October 28, 2005

Praying for the Egyptian Church

When you go to your church this weekend, you probably won’t have to wade through an angry mob or be concerned about your safety or the safety of your family or your friends. However, many Coptic Christians in the land of Egypt have been facing that kind of danger and hostility for a long time. The International Christian Union (ICU) and the American Coptic Association (ACA) released video this week of mass riots as well as the destruction of churches and Bibles. According to the ICU, recent riots against the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt left four dead, over 80 wounded and seven churches defaced. ICU and the ACA called on the U.S. government and the United Nations to take immediate action to stop both the bloodshed and destruction of churches.

They released exclusive video that can be seen on http://mychristianblood.blogspirit.com. It shows the destruction of the Assemblies of God church for Evangelical Copts in Moharam Bek, on Friday, October 21. In a press release, Dr. Monir Dawoud, the president of the ICU/ACA said, “"We are receiving numerous reports that extremist Muslim groups are planning to surround the Alexandria churches again on Friday, Oct. 28, and at the end of Ramadan on the following Tuesday, promising the death of Christians and the continued destruction of churches throughout Egypt."

Dawoud said he faults the security forces for encouraging violence by first "giving the green light to the mob," and then failing to control the resulting riots. "If the momentum of the riots is allowed to continue, the crowds will be impossible to contain," he said.

More than 5,000 Muslims demonstrated outside of the Alexandria Coptic Orthodox Church last Friday to protest the production of a drama staged at the church two years ago. The protestors say the play blasphemes Islam. According to recent statements by the Coptic Church, however, the play does not defame Islam. Amgad Zakhari, one of the youth leaders with the ICU/ACA said, "Copts and other minorities in Egypt are continually subjected to physical and verbal harassment by extremist Muslim groups. Yet we do not destroy their houses of worship or call for bloodshed."

And in addition to the protests, the Egyptian newspaper, El Fagr published threats made by Muslim radicals against the Coptic Pope Shenouda III. According to this report, Muslim radicals publicly announced their threats through mosques in the outskirts of the city of Alexandria and were calling for the death of the Pope in revenge for an alleged insult to Islam's prophet.

The ICU and the ACA are planning a demonstration in front of the UN next week to protest the persecution of Christians in Egypt. In addition to the protests and publicity, please pray for these persecuted brothers and sisters on the frontlines of prayer from believers around the world will be a great help to the persecuted brothers and sisters in Egypt.

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