A Church under siege (Muslims put $60-million bounty on Coptic priest)

National Post ^ | October 23, 2008 | Michael Coren

[NYer]

Last week I was supposed to interview Father Zakaria Boutros on my television show. It would have been the second time I had spoken to this gentle, thoughtful man, a leading figure of the Egyptian Coptic Christian community and now obliged to live in exile in the US after twice being arrested in his homeland. But on this occasion the interview was suddenly cancelled. A $60-million bounty was just put on his head by Muslim extremists in Iran and Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda were thought to be intent on fulfilling the fatwa and it was considered too dangerous to allow him to travel to Canada. The fact that the United States government bounty on Osama bin Laden is a mere $25-million rather puts the case of this disarmingly gentle and jovial priest into proportion.

Because while he is anonymous to most North Americans, Boutros is famous or notorious throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, where his daily television broadcasts attract enormous audiences and his Web site millions of hits. His style is uncompromising. Speaking in Egyptian accented Arabic, and fluent in Islamic scholarship and the various sub-cultures of the Muslim world, he carefully unwraps the layers of the Koran and the life and teachings of Muhammad and presents his viewers with a virtually unprecedented critique of their faith. It's the combination of accessibility and originality that makes him so threatening to militant Islam.

"We know people are leaving Islam because of what I say and they know people are leaving Islam because of what I say," he explains. A long pause, then: "People in the West simply don't understand the significance of this in a world that has not and probably will not embrace pluralism. The Islamic response is not to argue with me but to try to kill me."

[NYer]

Father Zakaria Boutros

[NYer]

Last month the Iranian parliament voted on a draft bill, the "Islamic Penal Code," whereby any woman who left Islam would be punished with life in prison and any man with execution. 196 parliamentarians supported the bill, seven opposed it. The world's reaction, including the United Nations', to this contravention of myriad international laws has been screamingly silent.

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Red Boots]

Thanks for an article on a true Christian hero. Any idea what the name of his website is ?

[Artemis Webb]

Thank you for posting this.

[theKid51]

Ping

[areukiddingme1]

"A $60-million bounty was just put on his head by Muslim extremists in Iran and Saudi Arabia" But, but, but...Islam is a religion of Peace...(sarc).

[bmwcyle]

Could we just give them two selected TV Evangelist?

[sneakers]

God bless and protect this man.

[agere_contra]

Thank you for posting. A Coptic Limbaugh, so to speak!

[Red Badger]

God bless and protect this brave man................

[Claud]

Father Boutros is AWESOME. If anyone is interested, some of his shows are on YouTube overdubbed in English. He has immense charity for Muslims and the ability to demonstrate the truth of Christianity *from the Koran and Islamic scholars*. Here’s the first of a 3-part series he did on the divinity of Christ:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBCEnHOn1gI

He must be devastatingly effective in the Middle East. There’s a price on his head for a reason.

Many prayers for Father!

[Claud]

Here’s Father’s Website:

http://www.fatherzakaria.net/

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Some enterprising federal police agency should set up a trap to snare murderous jihadis. Just get a hard to find cabin in a rural area, with several unique roads that have to be taken to reach it. Put up some sensors, then let it be known that people like this guy and Salman Rushdie are meeting there.

When the jihadis show up with a bunch of weapons and explosives, or a car bomb, they are a gimmee. Even put up several signs that say “Federal Reservation - No Trespassing” on it, so they know they are violating serious federal laws.

[tiniyo]

God Bless father Zakaria. You can check out some of his videos by going to http://www.muhammadtube.com or youtube.
Pray that God protects his soul

[marshmallow]

"The Islamic response is not to argue with me but to try to kill me."

As Pope Benedict XVI said in Regensburg, our God is a God of reason. He is not irrational. The Islamic response to unapologetic Christianity, however, is always irrational. Anger, threats, violence.......

Faith has to mean something. It has to cost something. It has to come with a cross. Otherwise it's useless and will wither and die. That's something the West has forgotten. In the East, whether it's Iraq, India, Pakistan, or Egypt, being a Christian means having to walk the line. Every day. It was the same story behind the Iron Curtain in the days of the Soviet Union.

It seems almost every day now we hear of a story of heroic witness in the face of Islam from this part of the world. Usually it's the Christians in Iraq, today it's this good man.

Father Zakaria is a sign of contradiction. A voice crying in the wilderness. The words of Paul to Timothy come to mind, "Preach the Gospel, in season and out of season". May the Catholic Church in the US learn a lesson from this man.

[Titanites]

This book provides some wonderful insight into the spirituality of the Copts:

[TASMANIANRED]

Prayers for his safety.

[NYer]

LOVE IT! That is one of my most favorite books! I picked it up for a Lenten read and could not put it down. I strongly encourage everyone to read this wonderful account of a Catholic monk who chooses to write his doctorate on the Coptic Church. His experience is unforgetable.

[NYer]

Ping!

[Infidel Puppy]

I blame myself for not introducing enough Muslims to Allah personally.