Egypt’s Coptic Christians feel vulnerable amid nation’s upheaval
ICC Note:
Christians, especially Coptic Christians, are the minority in Egypt. As the nation continues to be in upheaval, Christians feel vulnerable, and for good reason. With churches torched and Christians kidnapped-even killed, the future is uncertain for believers in Egypt.
 
By Laura King
1/2/2014 Egypt (Los Angeles Times)-Three times a week without fail, the sound of ancient chants reverberates from the blackened walls of the Church of the Archangel Michael. Once aglow with precious icons and flickering candlelight, the Coptic church outside Cairo now stands nearly bare, looted and burned by an angry mob more than four months ago.
In this holiday season, many Copts, adherents of one of the oldest Christian sects, see Egypt’s turbulent times as a test of their faith. Although the country as a whole has been roiled by violent political upheaval, its Coptic minority feels particularly imperiled, as do many fellow Christians elsewhere in the Middle East.
In the region that gave rise to their religion, Christians are a dwindling minority. A long-standing Christian exodus has accelerated amid the war in Syria, an increase in sectarian violence in Iraq and gnawing hardship in the Palestinian territories. In some countries, the uprisings of the “Arab Spring” also strengthened the hand of Islamists, adding to Christians’ anxiety.
Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt’s population, have long suffered discrimination and oppression, not only at the hands of fellow Egyptians, but under successive governments as well. Since Egypt’s 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, they have been buffeted by the rise — and spectacular fall — of the Muslim Brotherhood, the region’s largest and oldest Islamist movement.
For the most part, Copts rejoiced when Egypt’s army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi nearly six months ago. The Coptic pope, Tawadros II, appeared on national television alongside army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Sisi when he announced that Morsi had been removed from office.
A scant six weeks later, when Egyptian security forces cracked down hard on protesting Morsi supporters, killing more than of 1,000 of them, the Copts bore the brunt of Islamists’ vengeance. Across the country, furious supporters of Morsi set fire to churches and looted and burned Coptic-owned homes and businesses. Police did little to intervene.
In Kerdasa, a ramshackle market town that lies a few miles from the Great Pyramids, the church had long coexisted with its Muslim neighbors. But on Aug. 14, a crowd of about 2,000 descended on the Archangel Michael compound, setting fires, toppling rooftop crosses, tearing out electrical wiring and daubing Islamist slogans on the church walls.
Nearly everything of value was stolen, down to the plumbing fixtures. Four people were injured, but none killed.
“We were lucky to escape with our lives,” said Reda Gaballah Girgis, the church’s caretaker for more than two decades. “We felt that anything at all could happen.”
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