Free Republic

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s governing majority, is not actually crucifying the nation’s Christians. But they are nonetheless actively persecuting Coptic Christians who are said to be one-tenth of the population of the largest Arab country. A photograph of two young men set afire during recent demonstrations is pretty striking. … Police used tear gas against the Copts. It is tear gas sold to Egypt by American firms. In addition to foreign aid—most recently a $250 million increase offered by Sec. of State John Kerry—our State Department has approved sale of this “non-lethal” crowd control agent to the Muslim Brotherhood governing party....

Egyptian Copts are up in arms following the suspicious death last Monday of a Coptic Christian in a Libyan prison. The man was part of a group of Egyptian Coptic shopkeepers who have been living in Libya for the last few years and who were arrested by a Benghazi militia several days prior for allegedly “proselytizing”.

Egypt's Coptic Christian population has often had a difficult relationship with the country's Muslim majority, and human rights groups estimate that several thousand Copts may have left the country since the 2011 revolution. Video at link.

Representatives from Egypt’s Christian churches have withdrawn from President Mohamed Morsi’s national dialogue. The Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical churches decided to leave the dialogue on Wednesday because it was “unproductive” and did not “yield the desired results,” said Father Rafik Gerish, the Catholic representative at the dialogue. … Several political groups also withdrew from the national dialogue recently, most notably the Strong Egypt Party led by former Muslim Brotherhood member and ex-presidential contender Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh. …

A campaign of intimidation by Islamists left most Christians in this southern Egyptian province too afraid to participate in last week’s referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they deeply oppose, residents say. The disenfranchisement is hiking Christians’ worries over their future under empowered Muslim conservatives. Around a week before the vote, some 50,000 Islamists marched through the provincial capital, Assiut, chanting that Egypt will be “Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians.” At their head rode several bearded men on horseback with swords in scabbards on their hips, evoking images of early Muslims conquering Christian Egypt in the 7th Century. … The activists...

The faithful say she comes in a flash of light amid a swirl of pigeons. Hundreds, if not thousands, have been lining up for hours every night at the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in a Cairo neighborhood just off the Nile. Many of them claim that a mysterious light hovering above the church's domes is an apparition of the Virgin Mary who will bring Christian Copts prosperity and relief in a time of national and religious struggle. The crowds began appearing Thursday evening when a number of residents spotted a flickering light. No one was sure where the illumination was...