Free Republic

Egypt's Christians forced to live in garbage city.

For the last several years, I've been following with great interest the astonishing success that Father Zakaria Botros, a Coptic priest, has had in evangelizing the Muslim world — in Arabic, using the Koran. As an Arab, he understands the mindset that so many Muslims have toward Christianity, and he exploits that knowledge quite effectively, not by simply presenting the claims for the divinity of Christ, as an example. Rather, he firmly turns the tables on Muslim apologists by relentlessly critiquing and refuting their own claims, using mainly the Koran as his tool. The reports are, he is successfully converting...

Photos included. # SNIPPET: "Cairo (AINA) -- In an effort to cover up the Muslim mob violence against the Copts which broke out last week in the town of Farshoot and neighboring villages (AINA 11-22-2009, 11-23-2009), and in view of the complete news blackout imposed by the Egyptian government, Egyptian State Security has intensified its pressure on the Coptic Church in Nag Hammadi and the victims of the violence into accepting extrajudicial reconciliation with the perpetrators, and opening their businesses without any compensation. Similar State Security scenarios have been experienced by Copts in all sectarian incidents in the past, in...

Uniformed and plain-clothed Egyptian policemen clash with a demonstrator in al-Mukatam neighbourhood in Cairo on May 2009. Hundreds of Muslim protesters on Saturday burnt Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt and attacked a police station where they believed a Christian accused of raping a Muslim girl was being held, a police official said. Cairo, Egypt, Nov 25, 2009 / 10:36 am (CNA).- For several days massive mobs of Muslims have been attacking Coptic Christians in the Egyptian town of Farshoot 300 miles south of Cairo. The mobs’ looting, vandalism and arson have caused at least $1 million in damage as Copts...

Christian critical of Islamization of society, Orthodox church jailed without charges. A Coptic Christian blogger in Egypt entering his second year of prison without charge is being pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom... On Oct. 3, 2008, Hani Nazeer, a 28-year-old high school social worker from Qena, Egypt and author of the blog “Karz El Hob” (“Love Cherries”), was arrested by Egypt’s State Security Investigations (SSI) and sent to Burj Al-Arab prison. Although police never charged him with any crime, Nazeer has been detained for more than a year under Egypt’s administrative imprisonment law. Gamel Eid,...

Two Coptic Christians in Egypt have been arrested and are being held without charge after reporting to police they had been beaten by a mob... On the evening of July 31, Reda Hnein, 35, his brother Nagi Hnein Fawzi, 27, and their uncle Youssef Fawzi Iskandar, 58, all Coptic farmers, were leading a cow down a road in the village of Al-Fashn when two Muslim men riding a motorbike crashed into the cow. An argument ensued, and a mob of about 10 other Muslim men joined into the disagreement and began beating the Copts with sticks... On the day of...

The Monthly » December 2006 - January 2007, No. 19 » The Nation Reviewed | Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 Contra Mundum Kate Holden A paean in an arcane language derived from ancient Egyptian and Greek; a ceremonial procession of men in Byzantine beards and robes; a supper table laid with platters of pizza and fried rice; a sermon aided by PowerPoint slides above a Madonna icon outlined in blue sequins; the spiritual wisdom of the Desert Fathers. Welcome to a Friday night Coptic service in a northern Melbourne suburb. There is something splendidly venerable about an institution such as...

Cairo (AINA) -- In another incident of abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic minor girls, 16-year old Nermeen Mitry was abducted by a Muslim man to coerce her into converting to Islam. She was successfully recovered on the same day by her family, who did their own investigation and search to locate her. Nermeen was abducted from El-Mahalla by Muslim Hossam Hamouda in conspiracy with his aunt Leila Attia; she was hidden away by a third person called Nasser Abu Deif from Assuit in Upper Egypt, at the home of one of his female relatives called Rasha Soliman in Zagazig....

