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TORONTO, Ontario, March 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian immigration frequently fails to recognize the claim of refugee status from Egyptian Coptic Christians, reported CTV news yesterday. In at least half the cases, claimants are sent back to Egypt to face increased persecution.The 2005 Country Report on Human Rights from the U.S. State Department said Egypt is responsible for "numerous human rights abuses," in particular against religious minorities. The report lists numerous cases of "religious discrimination" against Coptic Christians and says there is widespread "torture and abuse" in Egyptian prisons.Christians who have made refugee claims in the west will almost certainly...

NEW YORK - An expert on ancient Egyptian texts is predicting that the "Gospel of Judas" — a manuscript from early Christian times that's nearing release amid widespread interest from scholars — will be a dud in terms of learning anything new about Judas. James M. Robinson, America's leading expert on such ancient religious texts from Egypt, predicts in a new book that the text won't offer any insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. His reason: While it's old, it's not old enough. "Does it go back to Judas? No," Robinson told The Associated Press on Thursday. The text,...

In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a crowd of Muslim demonstrators tries to storm a Coptic church to protest at a play about a Muslim campaign to convert Christians. In Iraq, the Christian middle class is emigrating in droves, fearful of the daily violence and the hostility it now encounters from Islamists.  In Saudi Arabia, churches and other places of non-Muslim worship are banned, and foreign workers who try to hold secret Christian services are jailed, flogged and often deported. In the land of its birth, Christianity is in sad decline as the pressures of life under Israeli occupation and...

Tancredo Condemns Attacks on Coptic Christians Congressman Calls for Fair and Open Elections in Egypt WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), a member of the House International Relations Committee, condemned recent attacks on a Coptic Christian church and Christian-owned businesses in Alexandria, Egypt that left three persons dead and many wounded. “In order for Egypt to continue its march towards democracy, violence against religious minorities must stop, immediately,” said Tancredo. “There is a long history of oppression against Coptic Christians in Egypt. It is not enough for President Mubarak to say sorry in retrospect—he must take action to prevent...

Fearing a repeat of the recent riots against the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, which left four dead, more than 80 wounded and seven churches defaced, leaders of the Coptic church in the United States are calling on the U.S. government and the United Nations to take immediate action to stop the bloodshed and destruction of churches. Exclusive video footage released by the International Christian Union and American Coptic Association, or ICU/ACA, yesterday reveals the destruction of the Assemblies of God Church for Evangelical Copts in Moharam Bek on Friday, Oct. 21. An e-mail report from Dr. Monir Dawoud, president...

CAIRO -- A deadly Muslim protest in front of a church in Alexandria has deepened the resentment of Egypt's Christian Coptic minority, which has long complained of systematic marginalization. Some 5,000 angry Muslims protestors rioted and clashed with police in the Mediterranean city on October 21 demanding an apology from Coptic Pope Shenuda III over the release of a DVD deemed offensive to Islam. The clashes left three people dead and at least 60 wounded. More than 100 people have been placed in 15-day preventive detention for suspected involvement in the riots in Egypt's second city, a judiciary official said...

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) -- One person died and more than 90 were injured as thousands of Muslims rioted outside a Coptic Christian church Friday to denounce a play deemed offensive to Islam. Police responded by beating protesters and firing tear gas into the crowd, officials said. Police said 53 protesters were arrested as people hurled stones, smashed windows and tried to storm St. George Church. Protesters also set a police car on fire and wrecked eight other cars, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. A photographer for The Associated Press saw police fire rubber bullets into the crowd, causing...

THREE people have died during a riot outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, after a protest against a play accused of offending Islam. Police used sticks and tear gas to hold back a crowd of some 5000 protesters who marched on St George's church. Dozens of people were injured in the crush. One man who died was trampled and had inhaled tear gas, police said. On Wednesday, a Muslim man stabbed a nun in protest at the sale of a DVD of the play, staged at the church in 2003. The demonstration was the latest in a series of...

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- Thousands of Muslims rioted outside a Coptic Christian church Friday to denounce a play deemed offensive to Islam, prompting police to beat protesters and fire tear gas into the crowd, officials said. One person died and more than 90 were injured. Police said 53 protesters were arrested as people hurled stones, smashed windows and tried to storm St. George Church. Protesters also set a police car on fire and wrecked eight other cars, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. A photographer for The Associated Press saw police fire rubber bullets into the crowd, causing injuries. Police...

