Egyptian Activists: Our Religion Is None Of Your Business

Since Egypt’s revolution began, tensions among Egypt’s Muslims and Christians have only increased. Earlier this month, it once again turned deadly. Tit-for-tat killings left three Muslims and at least six Christians dead.

That and other religious violence is prompting a public debate about religious identity in Egypt. One group of young Egyptians wants to remove religious labels from national ID cards.

‘Where The Trouble Starts’

Aalam Wassef, one of those advocates, will gladly tell you he’s a video artist, a musician and a publisher. When it comes to his religion, though, he says it’s none of your business.

That’s the motto of his new campaign, too. Wassef, along with two other Egyptians, is calling on others to cover up their religion on their national ID card and start identifying as human first. They’re spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

One of their videos plays images of a particularly bloody day for Christians last year, when the military — in power at the time — drove over Christian protesters, and state television called on “honorable” Muslims to come out and defend the troops from the Christians. Twenty-seven people were dead by the end of that day.

The lyrics sung to these images are just as chilling: “The racist republic of Egypt, the sectarian republic of Egypt. It’s ingrained on your ID, and this is where the trouble starts.”

“Egypt has a long history of sectarian violence and sectarian issues, which have always been covered up with this narrative of national unity,” Wassef says. “And so it’s a big lie, actually, because there’s a lot of embedded discrimination in the society.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM NPR 

Five Egyptians killed in clashes between Christians, Muslims

By Ulf Laessing and Omar Fahmy, Reuters

Five Egyptians were killed and eight wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said on Saturday, in the latest sectarian violence in the most populous Arab state.

Christian-Muslim confrontations have increased in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 gave freer rein to hardline Islamists repressed under his rule.
Four Christians and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started shooting at each other in Khusus outside the Egyptian capital, the sources said.

State news agency MENA put the death toll at four.

The violence broke out late on Friday when a group of Christian children were drawing on a wall of a Muslim religious institute, the security sources said. No more details were immediately available.

FULL ARTICLE FROM NBC NEWS

Attack on Christians in Egypt Comes After a Pledge

CAIRO — Police officers firing tear gas joined with a rock-throwing crowd fighting a group of Christian mourners Sunday in a battle that escalated into an attack on Egypt’s main Coptic Christian Cathedral that lasted for hours.

It was the third day of an outburst of sectarian violence that is testing the pledges of Egypt’s Islamist president to protect the country’s Christian minority. By nightfall, at least one person had died from the day’s clashes, bringing the weekend’s death toll to six.

Later Sunday, President Mohamed Morsi called the Coptic pope, Tawadros II, to reassure him. “I consider any aggression against the cathedral an aggression against me personally,” Mr. Morsi said, according to state media.

The president ordered an investigation of the violence and instructed security forces “to protect the citizens inside the Cathedral,” state media reported, and he pledged to protect both Muslims and Christians.

The violence began Friday when a sectarian dispute in the town of Khusus outside Cairo escalated into a gunfight that killed four Christians and a Muslim — the first major episode of deadly sectarian violence since Mr. Morsi’s election last year. Hundreds of Christians and sympathetic Muslims gathered at the cathedral Sunday for the four Christians’ funeral, chanting for the removal from power of Mr. Morsi and his Islamist allies.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES 

In run-up to parliament polls, Egypt’s Christians remain disaffected

Despite president’s decision to bring date for legislative polls forward so as not to conflict with Easter holiday, Egypt’s Coptic Christians still appear to harbour resentment

“We’re told it’s a good thing that they decided to change the date of parliamentary elections to avoid their falling on the Easter holidays,” said Nabil, a Coptic-Christian silversmith in Cairo’s Heliopolis district. “I was really dismayed by the original date, but – let’s face it – these aren’t the easiest times for Christians.”

Speaking shortly after Egypt’s presidency changed the electoral timetable – which had initially failed to take into account Coptic Easter celebrations – Nabil said: “It’s not just the Muslim Brotherhood [the group from which President Mohamed Morsi hails]; the state never really paid much attention to Easter under [ousted president Hosni] Mubarak, too.”

He added: “The Muslims don’t recognise Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, and as such Easter never meant much to the state.”

On Sunday evening, the presidency brought the date for parliamentary polls forward – from 27/28 April to 22/23 April – “in compliance with the demands of Coptic members of the Shura Council,” the upper house of Egypt’s parliament, which is currently endowed with legislative powers.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AL AHRAM 

Egypt detains Islamic preacher for insulting Christianity

Egypt’s state prosecutor ordered on Sunday an extremist Islamic preacher detained for questioning on suspicion of insulting religion after a complaint from a Christian activist, a judicial source said.

The preacher Ahmed Abdullah, known as Abu Islam, is already on trial for tearing up a bible during a protest outside the American embassy in Cairo in September over a short film made in the United States that insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

The latest probe came after a complaint filed by Coptic Christian activist Nagib Gibrail who accused Abu Islam of insulting Christians on a television show.

Egyptian law forbids insults against religion, allowing police in the past to arrest Shiite Muslims and Christians for alleged slights against Islam.

A court last month upheld death sentences for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians who live in the United States and were accused of producing “Innocence of Muslims,” a movie that insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

The movie triggered outrage across the Muslim world when it surfaced last September.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE RAW STORY 

Egyptian Muslims and Christians Take to the Streets to Protest Sexual Harrassment

On Coptic Christmas, Egyptian Christians voice guarded hope for the Future

The reported failed attack on a church in Rafah on Monday, coinciding with Coptic Christmas, is not the kind of news that Father Mikhail wanted to wake up to. on Monday, coinciding with Coptic Christmas, is not the kind of news that Father Mikhail wanted to wake up to.