Botros: I am a Copt. In my early 20s, I became a priest. Of course, in predominantly Muslim Egypt, Christians—priests or otherwise—do not talk about religion with Muslims. My older brother, a passionate Christian learned that lesson too late: after preaching to Muslims, he was eventually ambushed by Muslims who cut out his tongue and murdered him. Far from being deterred or hating Muslims, I eventually felt more compelled to share the Good News with them. Naturally, this created many problems: I was constantly harassed, threatened, and eventually imprisoned and tortured for one year, simply for preaching to Muslims. Egyptian...

A YouTube video clip showing pigs being culled in Egypt as part of swine flu measures has caused outrage at the apparent barbarity of the method of slaughtering the animals. The clip posted by independent newspaper Al-Masri Al-Yom includes gory images of pigs being beaten with iron bars, piglets being stabbed and animals being kicked alive into bulldozer buckets. Since going on line on YouTube this weekend, the clip has sparked horrified reactions from Muslims and from the Christian Copt community, who are the main rearers of pigs in Egypt as Muslims do not eat pork. Although no case of...

CAIRO (AP) — SNIPPET: "The officials said late Sunday night's explosion was caused by[a] primitive bomb planted under a parked car near Saint Mary Church in Cairo's Zeitoun district." SNIPPET: "The bomb went off around 9 p.m. and the car burst into flames while a wedding was under way in the church, causing a panic among passers-by in the mainly Coptic neighborhood, witnesses said."

Racist Arabism & fascist Islamism: Anti-Copt The word Copt is an English word taken from the Arabic word Gibt or Gypt. The Arabs after their conquest of Egypt in 641 A.D. called the indigenous population of Egypt as Gypt from the Greek word Egyptos or Egypt. The Greek word Egyptos came from the ancient Egyptian words Ha-Ka-Ptah... The word Copt or Coptic simply means Egyptian, however the Muslim population of Egypt calls themselves Arabs. In contemporary usage, the word Copt or Coptic refers to the Christian population of Egypt. The Arab's oppression led the Copts to several rebellions, [source], Coptic:...

Swine flu: Egyptian police battle Christians as they enforce pig cull Egyptian police fought running battles with stone-throwing members of the country's Christian minority after moving in to enforce a cull of pigs ordered because of swine flu. By Richard Spencer in Dubai 03 May 2009 Fires burn in Cairo as protestors try to prevent security forces confiscating their pigs Photo: EPA Pig farmers, many of whom keep their animals in the backstreet slums of the capital, Cairo, mounted a blockade against government workers moving in to slaughter their animals. When they began throwing stones at police trying to force...

A young Christian man was suddenly set on fire by a Muslim man in Egypt after a rumor circulated that the Christian man had a relationship with the Muslim man’s sister. Yasser Ahmed Qasim approached 25-year-old Sabri Shihata and poured gasoline on the Coptic Christian and then set him on fire, reported the Voice of the Copts on Friday. The young Copt tried to put out the fire by throwing himself into a nearby canal, but the burns were too severe and he later died. His 60-year-old father, Sabri Shihata, later arrived at a village rally where a group of...

During her first visit to Egypt, as Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton's statements were understood as green light to Mubarak regime for more killing of Egyptian Copts. Afterwards, the regime didn't waste time, and immediately committed more crimes of killing Christian Copts. Contrary to President Obama calls for Human Rights respect, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played down the value of raising human rights concerns. In a press conference held in Egypt last month, she set aside a reporter's question about an official state department report that noted "serious abuses" of human rights in the Egypt. Implicitly undermining the...

"This stuff is in your own books!" It's not enough that al-Qaeda has called Fr Zakaria Botros "one of the most wanted infidels in the world," issuing a 60 million dollar bounty on his head, or that popular Arabic magazines call him "Islam's public enemy #1"; now, as expected, CAIR is getting in on the action, calling for a "national alert" -- as in umma alert, eerily reminiscent of a fatwa -- against him. Apparently his last few shows dealing with Muhammad's questionable sexual habits, including necrophilia -- which I translated here, here, and here -- are irking CAIR, specifically...

