Christians take over cathedral (Cairo, Egypt)

The Australian ^ | December 09, 2004 | Maggie Michael

[Cronos]

Show solidarity for our Christian brethern. And to all of those amongst you who thinkIslam can be tolerated -- Open your eyes and see what's happening in the slamic countries.

[cyborg]

bttt

[Betis70]

ping

[redgolum]

I think we may be seeing the beginning of something that the Middle East hasn't seen in a thousand years.

The Christians are starting to stand up for themselves.

Copts don't have "catholic" Christology, but I will pray for them and for all of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

We in America need to realize what our brethren are going through behind the dark curtain of Islam.

[MarMema]

God Bless our Coptic brethren.

[NYer]

SEVERAL thousand Christians took over the compound of the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Egypt's capital today, hurling stones at riot police in a protest over a woman who was allegedly forced to convert to Islam.

Good for them! When the authorities turn a blind eye in your direction and ignore your pleas for help, it's time to take matters into your own hands.

An Egyptian Coptic priest, center, negotiates with policemen outside the cathedral in the city's Abbasiya district, Cairo, Egypt, late Wednesday, Dec.8, 2004. More than a thousand Christians took over the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Egypt's capital Wednesday, hurling stones at riot police in a protest over a woman who was allegedly forced to convert to Islam.

Meanwhile, in nearby Iraq, gunmen blew up two churches.

A man views fire and smoke pouring from a Chaldean church after gunmen attacked two churches in the latest violence directed against one of Iraq (news - web sites)'s several religious and ethnic groups in the tense northern Iraqi city of Mosul, December 7, 2004. Members of the churches, one Armenian, the other Chaldean, said gunmen burst in, forced people to leave and set off explosions inside the buildings, damaging them but hurting no one.

The Armenians and Chaldeans can take a lesson from the Copts.

[MegaSilver]

They stated that Coptic Christians were the "real and original" Egyptians and that the "others who live in Egypt are all Arabs, not Egyptians." The couple seemed to convey a sense that they were of a higher class and better ethnicity than "other Egyptians."

It stems from a feeling of having their country stolen from them by Muslim conquerors and squatters, which is in fact what happened.

[Kolokotronis]

Just last Sunday an Eygptian Christian came to our Divine Liturgy. He is a doctor here and I believe recently arrived in America. I don't know if he is Orthodox or a Copt. If he's there this Sunday I'll see what G2 he can give me and post it.

[Betis70]

I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say, so if you post something could you give me a ping?

It's sad that our Christian brothers and sisters have to endure this kind of persecution in their own countries. Makes me realize just how free we really are here in the US.

[Kolokotronis]

"I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say, so if you post something could you give me a ping? "

I'll do it.

[nuke rocketeer]

"It stems from a feeling of having their country stolen from them by Muslim conquerors and squatters, which is in fact what happened."

Actually, the Coptics themselves facilitated the Muslim conquest of Egypt when the Arabs promised that they could practice their religion openly (after the poll tax), whereas the Greek Catholics from the Byzantine empire tried suppressing the Coptics. The small Byzantine army in Egypt was slaughtered by rear attack from the Coptics and the Arabs invited in. Even though that was over 1400 years ago, they still are paying the price for their ancestor's decisions.