Round-Up: Christians Struggle for Religious Freedom in Egypt Amid Violence
Posted By Lisa Graas on May 10, 2011
Christians protest for religious freedom in Egypt
I wrote yesterday about continued attacks in Egypt by Muslims against Christians with video of the destruction of a church. Here is a round-up of news articles. On articles that require translation related to the struggle for religious freedom by the Christians of Egypt, if your browser has no translator, you can use Google Translate by pasting the url of the page into the box here. Don’t forget that Egypt is not the only place this is happening.
Catholic Culture: Catholic Church Attacked in Cairo
Alwafd.org: A report on some Muslim support for religious freedom for Christians — Peoples Committee provide demonstrations, Copts of Alexandria. According to the report, “thugs” attacked the peaceful protestors. The Christians are demanding that the perpetrators of violent acts against Christians and their churches be punished, the release of detained protesters, and the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.
ahramonline: Copts voice their anger and sadness on day two of Maspero protests
Essam Sharaf is doing some traveling — Ethiopia, UAE, Uganda — ostensibly to shore up Egypt’s role in the region, but is it also to shore up himself? And will Egypt lead the way in African destruction of Christians now? Legitimate questions.
There is now a Facebook page for those who support calling for international protection for Christians in Egypt.
For trustworthy updates from Egypt, please follow @Nefrette and @CopticNews on Twitter.
Here’s a recent documentary report from Journeyman Pictures on the Christians of Egypt.
More updates will be added as I am able.
UPDATE #1:
This is very frustrating. Muslims at Alwafd.org are now claiming they spoke to a priest who is denying Fr. Cherubim Awad’s statement that those who attacked Virgin Mary Catcholic Church are Salafi Muslims but rather that they are “thugs” who are not local people.
Father Cherubim Awad
Here’s a very rough transcript/translation of what the “priest” supposedly said:
He denied Father Cherubim Awad priest of the Church Mary Mena Street Luxor Bimbabp the Salafis to cause discord or encroachment on the churches and fire on the Christians, saying that the people who do not Salafis or Muslim, but they are elements of thugs, terrorists came out of the ground suddenly, and they are not residents of the region.
He added that all of carrying a weapon and injured innocent people is not a religion, noting that the Salafis are followers of the Prophet and advances work as recommended by the Prophet of its recommendation with good treatment and good with people of the book. Awad added that the church was established in 8819 and officially opened in 1996, saying that he is not there are any problems since its construction with the Muslim Brotherhood Fmnazlhm surrounded the church and greetings are exchanged in the holidays. He said: He who does so is not Islam, it is permanently located on our dealings with our fellow non-Muslims who are dealing with them since childhood.
Wow. And, they have no picture of this “priest” but they do have a pic of Fr. Awad, which I’ve posted at left.
I will try to get my mind around all of this and provide an update later. Remember, Google Translate will translate Arabic websites.
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