CAIRO - Egypt's Coptic pope has banned the faithful from confessing their sins to priests over the telephone because intelligence agents might be listening in, a newspaper reported on Friday. "Confessions over the telephone are forbidden, because there is a chance the telephones are monitored and the confessions will reach state security," the independent Al-Masri Al-Yom quoted Pope Shenuda III as saying. The leader of the Coptic minority also said confessions over the Internet were invalid because they might be read by websurfers. "A confession over the Internet does not count as a confession, because everybody can look at it...

A crowd of angry Muslims quickly gathered, threw stones at the building and burned banners that said, ‘‘No to the church.’’ They tried to storm the gates, clashed with police and chanted, ‘‘The church has fallen, the priest is dead,’’ according to witnesses. Tempers are flaring as Islamic conservatism gains ground and Christians grow increasingly resentful about discrimination by the Muslim majority. The Ain Shams incident highlights that even in Cairo — seen as more cosmopolitan in its sectarian relations than the rural south — suspicions run between the communities. Muslim and Christian neighbors also are competing over who can...

Thousands Protest, Vandalize Church in Egypt At least five hurt as rioters stone, burn structure after inauguration of extension. By Roger Elliott ISTANBUL, November 26 (Compass Direct News) - Thousands of Muslim protestors on Sunday (Nov. 23) attacked a Coptic church in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, burning part of it, a nearby shop and two cars and leaving five people injured. Objecting to a newly constructed extension to the Coptic church of St. Mary and Anba Abraam in Ain Shams, the huge crowd of angry protestors gathered outside the church at around 5 p.m. following a consecration service for...

Pope Shenuda III, Head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, seen here in January 2008. Shenuda III One thousand Christians were today trapped inside the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in West Ain Shams,Cairo, after more than twenty thousand Muslims attacked them with stones and butane gas cylinders. The Church's priest Father Antonious said that the situation is extremely dangerous.The Muslim mob that attacked the church blocked both sides of the street and encircled the church building, broke its doors and demolished its entire first floor. The mob were chanting Jihad verses as well as slogans saying...

Life TV’s Father Zakaria Botros recently ran a show dedicated to answering the question, “Was Muhammad a messenger from God or Satan?” As usual with these shows, viewers were asked to call in and respond to this question, with poll results revealed at the end of the show. His co-host in this particular show was an ex-Muslim woman turned Christian, who, a few shows earlier, used to still wear a hijab, but not today---as Zakaria Botros put it, in English, her "new look." She said that such an offensive question—ascertaining the divine or demonic source of Muhammad’s prophethood—would have enraged...

Last week I was supposed to interview Father Zakaria Boutros on my television show. It would have been the second time I had spoken to this gentle, thoughtful man, a leading figure of the Egyptian Coptic Christian community and now obliged to live in exile in the US after twice being arrested in his homeland. But on this occasion the interview was suddenly cancelled. A $60-million bounty was just put on his head by Muslim extremists in Iran and Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda were thought to be intent on fulfilling the fatwa and it was considered too dangerous to allow him...

Slavery still stalks the American consciousness, its wounds yet festering in many hearts. If Barack Obama were to set his mind to it, he could heal much of the damage this peculiar institution wrought on our national soul. This great and tragic error that must be given justice. Obama is the best person in the world who can recognize, remember and honor the deaths of 125 million and the enslavement of tens of millions of people. His unique qualifications can be found in his names. Until he was 20 years old, he went by the first name Barry. Then he...

EXCLUSIVE: AL QAEDA TARGETS LEADING ARAB EVANGELIST OPERATING IN THE U.S. FOR PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO MUSLIMS (Washington, D.C., September 9, 2008) -- You have probably never heard of Father Zakaria Botros.

Our Islamic "allies" continue to show their true face to us. The centuries long persecution of the Coptic Christians of Egypt continues, but Muslims do not say a word about it. They only want to silence those that do speak out against this persecution. As for our leaders.....Bush, Condi.....any comments? I thought not. At the end of the article I have posted a video showing just how badly the Christians in Egypt have it.

