Coptic Solidarity We often hear about Egypt’s Christians being attacked by Muslim mobs. What we rarely hear about is what happens afterwards. Are the culprits imprisoned? Are the victims compensated? Do authorities take measures to help prevent such attacks from happening again? While the acquainted reader may correctly assume no, the anatomy of what always … [Read more...]
Coptic Bishop: Egypt’s Christians Attacked ‘Every Two or Three Days’
Coptic Solidarity After the latest round of attacks on Egypt’s Christian minority—which saw at least one Copt stabbed to death and many Christian homes and a church burned—Coptic Bishop Makarious of al-Minya, the region where many of the attacks on Christians take place, was interviewed on television. Although Church authorities in Egypt are regularly diplomatic and … [Read more...]
The Two Faces of Al Azhar
Coptic Solidarity In a statement titled, “The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Calls on Al Azhar’s Sheikh to Renounce His Remarks Which Contradict Religious Freedom and Support Violent Extremism,” the institute blasted Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb’s recent remarks concerning apostasy, first reported in the English here. Though Tayeb is often portrayed as a … [Read more...]
Will the Terrorization of Egypt’s Christians “Never Stop”?
Originally published by Gatestone Institute under the title, “Egypt: New Attacks on Christians.” In a chronically familiar scene, angry, rioting Muslims in Egypt burned down around 80 Christian homes on June 17. In the words of one of the victims, Moses Zarif, On Friday afternoon, after noon prayers, a large number of Muslims gathered in the front of the new house of my … [Read more...]
Egypt’s Top “Moderate” Cleric: Apostasy a “Crime,” Punishable by Death
Coptic Solidarity The line between “moderate” and “radical” Muslim continues to fade. On the question of apostasy in Islam—whether a born or converted Muslim has the right to abandon Islam for another or no religion—the radical position is well known: unrepentant apostates are to be punished with death. Yet one of the Muslim world’s greatest authorities, the Grand Sheikh … [Read more...]