“It’s very sad that our church is still under attack and that Coptic families of Rafah are still being threatened by militant extremists,” said Father Mikhail of the Rafah Church. “But we have to be thankful for the good news: the army foiled the attempt.”

This Christmas morning, the Supreme Military Council’s Facebook page announced that army units stationed in Sinai had foiled an attempt to destroy the Rafah Church, which had faced repeated attacks by Islamist extremists within the past two years.

News of the foiled Rafah attack was disturbing for many Copts – even those far from Rafah. On his way to his parents’ house for Christmas lunch, local resident Ayman said he was “really disturbed” by the incident. “It’s a good thing the army is on alert and that it protected the church, but it’s sad that churches are still under threat.”

Attacks on churches have occurred intermitently during the past decade, especially in Alexandria and Upper Egypt. An attack on the Upper Egyptian Nagaa Hamadi Church on Coptic Christmas Eve four years ago left six Copts dead.

However, since ousted president Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in early 2011, several churches have been attacked and burned. The most troubling of these were two consecutive attacks on churches in Imbaba, a low-income neighbourhood in Giza with a considerable Coptic presence.

These attacks were aggravated by the 9 October 2011 carnage in which military vehicles ran over and killed Coptic demonstrators protesting repeated attacks on churches and Copts.

“Sad as this attack on the Rafah Church is, and sad as the memories of 9 October and Nagaa Hamadi are, the fact remains that we’re here in our country celebrating Christmas among what I believe is unprecedented sympathy and warmth from Muslim friends and neighbours,” said Ayman.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AHRAM ONLINE

In Egypt the Amateurs are in Charge

NEWS ABOUT EGYPT FROM THE REGION

By Rami G. Khouri

The tumultuous road to a stable democratic system of government in Egypt is passing through one of its most decisive stages these days, with most of the main political actors revealing their amateurism more than anything else. This is a hard but necessary learning process, as the main protagonists refuse to accept that hard-line and absolutist positions are inappropriate during this delicate transition.

For all the heartening talk about their shared commitment to democratic pluralism, the dominant Muslim Brotherhood and most of the other leading Egyptian political groups are demonstrating the problems arising from a fast transition from autocracy to democracy, without a transition period in which people and organizations learn how to function in a democratic system. Personality has much to do with this.

The Muslim Brotherhood leaders who have spent much of the last 25 years in and out of jail were catapulted into the presidency without any previous experience in managing national politics. President Mohammad Mursi is revealing his inability to act as the president of all Egyptians and the shepherd of a historic constitutional transition in which basic governance institutions are being built. Unlike Nelson Mandela who spent decades in jail and then showed his compassion, flexibility and statesmanship when he became president of South Africa, Mursi seems focused on pushing through his agenda (presumably also the Brotherhood’s) and is unable at this stage to act as the magnanimous leader of all Egyptians.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY STAR (LEBANON)

In troubled Egypt, Copts turn to beloved saint

MAR GIRGIS MONASTERY, Egypt — There was no mention of churches torched or Christians killed, but the prayer neatly written on a tiny piece of paper and placed atop an icon of St. George in the chapel of a desert monastery left no doubt about the growing fear and despair of Egypt’s Coptic Christians.

“Oh Lord, for the sake of all the saints of the church, raise high the banner of the cross and vanquish our enemies, the enemies of the church,” it read. “Make our enemies realize their weakness, foil their actions against us, bring joy to our hearts, increase our profit and make us victorious.”

There were folded slips of paper all over the icon of the Christian knight rearing on his steed and skewering a dragon with his spear. Tucked into its frame, piled on a small table below it, spilling on the floor around it, all pleas to God for health, fertility, wealth, happiness – and protection. Copts stood motionless in prayer before the image. Others broke into hymns praising his valor. Wanting to linger in the saint’s presence, families picnicked on the chapel floor, gossiping and eating sandwiches.

The past week, hundreds of thousands of Copts from across the country flocked to the monastery of Mar Girgis, as St. George is known in Arabic, in one of the biggest and most exuberant events of the year for Egypt’s Christians. The annual pilgrimage at the walled monastery in the deserts of southern Egypt overlooking the Nile is a festival of faith, a time to pay homage to the 3rd Century saint who is one of the most revered figures of Christianity’s oldest Church.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST 

Egypt’s New Coptic Pope Speaks out on Range of Issues

Egypt’s new Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II, elected earlier this week, has been interviewed by several private television channels, in which he spoke frankly about a number of critical issues facing Egypt’s Coptic-Christian community.

For one, Tawadros has stressed that the church has “no political role,” as this should be reserved for Egypt’s political parties. The church, he said, should only play a “spiritual and social role,” noting that overlaps between the two could potentially lead to disturbances within society.

Tawadros has also stressed his agreement with late pope Shenouda III’s decision to ban Egypt’s Copts from visiting Jerusalem until the issue of Palestine has been justly resolved.

“There’s a peace treaty between the governments [of Egypt and Israel], but the Egyptian public rejects the notion of normalisation with Israel,” he said. “We won’t encourage Copts to visit Jerusalem, as we can’t accept the idea of Copts selling out the Arab cause.”

Pope Tawadros II has also voiced his rejection of a parliamentary quota for Coptic MPs.

“Rather, we must gradually prepare Egyptian society, with the support of political parties, to accept Coptic parliamentarians – only 30 in the beginning, perhaps, before gradually increasing the percentage of Coptic representatives,” he said.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AHRAM ONLINE