One can see why the Pope is so worried about what is going on.
Egyptian: Goal of Arab Spring to Wipe Out Christians
Wednesday, December 18, 2013 | Israel Today Staff
Dr. Ashraf Ramelah, an Egyptian Christian activist and founder of Voice of the Copts, said in a recent interview with Arab media that the new constitution being discussed in Egypt is further evidence that the so-called Arab Spring was nothing more than a front for a revitalization of the Islamic agenda.
Ramelah told The Arab Daily News that Christians in the Middle East are far worse off today than prior to the Arab Spring. Proof of that can be found in the fact that it is necessary to consider special clauses pertaining to Christians in the new Egyptian constitution.
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Egyptian: Goal of Arab Spring to Wipe Out Christians - Israel Today | Israel News
Coptic Christians are not allowed to divorce under any circumstances.. Sometimes they convert to Islam to divorce and then back to Christianity.. IMO.. it shouldn't be that way.
That is NOT a justification just a bit of trivia.
I don't think the purpose of the Arab Spring is to wipe out Christians at all.. Egypt is very poor, very illiterate and has been very corrupt for over 40 years. The Copts are not a threat... just a minority caught up in an ugly civil war.
I don't know how true Ramelah's claim is but I do know you have ever-ready excuses, justifications and rationalizations for all that ails the Arab/Muslim World.
The persecution of Egypt's Coptic Christians - CBS News
"60 Minutes" reports on the Copts, Egypt's Christians who have suffered one of their worst periods in nearly 2,000 years
Dec 13, 2013
The ongoing political violence in Egypt has led to unprecedented attacks on the country's Coptic Christian minority, the worst in their history. Copts, who make up roughly 10 percent of the Egyptian population, were the target of revenge by Muslim mobs this summer after Egypt's first Islamist president was overthrown in a military coup. Over 40 Christian churches all over Egypt were gutted by arson and looted -- some over a thousand years old and full of priceless relics. Copts have also been murdered in ongoing sectarian violence. Bob Simon reports from Egypt on the Copts, in a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. on the CBS Television Network.
Human rights groups say the attacks were reprisals carried out by Islamist supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. When Egypt's military removed Morsi, supporters protested the move with speeches and sit-ins that led to a brutal crackdown by the Egyptian military that resulted in the deaths of up to a 1,000 people. Copts and their churches became targets, after their leader, Pope Tawadros II, appeared in public with the new military leadership. This "dangerous" tableau created an explosive perception, fueling angry mobs, says Heba Morayef, who heads Human Rights Watch in Egypt. "Accusations that Christians were responsible for the coup. Chants that would call Christians 'the pope's dogs,'" could be heard at demonstrations, she tells Simon.
Simon interviewed the caretaker of one Coptic Church located outside Cairo in Kerdasa. A mob, he says, broke down the gate and entered the church. "They looted everything, from chairs to pews," says Redha Girgis. "They stole anything that could be carried, what they couldn't carry, they destroyed," he says. "They set the whole place on fire with Molotov cocktails and gasoline."
60 Minutes cameras panned the exterior of the building where the attackers had left graffiti that said, "Egypt is Islamic."
Coptic services were held in Kerdasa in the only hall in the Coptic church complex undamaged by arson. Simon attended one such service where, he reports, the mood was not one of revenge. One of the Coptic Church's senior leaders, Bishop Thomas, says revenge is not his religion's way. "Forgiveness is a very important principle in the Christian life," he tells Simon. "When you are able to present forgiveness, and love, you are able as well to ask for justice."
