muslim narrative at face value and equivocate. No longer good enough; it's time that conclusions were drawn and judgements made against Islamic injustices of all kinds.
Remember these demonstrations? -
http://www.sonsofapesandpigs.org/2008/06/the-copts-expose-muslims-terro.html
Yet no response then or now. At least little coverage by BBC or other news outlets. Seems like the world's conscience no longer sleeps.
Comatose more like.
"This cries out for the world's attention. But still the lazy media take the muslim narrative at face value and equivocate."
This is not really a new thing, before ww2 some american magazines published articles by Hitler and Mussolini. I think that it is not laziness but a certain desire for something new and different. Neophilia?
Very simple move all muslims out of israel and lebanon maybe syria and all christians from the effected middle east areas moved to those places .
islam like it or not is out to wipe out all others a moderate muslim is only a muslim bideing his time for his numbers to grow it is time every other religion and culture starts fighting back.
Huge difficulties for Christians in Egypt!
Maybe should we broadcast natural law to Muslim countries so that they understand that their sharia is not compatible with human dignity and natural law.
Message to all Muslims reading this: If you want to be happy, convert to Christianity!
Here is a quote from the forum on the posted video, "I think its THIS VIDEO which is indeed Rubbish. I lived in Egypt and Ill tell you first hand that Christians are treated better there, than muslims are treated in America." yup you heard it here first. This just goes to show you Islam=religious persecution, religious persecution=crime against humanity, Islam=crime against humanity. We in the west should have no confusion about the fact that if left unchecked Islam in the west would have our future generations living like this. It is that simple, and too obvious to be ignored. Egypt is quite clearly guilty of committing crimes against humanity.
"In other words, dhimmi Copts, amazed at the sort of religious freedom and equality existing outside the Islamic world, are beginning to desire the same thing."
This will certainly make them a threat to Islam...
When I lived in Alexandria, Egypt ( as the Israeli Consul General for the city)) my Coptic neighbours told me how the local police had forcibly stopped the repair of a broken window in the WC of their church because the church had not asked permission to replace the glass.
We also heard of Coptic farming families from upper Egypt who had fled to Alexandria after their homes had been burned down by Moslem neighbours.
The most interesting development came when I was asked by the Coptic church leader(Bishop Benjamin) in Alexandria to enable pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Easter- which I did- and columns of Egyptian buses crossed the Sinai desert with Israeli group visas that my office had issued. But when they came back home, these pilgrims were reprimanded by the Archbishop Shenouda in Cairo who said that making such a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus Christ- which happens to stand in Israel's capital Jerusalem -was unacceptable, as Copts should support Moslem boycotts of Israel. Anyone going to Israel would be denied Holy Mass or burial in Church cemeteries, he threatened. Clearly, Shenouda disregarded the peace treaty with Israel and was a classic Dhimmi church leader who tried to be more anti-Israeli than some of the moslems...
On the other hand, by recognizing the fundamental Coptic right to perform pilgrimage - I had in effect caused a split in the Coptic Church of Egypt.
Faced with the terrible threat of excommunication, Bishop Benjamin bowed to his superior and pilgrimages by Alexandrian Christians were stopped- more out of fear than anything else.
Israeli doors remain open to Egyptian Coptic pilgrims- if and when they are allowed to leave. .
David Zohar
Jerusalem,Israel
Once the Christian accepts his dhimmi status, his message is forever lost. The bishops and popes who all cooperate with their oppressors become oppressors of their flock and fail in the great call of their faith. Father Botros is a light in the darkness of oppression, and one reason he manages to persuade many Muslims to abandon the religion they were born into, is because he is bold and fearless in giving his message. That is why he is more dangerous to the Egyptian authorities than the Israelis ever could hope to be.
The Copts personify fortitude. God bless them. I would love to clear all the Muslims out of Lebanon and just give it to them, the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, the Armenians, and let the Maronites live in peace. I would also like to empty all the Mormons out of Utah, make it a sovereign country like the Vatican, and give it to the Israeli Jews, who would no doubt make that desert bloom. The Mormons wouldn't mind swapping places with the Israeli Jews an dliving in the Middle East. They dig the desert, they like polygamy, clannishness, group-think, pedophilia, separatism. Oh wait, they have an excellent work ethic. Never mind. Plus, as a huge part of the American Christian concensus, they're actually Zionism's best bet in a way.