Persecution of Coptic Christians on the Rise

  Copts are Egyptian Christians descended from among the first Gentiles who embraced Christianity two thousand years ago. The religion of Jesus Christ was brought to Egypt by no less than St. Mark, the author of one of the four Christian Gospels.

   By the third century Coptic Christians were the majority in Egypt, and remained so until the Muslim conquest in the 7th century. From then on, for the most part, Copts, along with Jews, were relegated to the status of dhimmi, or inferior, by their Arabic Muslim rulers. Today about 12% of Egypt is Coptic.

   Throughout history there have been many famous Copts ranging from Maria al-Qibtiyya, wife of the Prophet Mohammed to Boutros Boutros Ghali, the 6th secretrary-general of the United Nations.

   But today, Coptic Christians in Egypt are as persecuted a minority as the first Christians were at the hands of the Roman empire. Several weeks ago in Marsa Matrouh, a crowd of 3,000 Muslims, whooped into a war frenzy by an angry Imam, descended on the Christian community in order to "cleanse the city of its infidel Christians," democracy advocate Moheb Zaki wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal.

   The result: 18 homes, 23 shops, and 16 cars destroyed while the Coptic community barracaded itself in its church for 10 hours until the Muslim fury died out.

   Over the last year there have been more than a dozen such instances of religious "cleansing" in Egypt. In Naga Hamadi a drive-by shooting at a Coptic church, following Christmas Eve mass, resulted in the massacre of seven Christians and the wounding of 26 more.

The following disturbing video was taken with a mobile phone shortly after the shooters did their work:



   Egyptian Copts have been forced to flee their homes by the thousands. Police, writes Mr. Zaki, arrive conveniently late to the scene after reported attacks on Copts. Often, he reports, the result is police pressure on Copt victims to "reconcile" with their Muslim attackers.

   Far from being the product of a few bad actors, this violence is being condoned and supported by a government that looks the other way, and a Muslim religious leadership that feeds the frenzy. One Sunni Islamic institution, according to Mr. Zaki, has declared the Bible to be corrupt and Christianity a pagan religion. And despite the dramatic rise in these attacks, no Muslim has yet been convicted of any crime.

   For all this talk, we continually hear that Islam is a religion of peace. Good luck finding many Egyptian Copts who agree with that. The plain fact is that if there are any peaceful Islamic leaders-religous or secular-now is the time for the big talkers to come forward and walk the walk: Unequivocally denounce this terrorism.

   Until that happens, most non-Muslims, rightly or wrongly, will continue to view Islam as a violent cult stuck in a time warp and a threat to civilized society the world over.

   Just thought you might like to know.