The remains of an ancient church dating to the early days of Christianity have been discovered beneath a Coptic Christian monastery, the Egyptian Gazette daily reported Sunday. Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni announced Saturday that archaeologists have found the remains of the church, built of bricks. It included a number of underground rooms which monks used for celebrating the liturgy. The church, uncovered beneath Saint Anthony's Monastery in the Red Sea area, was founded by disciples of Saint. Anthony, a hermit who died in A.D.356 and is regarded as the father of Christian monasticism. Archaeologists have also unearthed the bases...

Coptic TV Show Causes Controversy in Egypt The weekly show "Questions About Faith" on the Egyptian based Christian Al-Hayat satellite channel features an Egyptian Coptic priest residing in the United States. Father Zakaria Boutrus, the show, and Al-Hayat TV itself, have come under harsh criticism in the Egyptian press. Boutrus and his show have been accused of attacking Islam; of being supported by the U.S. to sow division and strife; and of "mocking the verses of Allah." Al-Hayat TV has been accused of being the work of foreign agents collaborating with the U.S., and Pope Shenouda III reportedly announced his...

The weekly show "Questions About Faith" on the Egyptian based Christian Al-Hayat satellite channel features an Egyptian Coptic priest residing in the United States. Father Zakaria Boutrus, the show, and Al-Hayat TV itself, have come under harsh criticism in the Egyptian press. Boutrus and his show have been accused of attacking Islam; of being supported by the U.S. to sow division and strife; and of "mocking the verses of Allah." Al-Hayat TV has been accused of being the work of foreign agents collaborating with the U.S., and Pope Shenouda III reportedly announced his opposition to the station's broadcasts, and denied...

"Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." - MATTHEW 2:13        How much do we really know about Jesus?    Not as much as we might think, according to a new film documentary focusing on the little-known childhood of Christianity's savior.    Titled "Jesus in Egypt," the film is based on a book of the same name by author Paul Perry, widely known...

Let My People Go  Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: The Century-Long Struggle for Coptic EqualityBy S. S. HasanOxford University Press. 320 pp. $49.95.Reviewed by Robert W. ShaffernSana Hasan, an Egyptian scholar best known for her Enemy in the Promised Land, has written another important book in Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt—a book in which she honestly confronts the sorry condition of Christians in Egypt, where the “problems faced by the Christian minority are for many . . . a taboo subject.” Hasan courageously describes the discrimination and harm often visited upon one of Christianity’s oldest communions—the Coptic...

For the past several years I have witnessed an ongoing crisis of identity within the Roman Catholic Church, which is evident even on the campus of Franciscan University. Often reduced to the battle between "Conservatives" versus "Progressives" or "Traditionalists" versus "Charismatics," the issues involved are multifaceted and complex. I have tried to make my own contribution to this debate, with varying degrees of success. Now I'd like to address it from a new perspective, i.e. as a kind of outsider, for that is indeed what I have become. I am an Eastern Christian. While gladly submitting to the authority of...

More Christians threatened on PalTalk. http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/03/005293print.html

Cops say McDonald murdered, then went on with life upstairs good worker, boss says Monday, March 07, 2005 By Brian Donohue Newhouse News Service Edward McDonald, 25, was questioned by investigators on Jan. 14, the morning police found his landlord, his wife and their two daughters stabbed to death in their Jersey City Heights home. After the interview, McDonald walked out of the prosecutor's office - and coolly past the brother of the slain woman, Ayman Garas, who was entering the building to meet with detectives. On Friday, McDonald and Hamilton Sanchez, 30, pleaded not guilty to four counts of...

Robbery, not religion, motive in Jersey City family slaying By WAYNE PARRY ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Robbery, not religion, was the motive behind the savage slaying of a family of four in January, prosecutors said Friday. Two paroled drug dealers who were deeply in debt were charged with four counts of murder and held on $10 million bail in the Jan. 11 killing of the Armanious family, Coptic Christians from Egypt who emigrated to the United States in 1997. Friends of the family had speculated that Hossam Armanious might have angered Muslims with postings he made in...

More questions than answers remain, but officials in New Jersey sound as if they're ready to wrap up this case. "Officials zero in on answers in family's killing," from NorthJersey.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist: "We're getting somewhere that hopefully is going to give us a clear indication as to what the motive is," said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio. "And once you have motive, that helps lead you to the people involved." DeFazio still won't discuss the intricate details of the case or explain why investigators are leaning toward a financial motive for the killings. But he did...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Two people have been arrested in the murder of an Egyptian Christian family, authorities said Friday. The suspects were to be arraigned Friday afternoon in state Superior Court. The Hudson County prosecutor's office would not release the identities of those arrested or the charges they face until they appear in court.