Persecution of Christian Copts in Egypt on Rise as Muslim Brotherhood Consolidates Power
stores, set them on fire, robbed their homes, destroyed one car and three motorcycles, and caused minor damage to other Christian homes. They also threatened to kill any Christian who left their home. It was also reported that the village police did not arrive until after the gang had left the area and, except for three Christians, no one has been arrested.
In addition, Al Akhbar News also reported that hundreds of Christians gathered before the Asyut Security Directorate in the Manfalut Municipality on August 14. The protestors were demanding police protection from Muslim gangs attacking their homes and imposing tributes on them, which has become a problem for many Christians in the Middle East.
Just the week before, a gang kidnapped the son of a Coptic Christian and demanded a ransom of 3,000 EGP for his return. In another recent incident, a Muslim gang attacked the home of a Copt named Romani Murad al-Gawli, and they threatened to kill him if he did not give them money.
This is no way for human beings to live! I said something similar when hate-filled, Islamist mobs went on a rampage in Dahshur at the beginning of August and threatened the entire Coptic community. Dr. Naguib Gabriel, the head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, stated that the Copts have been systematically persecuted since Mursi became president.
President Mursi said he was going to be the president of all Egyptians, including the Copts. As we watch events unfold in Egypt, we have to ask ourselves, was that just a big lie, a ruse to gain power and Islamize Egypt? Does President Mursi mean to rule the Copts as a free and equal people or as the dhimmi class?
Let us pray that President Mursi is not another dictator and that the new Egyptian government is not another totalitarian state. We already have enough of these in the world. Let us also pray that the new Egyptian government will fulfill its proper functions and serve and protect all of its citizens.
But Christians in the Middle East need our help as well as our prayers. They are in a dire situation. You might consider contacting one of the organizations that is doing something to help them. I recently mentioned one such organization in an article titled "Call to Solidarity: Christian Refugees from the Middle East Need Your Help." Contact information is included in the article. The name of the organization is Arab Refugee Christians in the USA.
We can also let our leaders know that the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, and throughout the world for that matter, is important to us, and we want our country to help these suffering souls and help bring peace and stability to these parts of the world. And if our leaders do not share our values, then we can vote new leaders into office who do.
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Michael Terheyden was born into a Catholic family, but that is not why he is a Catholic. He is a Catholic because he believes that truth is real, that it is beautiful and good, and that the fullness of truth is in the Catholic Church. However, he knows that God's grace operating throughout his life is the main reason he is a Catholic. He is greatly blessed to share his faith and his life with his beautiful wife, Dorothy. They have four grown children and three grandchildren.
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Keywords: Christian, Copt, Persecution, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Michael Terheyden
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History looks like being repeated once again.
There was once 1,000,000 Jews living throughout the Arab-World in the M.E. and North Africa.
Today there are fewer than 7,000 Jews living in the arab world, around 1,500 in Tunisia and
around 4,500 - 5,000 in Morocco, a few hundred still in the yemen and around 35 to 40 jews in Bahrain.
The Coptic Christians number around 8,000,000 around 10% of the total Egyptian population, they now must realize how the once Jewish population of 80,000 suffered at the hands of their Muslim countrymen, now it seems the time has come for history to rear it's ugly head and persecute, torture, murder or forcing people to convert to islam. The innocent Egyptian Coptic Christians who have practiced their faith in Egypt at least 300 hundred years before the dawning of Islam some 1,460 years ago. Islam want's to just dominate everyone and every country, in the end it will self-destruct.
We better be concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood being in our own government also. Some in homeland security positions. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. Obama has appointed MB members and supports them in the middle-east. What does that tell you? All references to MB and radical Islam has been purged in the FBI and CIA files. "Cair" has seen to that. Those persecutions will soon be on American soil. God bless.
Judy Claar, Please see the link toward the end of this article for another article I wrote, "Call to Solidarity: Christian Refugees from the Middle East Need Your Help." In that article, I mention an organization, Arab Refugee Christians in the USA, and I include their E-mail address and a link to their website. They need all kinds of help, including financial assistance. They will be glad to explain where the money goes and what it does. God bless you.
Deacon Keith, If we donate money, to whom does it go? and what does it do?
i am shocked, that a so called, loving peaceful people, believe in something so barbaric! President Mursi should be called on such activities by the U.S. President. By our president not summoning him, is a silence that speaks volumes! Egypt should be denied any monies from the U.S. until peace and solidarity prevail.
Is this not fair social justice? Or, am I being harsh out of compassion for our Coptic brothers and sisters?
TO ALL:
May I suggest we all write our senators, congressmen, and pray. God Be With You...
Recent history of the murder and persecution of our Coptic Christain brothers and sisters in Egypt with no repercussions indicates that muslims will continue to do this. And "the Muslim Brotherhood" will take the lead in this and continue the persecution of all Christains in Egypt.
All our govt under Obama will do, is to continue to lend (give) monies to Egypt to continue to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood govt so it can do as it chooses and if some of this is persecution of Christains, our govt and Obama could care less.
Excuse me, Grover. I was wrong to say, "Every single thing you said is false." What you said about sin and us being our brother's keeper is excellent.
To Grover Weaver: Every single thing you said is false. Pope Benedict XVI is speaking about the suffering of the Copts and all Christians presently suffering persecution in Muslim and communist countries. He is also speaking about the rise of totalitarianism and the growing persecution of Christians in the West. Many Bishops have also spoken about these evils. The Catholic Church also played a major role in the formation of the new nation of Southern Sudan. The Church also played a major role in ending slavery in much of the world. I also recall that the Church saved more Jews from the Nazis than anyone else, other than the allied armies. I do not know what you mean by "little ones." However, the Church has spoken out against abortion and euthanasia more than anyone else. And the Church's great love for the poor and downtrodden has been repeatedly proven throughout history. Furthermore, I believe that the Church is the single greatest defender of human dignity and freedom in the world today.
Why must President Obama get all of the blame for being silence at the suffering of the Copts Christians when Pope Benedict XVl and all of Christendom is silence and to be blamed for the pain suffered in the land that protected the Blessed Virgin and the Fruit of her womb.
Christ's Church to its shame has a history rooted in the sin of silence. The church was silence when the African Church was taken into slavery; silence when the Jews were taken to Auschwitz; and, we all were shamed by our silence when we suffered our "little ones" to be abused by the hand that fed us.
This sin happens when we do not do what we should do: we are indeed the keeper of our brother.
I bet we don't hear a thing about this from the Obama administration. The same thing has already happened in Iraq and will probably be happening in Syria before we know it. And just think, Christians and Muslims lived how many decades in peace under Mubarak, who was one of America's best allies in the region? But our dear president threw him under the bus in favor of these barbarians.
An equivalent analogy would be if the Federal gov't of the US were to set out purging folks of the LDS faith. How I wish religious leaders and presidential candidates would just make mention of what is going on in the MIddle east! Where oh where is the courage?