The Good Shepherd
"We hope the incoming pope will make our problems known to the outside world. The situation for us in Egypt is not stable."
Peter Nasser at Mass elevating Bishop Tawadros to Pope Tawadros II at Cairo's St. Mark's Cathedral
The situation for Egyptian Copts has not been stable for quite a long time. During the three-decade reign of former President Hosni Mubarak there was an ongoing situation of discrimination and violence that broke out with fundamentalist Muslims attacking Christian churches, but there was also some protection officially afforded the Coptic Church.
Permits to build new churches or restoration work on heritage churches were hard to come by. Now, with the installation of an Islamist government in Egypt under the majority-elected Muslim Brotherhood, backed by the more fiercely fundamentalist Salafists attacks against the vulnerable Christian population have increased in ferocity.
Punishment for Muslims who attacked Christians always was an issue; authorities tended to look the other way. Now the situation is ever more tenuous and fraught with fear on the part of the Copts who are increasingly nervous about their security in an overtly Islamist society.
Egypt's new president, Mohammad Morsi congratulated the new pope. Mr. Morsi has also cordially wrote a letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres on the introduction of the new Egyptian ambassador to Israel, but relations between the two countries have not noticeably warmed, with the Muslim Brotherhood voicing intentions to re-visit the peace treaty.
Speaking of Egyptian unity and brotherhood sounds hopefully consoling. But the Copts hold out no great expectation that their role in Egypt will become more expansive, that Christians will be taken into government to share in the rule of the country. Discrimination against minorities, always a problem, is on the increase.
The deteriorating security situation in the country, the expanded lawlessness and crime has not been encouraging to Egyptian Christian expectations of their future place in their country. Sporadic, violent attacks against Christians by Muslim extremists have not resulted in police taking these events seriously, in the assailants facing the full extent of the law.
On occasion entire communities of Copts have had to migrate from their home towns as a solution to simmering violence. "There is great apprehension about what tomorrow holds for everyone", stated the editor of Egypt's main Coptic newspaper, noting that the increased lawlessness is impacting the Copts in particular.
The new political powers stressing a need for a more robust Islamic law in legislation is causing Copts to fear further marginalization and curtailing of their rights of worship and expression. As elsewhere in the Middle East, ancient Christian sects for whom their geography represents the crucible of Christian belief appears more and more hostile to their continued presence.
Labels: Christianity, Egypt, Heritage, Human Fallibility, Islamism, Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 06, 2012
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