Cairo, Aug 22, 2008 / 10:42 am (CNA).- The Doctors’ Union of Egypt, led by the “Muslim Brothers,” a extreme faction of Islam, has decided to prohibit the transplant of organs between those who profess the Islamic faith and Christians, generating a series of protests and unrest in both communities. According to the EFE news agency, a spokesman for the Coptic Church said in response to the decision, “We all have the same Egyptian blood, and if the purpose of the measure is to prohibit the traffic of organs, we reject it because that could occur as well among the...

LONDON. A third of the Coptic sculptures at the Brooklyn Museum of Art are modern fakes. Its collection of late Egyptian sculpture was, until now, the second largest in North America. Brooklyn curator Dr Edna Russmann, who is concluding a study of the works, warns that other museums which acquired Coptic sculptures in the past 50 years are likely to face similar problems. The unmasking of the forgeries will be revealed in an exhibition on “Coptic Sculpture in the Brooklyn Museum”, opening on 13 February 2009. The Art Newspaper can reveal that ten of Brooklyn’s 30 sculptures are now deemed...

France's Association of Copts plans to hold a demonstration on Sunday against what it calls "repeated and ferocious" attacks against members of the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt. "The beating up of Coptic citizens are occurring daily in Egypt," the association said, adding that these attacks have been going on for years. The association said it hoped Sunday's protest would raise awareness in France and other countries about the plight of Egypt's Coptic minority. The association cited an incident on 31 May in which 60 armed Muslims allegedly attacked a Coptic monastery in Abufana assaulting dozens of monks and setting...

Two wine presses found in Egypt were likely part of the area's earliest winery, producing holy wine for export to Christians abroad, archaeologists say. Egyptian archaeologists discovered the two presses with large crosses carved across them near St. Catherine's Monastery, a sixth-century A.D. complex near Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula. (See a map of the area.) More presses are likely to be found in the area, which was probably an ancient wine-industry hub, according to Tarek El-Naggar, director for southern Sinai at Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. Weeks after discovering the first wine press, excavators unearthed a nearly identical...

CHRISTIANA, Del. - May 25, 2008 (WPVI) -- A man opened fire at a church fundraiser in Christiana, Delaware Sunday night. It happened around 7:00 at the Christiana Hilton, located at 100 Continental Drive in Newark, Delaware, during a function held by the Saint Mary Coptic Church. A 50-year-old man from Philadelphia was shot in the head. Police say the suspect was in attendance at the fundraiser and opened fire at the conclusion of the victim's presentation to the group.

The weekly show "Questions About Faith" on the Egyptian based Christian Al-Hayat satellite channel features an Egyptian Coptic priest residing in the United States. Father Zakaria Boutrus, the show, and Al-Hayat TV itself, have come under harsh criticism in the Egyptian press. Boutrus and his show have been accused of attacking Islam; of being supported by the U.S. to sow division and strife; and of "mocking the verses of Allah." Al-Hayat TV has been accused of being the work of foreign agents collaborating with the U.S., and Pope Shenouda III reportedly announced his opposition to the station's broadcasts, and denied...

I have heard tales of an amazing work taking place among the garbage workers of Cairo since I was an undergrad. So it was very encouraging to read this article from the February Lausanne World Pulse: Transforming Lives in Cairo's Garbage Villages. Villagers collect garbage from city apartments and recycle it. They are the most despised group of people in Egyptian society. They are not paid by the government; however, they receive small tips from the people whose garbage they collect. The rest of their income comes from recycling garbage. It is one of the most ecologically efficient operations in...

Four family members slain in their Jersey City home JERSEY CITY, N.J.— Four family members were found slain in their home Friday morning. All were bound and gagged, and their throats were slashed, First Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory said. Jersey City police broke down the door to the home about 4 a.m. after concerned relatives said they had not heard from the family for several days, authorities said. The victims were Hossam Armanious, 46; his wife, Amal Garas, 36; and their daughters, Sylvia Armanious, 16, and Monica Armanious, 8. No arrests had been made as of...

