Coptic (French, English, American, etc) Options: Leave Egypt or Pay Jizya Poll Tax In Submission

A Middle East Phenomenon: ... "Where Did All The Christians and Jews Go?"

Fair Is Fair: You Post 1 Cartoon Of Mohammed on Facebook and We Burn Your House (and All Of Your Neighbour's Houses Too)

Drawing of Prophet Muhammad leads to Coptic homes burned Egypt

DigitalJournal

The homes of Coptic Christians in southern Egypt have been burned in a display of enraged violence by outraged Muslims. Violence broke out following a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad being posted online by a Christian student.

Sectarian violence erupted in the Egyptian province of Assiut after a Christian student posted a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad on his Facebook page. According to the Washington Post the drawing depicted the prophet with four women seeking his hand in marriage.

Naharnet reported that police arrested the Christian student responsible for posting the drawing on Thursday, after dozens of Muslims stormed his house. His arrest did not appease the Muslims that were riled to violence by the image. They proceeded to set fire to a shop belonging to the student's father before turning their attention to burning seven houses belonging to Coptic Christians. Five members of the police were injured in the ensuing violence.

Ironically, when Muslims react violently to images of the prophet it results in further dissemination of such images. Any images of the prophet are considered blasphemous within Islam and this latest depiction resulted in the inevitable violence which has ensued on previous occasions when images and cartoons of the prophet have been circulated.

Policymic explains that the reason why images of Prophet Muhammad are forbidden in Islam is they "could lead Muslims to worship the man instead of the Creator."

Whilst those who practice Islam may find the images offensive, the circulation of such images by others is perceived as a cornerstone of free speech. There is no necessity for the scenes of such intolerant violence, yet they have become as inevitable as the fatwas which generally follow.

This latest outburst of sectarian violence further destabilizes relations between Coptic's and Muslims in Egypt. Already prepared to expect violence against the Copts during the Coptic Christmas and New Year, the army had promised extra security precautions around Coptic churches on Jan. 7.

EGYPT’S KRISTALLNACHT

Powerline

The persecution of Christians in Egypt is one of the mysteriously underreported stories of our time. At Big Peace, Charles Jacobs writes:

Gordon College is a Christian school between Salem and Rockport. A few weeks ago I spoke there at a commemoration of Kristallnacht, Germany’s night of broken glass, the first mass assault on Europe’s Jews and the harbinger of the Shoah. I told the Christian audience how good it was to feel Christian support for Jews in these times, and that even some of the most stubborn of my people were now appreciating Evangelical support for Israel. I also said that we felt this blessed support came from a spirit of Christian altruism. But given the news from the Middle East, concern for others is surely not the only reason Christians need to support Israel.

I asked how many in the audience of 250 knew of Anne Frank. Almost every hand shot up. Then I asked how many had heard of Ayman Labib. I got a mass blank stare. Ayman was a 17-year-old Egyptian Christian who just weeks ago was beaten to death by his Muslim classmates as teachers watched because he refused their demand to remove his cross necklace.

I asked how many knew about the Maspero massacre, which had left at least 24 Copts dead and 270 injured. And whether they knew that since January, there had been more than 70 attacks on Christian churches or institutions in Egypt.

While tonight you commemorate a Jewish pogrom, I told them, Christianity has just suffered its own “Kristallnacht” … and I have yet to see much of a Christian response.

In this video, Cynthia Farahat, a Christian Egyptian, testifies before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. Among other things, she describes the fate of her friend Michael Mosad:

His legs were nearly severed from his body. As [Michael’s fiancée] sat next to him …soldiers gathered … brutally beating and kicking his motionless body. Vivian threw her body over his to protect him … but military officers beat and cursed her; they called her an infidel, ‘Christian sons of dogs,’ and worse–

The plight of Christians in Egypt and across the Muslim Middle East has become critical, but, for reasons I cannot understand, almost all American Christians seem indifferent to the fate of their fellow Christians overseas.

Second Class Citizenship: Arabs in Apartheid Israel ... or ... Christians/Jews under Sharia?