Thanks! The Egyptian Muslims and Christians had been getting along in this community until this happened. After all, they are all Egyptians. They probably go to the same restaurants and share many customs.
It is a big mistake to let the terrorists cause sectarian strife. That is exactly what they do in Pakistan.
Here, of course, there is more confidence in the integrity and competence of the police. You know they are going to move heaven and earth to get these people. And it may be a Muslim who hears what happened and rats them out, but don't expect to hear that in the papers.
Please remember, the main target of Al Qaeda is Muslims.
If innocent Muslims are attacked by "Christians," these
"Christians" are really acting as agents of Al Qaeda.
Don't do their dirty work! Let the law catch the criminals.
These clergymen were peacemakers, but the crowd was too angry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/nyregion/18jersey.html
The uproar outside the community center of St. George and St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church, on Bergen Avenue, began when some of the hundreds of mourners present saw a Coptic bishop hug the sheik before the sheik left in a police car, several members of the church said. According to the Rev. Antonious Tanious and several other Coptic Christians, two men began screaming at Bishop David, who presides over the Coptic churches in the Northeast, asking him how he could let a Muslim attend the service.
Panicked police officers whisked the two men and some others into a nearby garage and closed the metal door just as a swell of people, some screaming and waving wooden crosses, pressed up against the door.
Actually, I believe there have been tensions between the Muslim and Coptic communities in New Jersey, which carry over from the Muslim persecution of Copts in Egypt. The Copts in New Jersey do have every reason to be upset about this and it's pretty reasonable to suspect that Muslims may have committed the crime. (Still, there exists an outside possibility that it was not related to religion at all.)
However, I agree that the police should be allowed to investigate the crime and that vigilante justice is not the way to go. In any case, the Muslims who showed up at the funeral were probably not the bad guys.