Egypt’s Christians Form “Christian Brotherhood”

Egypt’s Christians form “Christian Brotherhood”
ICC Note
Concerned by the growing Islamic extremism, Egyptian Christian for an organization that advocates for their rights. The Christian minorities in Egypt have suffered increased persecution since the so called Arab Spring. 
By Joseph Mayton
07/05/2012 Egypt (Bikyamasr)-Egypt’s Coptic Christian community announced on Thursday that they had established the “Christian Brotherhood,” aimed at being a parallel organization to the Muslim Brotherhood in the country.
Initially discussed in 2005 by the Director of the Center for Human Rights Mamdouh Nakhla, it was formally launched by Coptic activists Michel Fahmy and Amir Ayyad aiming to push a nonviolent message, al-Masry al-Youm reported on Thursday.
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Fahmy told al-Arab that “the timing now is to activate only, although the founders had taken the idea of founding [the organization] in 2005, because of the rise of religious movements and after the arrival of [President Mohamed] Morsi to power as the first civilian president.”
Fahmy added that all members “have agreed to push the idea to face the tide of religious Islam” in Egypt.
The opposing Salafist Islamic Front praised the move, saying there is room for Coptic organizations to grow in Egypt’s future.
Khalid Said, a spokesman for the Front, was quoted by al-Masry al-Youm as saying “there is nothing wrong with the Copts founding such a group, which will be along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
But he warned the group to work with the legal confines of religious organizations in the country.
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Christians groups inside and outside Egypt have become worried and fearful that the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt could be sign of worsening conditions for the minority community, which account for approximately 10 percent of Egypt’s 90 million population.
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