Muslims trash Egyptian church [video](promise death of Christians on 10/28)

Fearing a repeat of the recent riots against the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, which left four dead, more than 80 wounded and seven churches defaced, leaders of the Coptic church in the United States are calling on the U.S. government and the United Nations to take immediate action to stop the bloodshed and destruction of churches.

Exclusive video footage released by the International Christian Union and American Coptic Association, or ICU/ACA, yesterday reveals the destruction of the Assemblies of God Church for Evangelical Copts in Moharam Bek on Friday, Oct. 21.

An e-mail report from Dr. Monir Dawoud, president of the ICU/ACA, obtained by ANS says: "We are receiving numerous reports that extremist Muslim groups are planning to surround the Alexandria churches again on Friday, Oct.28, and at the end of Ramadan on the following Tuesday, promising the death of Christians and the continued destruction of churches throughout Egypt."

Dawoud faults the security forces for encouraging violence by first "giving the green light to the mob," and then failing to control the resulting riots.

"If the momentum of the riots is allowed to continue, the crowds will be impossible to contain," Dawoud said.

More than 5,000 Muslims demonstrated outside of the Alexandria Coptic Orthodox Church last Friday to protest the production of a drama staged at the church two years ago. The protesters said the play blasphemes Islam. According to recent statements by the Coptic Church, however, the play does not defame Islam.

"Copts and other minorities in Egypt are continually subjected to physical and verbal harassment by extremist Muslim groups. Yet we do not destroy their houses of worship or call for bloodshed," said Amgad Zakhari, one of the youth leaders with the ICU/ACA.

In addition to the protests, the Egyptian newspaper El Fagr published threats made by Muslim radicals against the Coptic Pope Shenouda III.

According to the report, Muslim radicals publicly announced their threats through mosques in the outskirts of the city of Alexandria and were calling for the death of Pope Shenouda in revenge for an alleged insult to Islam's prophet.

The ICU and the ACA are planning a demonstration in front of the U.N. next week to protest the persecution of Christians in Egypt.

Big Pharaoh
http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/

Mahfouz's Days

Naguib Mahfouz (age 94), Egypt's Nobel literature laurate, had this to say about Muslim-Christian relations during his times:

"Every society in the world has a core of beliefs that defines its way of life. For Egypt one such premise was national unity. My generation stuck together. We didn't think of ourselves as Muslims and Copts but as Egyptians. And this was at a time when the British were still in Egypt and political strife was a daily phenomenon. In his memoirs Lord Cromer said the only difference between a Muslim and a Christian in Egypt is that one goes to a mosque and the other to a church. Aside from that they live the same way, observe the same traditions and share the same language and culture.It was only by chance we would know the religion of a friend. No one asked and no one paid much attention. I discovered that one of my closest friends was Christian only when his father died and I was told that he would be available for condolences at the church. In my time the cabinet included 12 ministers among which it was customary to have at least two Copts. Wissa Wassef, a Copt, was parliamentary speaker for many years. When prime minister Ismail Sidqi, a Muslim, disbanded parliament Wassef attacked him fiercely and was hailed as a national hero for doing so."
(Source: Miss Mabrouk of Egypt)

Sorry Mahfouz, your days are forever gone. I don't expect them to come back in my lifetime. I would be a very decomposed dead body if my grandchildren were to experience what you experienced. The damage done to Egypt and to the Egyptian psyche was so great.

I blame the crazy military dictators who ruled Egypt since 1952. They destroyed our soul, they destroyed our will. And I blame the foul wave of religiousity and fundamentalism that started to invade Egypt 20 years ago. It destroyed our mind, our intellect, and our hearts.

One Arab World
http://oraculo.blog.com/blog/onearabworld/375499/

The Basilica Church Vigil Oct 30 at 6:30
The Basilica Church in Heliopolis / Roxy (the one right next to Al-Horria Mall) has a garden directly in front of its main entrance. The meeting place is there. We will hold a short vigil this coming Sunday the 30th of October at 6:30pm. It should last no more than an hour.

The point behind this event is to display Egypt’s religious interconnection. As I previously had expressed to me (rather pointedly) there are no real differences between us. We are a hotheaded lot; quick to temper but faster to forgive. Let us grasp the opportunity of the last few days of Ramadan to make this display of affection for each other.

We are fast losing many friends around the world; let us at least make sure we keep the ones we have at home.

Everyone is kindly asked to bring a candle and wear a white tee-shirt. The point man on this is Tamer; his number is 010-613-1004 if you have any questions please feel free to call him.

Just as important as the demonstration itself as it is the pictures of it. We intend to use those pictures as the basis of a formal letter to both Pope Shenouda as well as the Vatican in a show of solidarity and apology. We are not expecting more than a couple dozen people or so, so please get there on time as it will not last long.

Thank you.
Karim Elsahy

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