Egypt: Copts bracing for more persecution and restrictions on church-building if pro-Sharia candidate wins presidency

"The subject peoples ... are forbidden to build new churches." ('Umdat al-Salik, o11.5). Islamic law also forbids Christians to repair old churches.

Sharia Alert from Egypt: "Controversial Church-Building Law a Focal Point for Egypt's Coptic Voters," by Luiza Oleszczuk for the Christian Post, May 17:

Egypt's Coptic Christians fear they could face further persecution should an Islamist candidate win next week's presidential elections, as frontrunners vying for leadership stem from the Sharia-leaning Muslim Brotherhood. One of the major issues on their agenda is a controversial law that puts heavy restrictions on building and maintaining Christian houses of worship.

The emerging top Islamist candidates in the race include Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood; Salafist candidate Hazem Abu Ismail; and the Muslim Brotherhood's own Khairat Al-Shater, who said in April that Sharia should become the ultimate law of the land.

Meanwhile, some Copts are hoping that candidate Ahmed Shafiq, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's prime minister and a former military commander, would be the one to help end the discriminatory rules concerning building churches, Reuters reported this week.

The church-building policy in Egypt has been the subject of a heated Muslim-Christian debate for years. Controversial legislation makes it easy to build a mosque but hard to raise or even repair a church. A new mosque only needs a permit from the local district, while a church needs additional paper work signed by the president himself.

The law goes back to the 19th century, Kurt J. Werthmuller, Research Fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, told The Christian Post via email.

Actually, it is part of Islam's laws for dhimmis, which go back to the beginnings of Islamic jurisprudence.

However, as far as the law may have been seen as progressive then, "in the context of contemporary Egypt, it has meant that Coptic Christians have been required to submit presidential petition to not just build new churches, but to expand, renovate, or even make simple repairs in existing ones," Werthmuller said.

In 2005, Mubarak altered the policy by issuing a presidential decree that delegated the authority for such permissions to the nation's governors.

"This meant," Werthmuller explained, "that if a village priest had to repair a broken toilet or cracked wall in his church, he would still have to go a high regional executive for permission. Even then, it's worth noting, he would have to navigate a labyrinth of paperwork and corrupt bureaucracy, and often face clerical workers that could easily 'lose' the petition in the process."...

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I don't think it matters who wins in Egypt, the Copts are in for more and more persecution. Predating Islam by thousands of years, nevertheless it is they who are considered vermin to be wiped out. Islam is a religion that is totally Islamcentric, not one else matters, no one else has rights, no one else has truth. It's time for the US to stop importing Islam. If the Copts want to come, let us open wide the door, they deserve a taste of freedom once again.

These are sharia laws which have been codified legally into the Egyptian legal system for decades. Makes me sick to my stomach to think that US military officers knew about all the extreme draconian laws against non-Muslims in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, et al, but partnered with this evil entities anyway with nary a word of protest. One a scale of evil, it would have made more sense to partner with communism against Islam. Regardless, the Soviets collapsed over 20 years ago, yet these partnerships with Muslim regimes have persisted for no legitimate reason.

While Ahmed Shafiq and Amr Moussa are not perfect, they are by far much better than any islamic candidate. I'm sure that all Copts as well as decent liberal muslims will bring one of these two men to the presidency. Once in power, they will deal with these islamic vermins, and they know how to do it.

Islamists Threaten Insurgency Should Secularists Win Egypt Election

On May 19, Islamic Jihad Organization member Shaykh Usamah Qasim took to the pages of Al-Misri al-Yawm to warn that Islamists would not tolerate a victory by any of the non-Islamist candidates. According to a translation provided by the Open Source Center:

…The victory of former prime minister Ahmad Shafiq or former Arab League chief Amr Musa in the coming presidential elections would lead some Islamic and non-Islamic groups to respond with “armed action.” “Thus, the fate of any of them who reaches the presidency will be like that of former President Anwar al-Sadat, who was assassinated,” Qasim said.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/05/20/islamists-threaten-insurgency-if-secularists-win-egypt-election/

Pigs Fly:

On Sunday, 5/20, CBS Evening News actually broadcast a story about the anxiety of Coptic Christians over the upcoming Egypt elections.

When Egyptian Christians rioted in Cairo last year, over a church burning, some were run over by Egyptian military vehicles. President Obama's response to the peaceful Christian protest was that "both sides" should exercise "restraint".

So CBS News admitted that the Arab Spring is not all good?

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