The coptic christians of egypt today: Under threat of annihilation

[Otus]

By
University
Virginia


ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to show the many human rights abuses by the
Egyptian government and Muslim radicals against Coptic Christians, to expose the
abuses to the American public and to encourage Americans to get involved in protesting
and defending the rights of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
The method used in this study involves information from various human rights
organizations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Books written on the
subject and the agenda of Islam as a state-sponsored religion are further references.
This study finds that Coptic Christians are subjected to daily persecutions. Some
of the persecutions include confiscation of property, discrimination and bigotry, the
imposing of Islamic laws against them to further enslave them, murders in broad daylight
with impunity, extortion, the siege of some towns, the bombing and burning down of
churches, and ill treatment on a daily basis. Copts are considered to be second class
citizens and have been deprived of their God-given inalienable rights. The West has
been blind in the face of such persecution. Egypt has been able to elude world
condemnation despite the grave situation of twelve million Coptic Christians in that
country.

INTRODUCTION

The West regards Egypt as a moderate country, which is true regarding its foreign
policy. The West, especially the United States, seems to ignore human rights violations
in that country. The annual report of the U.S. Department of State on human rights is
very mild in language concerning the severe human rights violations against Coptic
Christians in Egypt.1 The Department of State's annual report does not represent the truth

1Notice that I have used both the word Christian and Copts. Both are synonymous, and mean the
same thing in Egypt. When writing about the Copts, in fact, I am writing about Christians and vice versa.
In defining the word Coptic, Gerard in his book What is the Christian Orient said:
Coptic is the last stage in the evolution of the language of the pharaohs which was deeply
influenced by Greek. Coptic, here, is understood to be Egyptian. It is made up,
principally, of two dialects which are Sahidic in northern [sic, southern] Egypt and
Boharic in the Delta. Outside of the Greek cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, Hellenism
had spread only superficially in Egypt where the mass of fellaheen [ordinary Egyptians]
knew little or no Greek. As soon as Christianity was established in the country,
translations of the Sacred ******ures into Coptic began to appear.
See Gerard Guertin, What is the Christian Orient (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press,
1967), 64.
in that country.

2 The Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee on human rights and the U.S. foreign policy, after
extensive hearings reported the following:

2In comparing the annual reports of the U.S. Department of State for 1986, 1987, and 1993, with
the various documents published by Amnesty International, Christian Solidarity International, and other
human rights groups, one comes to the conclusion that the U.S. Department of State reports do not represent
the true condition of the Christian minority of Egypt and the violations of their human rights by the
Egyptian government.

The human rights factor is not accorded the high priority it deserves in our
country's foreign policy. . . . The State Department has taken the position
that human rights are a domestic matter. . . . When charges of serious
violations of human rights occur, the most that the Department is likely to
do is make private inquiries. The prevailing attitude has led the United
States into embracing governments which practice torture and
unabashedly violate every human rights guarantee pronounced by the
world community. Through foreign aid and occasional intervention both
overt and covert--the United States supports these governments
. . . . A higher priority for human rights in foreign policy is both morally
imperative and practically necessary.3
On a daily basis, Christians in Egypt are subjected to persecution, harassment,
threats, attacks, invasion of privacy, discrimination, confiscation of property, and
murder.4 Christians in Egypt are considered outcasts. Muslims look at Christians as a
burden and think that they must get rid of them or force them to accept the religion of
Islam. Politics and religion are two sides to the same Islamic coin.5 Dean Curry in his
book A World without Tyranny argues that:
. . . . Islam allows no "space" between the church and the state. The
secular and the sacred are one and the same. The state exists to serve
Islam; government is part of the sacred.6
The vast majority of laws are derived from Islam, disregarding the Christian's
beliefs and culture. The same can be true in the judiciary system. All political parties
and social acceptance are derived from Islam. Christians are prohibited from forming
their own party, from establishing their own universities, from having their own radio or
television stations, and seldom having their views heard in the media or newspapers.7 On

the other hand, the government can issue orders which ignore or supersede the judiciary
system, despite the fact that the judiciary system is pro-government.

Islam is considered the driving force in all aspects of Egyptian society.8 Most
government actions are influenced by Islamic law, which originates from the Koran. In
fact, the Egyptian Supreme Court said that Christians are infidels and cannot testify in
court against Muslims.9 According to Article Two of the Egyptian constitution, the main
source of law comes from the Islamic jurisprudence.10
Coptic Christians in Egypt comprise more than 20% of the population of 59
million, which is 12 million. They are suffering in their own land and are trying to
peacefully assert their God-given rights to live and worship in freedom.11 Sadly, their
peaceful efforts are met with little to no success. In compromising with militant
fundamentalists, the Egyptian government subjects Coptic Christians to severe
persecution and ill treatment. Christians in Egypt have to deal with two enemies: the
Egyptian government, which engages in criminal activities against them, and is careless
about their plight, and Islamic fundamentalists who are waging war against Egyptian
Christians.
Any protest of ill treatment or complaint by a Copt can spell misery upon the
Christians. Dr. Karas sums it up as follows:
The Coptic leaders are continuously reminded that any protest and
complaint will endanger the safety of the Christians all over Egypt. The
scheme and objectives of the Moslim [sic] regimes are to destroy the Christians and the non-Moslims economically, socially, and educationally,
or convert them by force to Islam.

If we consider the dogma for Christians to be, "In God we trust," then the Islamic
dogma would be, "In the sword we trust, and live by it."13
The word "annihilation" in the title of the thesis is chosen as a result of the
information presented in Chapter II subtitle D ("Violence against Coptic Christians in
Egypt"). While working on the thesis, the author continued to analyze the evidence from
various resources, and it became clear that the title must be changed from human rights
abuses to the present title to reflect the true intention of the Egyptian government. As we
say, actions speak louder than words. The government of Egypt may deny and continue
to mislead world opinion. However, the sad fact remains that the Coptic Christians are in
fact under threat of annihilation by the Egyptian government and Muslim radicals. No
other conclusion can be made in the light of the evidence presented throughout the thesis.
This thesis, and the nature of the subject discussed, makes it clear that the what
and the why must be included in the thesis (meaning what happened and why it
happened). In fact, the why is just as important as the what. If only the what is stated,
the reader would raise many exclamation marks which would require an answer. Having
said that, I shall proceed with both.

[El-Basha]

Dear Otus,

Firstly - Welcome with us in the English Forum hope you find it useful
It is a great study - but what is your point from publishing someone search in our forum.

You could use parts of this study to support a point in a topic of your, but please don't Copy & Paste a study search. You might put this person to a risk, by publishing his full name and University details.
Please avoid such situations.

Thanks

[Otus]

Dear El-Basha

Sorry, for publishing his name.

Reasons for posting the study was because I thought it would be an interesting read for some people. I provided a link to the site because the entire thesis is way too long to publish in one post.

Also, El-Basha are you from Egypt or the USA?

Peace

[El-Basha]

Not a problem Dear Otus .... as I said it is a very good study....but you need to careful

Also, El-Basha are you from Egypt or the USA?

Why you are asking ...
I could be in Both

Peace and love my dear ....