Egypt’s Christians face uphill battle, but there is hope
Excerpts:
"In fact, the Brotherhood has largely done their best to support and protect the Christian community. On Coptic Christmas, January 7, organized groups of Brotherhood-sponsored men headed to churches to ensure safety. Still, the fact they were forced to do just that, in Farid Zaki’s view, shows “we live in a society that wants to push Christians away and push them to leave."
*snip*
"But all these fears received a reprieve earlier this year as the country’s leading Islamic institute, al-Azhar, called for a Bill of Rights before a constitution is drafted. In the document, which received massive popular support from activists, liberals, Islamists, intellectuals and Christians. The idea, simply, would be to establish certain “inalienable” rights for all Egyptians, including freedom of speech, assembly and, most importantly, freedom of religion. But despite the document, the concept of what those “inalienable” rights would be are still to be discovered."
*snip*
"While the Coptic community is hopeful on the future of Egypt and its role within society and politics, they must be weary of how far the Christian community can honestly go. They have limited mobility, limited representation in government and at the end of the day, the turn toward conservatism in the country will be a major impediment to creating a robust civil society that treats Coptic Christians with equal weight."
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Good to see some progress being made towards tolerance in these difficult times.