CAIRO, Egypt - Muslims and Coptic Christians clashed after Friday prayers over a land dispute, leaving 20 injured, security officials said. Police arrested 50 people following the clash in Minya province, about 130 miles south of Cairo, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The clashes began after prayers when Muslim villagers in Izbat el-Abid protested against the extension of a monastery in a nearby village, claiming the construction was on state property, the officials said. Police had to ask for reinforcements from throughout the province to control the...

Two Coptic Christians were found dead in a village 240 miles south of Cairo, police said. They added that they were investigating the incident as possible sectarian violence in the same village that witnessed some of the worst massacres seven years ago. Police sources said they were investigating the deaths of Sadeq Ishaq, 45, and Karam Andraus, 40, who were shot to death on their farm in El Kosheh... In 2007, a dispute between Muslims and Coptic Christians in the village escalated into a full scale battle as armed gangs took up weapons against each other. The violence left 21...

In Egypt, Religious Freedom or Shariah?Catholics Struggle With Conflicts in Law CAIRO, Egypt, SEPT. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church says that the contradiction in the legal system embodied in the Egyptian Constitution makes life difficult for the faithful. Patriarch Antonios Naguib explained the difficulties of the Egyptian legal situation to the Germany-based group Aid to the Church in Need. The patriarch said that on the one hand, the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and conscience while, on the other, it enforces Islam as the state religion and makes Shariah, Islamic law, the "fundamental source of...

The Holy Virgin’s church at the mid-Delta town of Mehalla was the scene of Coptic demonstrations this week in the aftermath of the disappearance of 18-year-old Amal Zaki Nessim. Amal went to work as usual last Sunday but never came back. Her colleagues at the Mehalla Spinning and Weaving Company said she left work early that day with a friend who is a fully-veiled Muslim woman named Samah. Amal’s family reported her missing and Samah was questioned by the police but claimed she knew nothing about Amal’s disappearance. The Copts demonstrated in wrath, demanding that the police find Amal and...

Another Black Friday for the Coptic Christians of Egypt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted GMT 5-22-2007 19:17:30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the past three and half decades, the Copts (Christians of Egypt) have been targeted by a wave of brutal attacks on their persons, churches, homes and businesses. Ibn Khaldoun Research Center (headed by Human Rights advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim) documented over one hundred and twenty major attacks on the Copts during this period. Another study estimated that over 4000 Copts were killed or injured during this period, not to mention the material losses, in tens of Millions of Dollars, and the state of fear...

Christ, having been lifted up from the earth has drawn all men to Himself. Rising from the dead He sent His life-giving Spirit upon His disciples and through Him has established His Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. Sitting at the right hand of the Father, He is continually active in the world that He might lead men to the Church and through it join them to Himself and that He might make them partakers of His glorious life by nourishing them with His own Body and Blood. [Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the...

Troves of scholarship For 1,500 years, Deir Al-Surian has had a working library. Active steps are now being taken to conserve this rich heritage, says Jill Kamil One of the most well preserved texts is this New Testament Coptic manuscript, 13th century The Coptic monastery known as Deir Al-Surian, or the Monastery of the Syrians, contains more than 3,000 books as well as a vast number of texts in Syriac, Aramaic (the language of Christ), Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic. They date upwards from the fifth century and today, as a result of the revival in Coptic monasticism in recent years,...

VATICAN CITY, DEC 15, 2006 (VIS) - Today, Benedict XVI received His Beatitude Antonios Naguib Patriarch of Alexandria for Catholic Copts who is officially visiting the Holy See for the first time since his election in March of this year. In his French address, the Pope asked the patriarch to give his greetings to all the bishops, priests, and faithful of his patriarchy, as well as to Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria. "The communion in Christ that unites us and all Catholics around the Successor of Peter is best seen in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy,"...

Coptic language’s last survivors By Joseph Mayton First Published: December 10, 2005 Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic, Hieroglyphic and Hieratic. CAIRO: Considered an extinct language, the Coptic language is believed to exist only in the liturgical language of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The ancient language that lost in prominence thanks largely to the Arab incursion into Egypt over 1300 years ago remains the spoken language of the church and only two families in Egypt. Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic, Hieroglyphic and Hieratic, and was the language used by the...

