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Anti-dhimmitude from Copts who are defying their Pope to engage in their traditional pilgrimage. From AFP,"Egypt's Copts defy papal ban on pilgrimage to Israel"
CAIRO - A group of Egyptian Coptic Christians left on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in renewed defiance of a ban imposed by their pope before a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.The first batch of 37 pilgrims left Cairo after they were cleared by Egyptian security, officials said. More pilgrims were to follow, as the Eastern church prepares to celebrate Easter on May 1.
Scores of Copts go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem each spring and remain until after Easter, touring Christian holy sites in the city and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The visits defy a ban by Pope Shenuda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church -- and a strong defender of the Palestinian cause -- on the travel of Copts to Israel, pending an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The pope has in the past even advised religious leaders in Israel not to give holy communion to Copts for challenging his authority, but many have continued to make the trip.
He has also threatened to excommunicate members for flouting the ban...
Posted by Rebecca at April 24, 2005 10:09 AM
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Of all the despicable characters in history, the dhimmi Christian cleric ranks as one of the all-time worst.
Posted by: Mike![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 24, 2005 10:57 AM
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you:
Numbers 6:24
at April 24, 2005 11:09 AM
More defiant Christians to Jerusalem and Beit Lechem. COME BACK AND BRING YOUR FAMILIES BRING YOUR NEIGHBORS. RE-POPULATE THE AREAS THAT THE SCUM PLO HAVE DRIVEN YOU OUT OF!
Posted by: Kemaste at April 24, 2005 11:20 AM
"The visits defy a ban by Pope Shenuda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church -- and a strong defender of the Palestinian cause -- on the travel of Copts to Israel."
Pope Shenuda III has in previous years not been quite as submissive as he has recently been, and this business of being a "strong defender of the Palestinian cause" has to be taken with a grain of iodized salt, for like all Christian leaders in Muslim countries, he has to walk the walk and talk the talk, or at least thinks he does. It is a variant on the attempt by Michel Aflaq to find another way for Christians to fit into a Muslim society -- in Aflaq's case, it led to that varient on Arab nationalism (itself a subset of, rather than alternative to pan-Islamism or, more accurately, to Islam) known as Ba'athism.
No one should pay much attention to whatever pro-Palestinian sympathies Christians in Arab Muslim countries have to express. They are merely expressing their own anxiety, a reflection of their permanently insecure position.
What is unforgivable, however, is the refusal of so many in the West to learn the most basic facts about the demography and land ownership, and legal title, to those Ottoman vilayets that were assigned to Mandatory Palestine, for the express and sole purpose of establishing "the Jewish National Home. " The Mandate for Palestine was not set up to arrange for "two states." It was not set up to rechristen the Arabs who had arrived in the 19th century from as far away as Algeria, and then Egypt, and then in the 20th century from impoverished Mesopotamia, not to mention the odd Muslim community transferred by the Ottomans from their former European domains, as the "Palestinian" people who must have a state (compare the ease with which we refer to Kurds and Arabs in Iraq, or Copts and Arabs in Egypt, or Arabs and Berbers in Algeria, but when the discussion shifts to Israel, presto-magico those Arabs suddenly become "Palestinians" -- whatever that could conceivably mean as a distinctive identity in ethnic or linguistic or religious terms.
Posted by: Hugh at April 24, 2005 12:34 PM
I'm sure the Catholic Pope would be glad to take them into his flock should they be excommunicated.
Posted by: BigSleep at April 24, 2005 2:07 PM
Guess Coptic Pope has to practise this 'deceit' in order to survive as a Dhimmi in a land of Head Hackers. Best thing he could do is to get talking to Vatican and see if they can reach some agreement which would strengthen the lot of Christians in occupied countries where they were once the MAJORITY.
Posted by: Morgane at April 24, 2005 5:57 PM
Morgane:
A lot of Middle Eastern Christians are virulently anti-Jewish as they, unlike the Roman Catholics, still blame the Jews for Christ's martyrdom.
Posted by: waterdragon52 at April 25, 2005 9:11 AM
If they blame anyone for the death of Christ, they really have missed the whole point of Christ's sacrifice, the whole point of his being given in the first place. He was born to die for all.
------
" 12Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."
Posted by: Carolyn2 at April 25, 2005 3:42 PM
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