Washington DC, Oct. 04, 2006 (CNA) - The American Coptic Union (ACU) is urging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the continued human rights abuses of Coptic Christians in Egypt during her upcoming meeting with the Egyptian government. The ACU, which is a nonprofit organization that represents Coptic people in the U.S. and Egypt, claims violations against the Copts have been escalating since Sept. 11, 2001, and the Egyptian government has not responded with any protection. The ACU claims Islamic terrorists and the Egyptian State Security Investigation authority continue to attack and persecute the Copts. “The daily horrors of...

General The Wrong Kind of Mass Murderer by Ariel ...Non-Arab Muslims such as the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran; the Berbers ¯ also known as the Amazighes ¯ in ... Once again, Arab racism marches on. ... http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14118Uncle Boutros and Uncle Tom: A lesson in Arab tolerance ...Having written somewhat myself on the subject of the forced Arabization of ... keep in mind that Arab racist attitudes also extended to those who--to jump ... http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=11344Arab leaders 'Reap what they saw', their failed racist attempts distinguishing between blood all these years - terror comes home to roost. http://lightonthings.blogspot.com/2006/04/terror-made-in-arabia-in-islamia.htmlRADICAL ISLAMISM...

Judas 'gospel' is pure fiction Rev. Sam Luptak Jr. New Castle News, 4-12-06 Today, we remember the arrest, trial and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. While Christ went willingly to the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, his arrest came as a result of one of the greatest betrayals in history. One of Jesus' disciples, a member of his inner circle, betrayed him with a kiss. For this action, Judas Iscariot was forever condemned as a traitor. For centuries, that has been the story that we have all known and accepted — until a few...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- One person is dead and more than a dozen others wounded in attacks on worshipers today at three Coptic Christian churches in Egypt. The simultaneous assaults in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria were carried out during Friday Mass by knife-wielding assailants. Police have set up checkpoints but the attackers got away. At least two of 17 people hurt are in serious condition.

Bishop Naguib Replaces Cardinal Stephanos II Gatas VATICAN CITY, APRIL 3, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Retired Bishop Antonios Naguib of Minya of the Copts was elected new patriarch of Alexandria of the Catholic Copts. The new patriarch is replacing Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, 86, who had presented his resignation to Benedict XVI, the Vatican press office announced today. The new patriarch, 71, was elected by the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Coptic Church, meeting in St. Joseph's Convent of the Egyptian Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Cairo on March 20, as established by the Code of Canons of the Eastern...

TORONTO, Ontario, March 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian immigration frequently fails to recognize the claim of refugee status from Egyptian Coptic Christians, reported CTV news yesterday. In at least half the cases, claimants are sent back to Egypt to face increased persecution.The 2005 Country Report on Human Rights from the U.S. State Department said Egypt is responsible for "numerous human rights abuses," in particular against religious minorities. The report lists numerous cases of "religious discrimination" against Coptic Christians and says there is widespread "torture and abuse" in Egyptian prisons.Christians who have made refugee claims in the west will almost certainly...

NEW YORK - An expert on ancient Egyptian texts is predicting that the "Gospel of Judas" — a manuscript from early Christian times that's nearing release amid widespread interest from scholars — will be a dud in terms of learning anything new about Judas. James M. Robinson, America's leading expert on such ancient religious texts from Egypt, predicts in a new book that the text won't offer any insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. His reason: While it's old, it's not old enough. "Does it go back to Judas? No," Robinson told The Associated Press on Thursday. The text,...

In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a crowd of Muslim demonstrators tries to storm a Coptic church to protest at a play about a Muslim campaign to convert Christians. In Iraq, the Christian middle class is emigrating in droves, fearful of the daily violence and the hostility it now encounters from Islamists.  In Saudi Arabia, churches and other places of non-Muslim worship are banned, and foreign workers who try to hold secret Christian services are jailed, flogged and often deported. In the land of its birth, Christianity is in sad decline as the pressures of life under Israeli occupation and...