ICC Note:
In Minya province, Coptic Christians struggle to build churches because of the dangerous building process. A permit is necessary and Christians must fight for years in order to obtain one. Even if they do get one, they risk attacks from Muslim neighbors who don’t want a church built. The recent bus attack on Christians that left approximately 30 dead occurred as Christians from Minya were traveling to a monastery because they don’t have access to churches at home.
06/19/2017 Egypt (Christian Post) – In Egypt’s Minya province, which has the highest percentage of Christians in the country, even the mention of the word “church” can be dangerous, as churches are believed to be religiously “unclean” by some local Muslims, according to a report.
“They burned my house. They burned the house my brother was building and the houses of five other brothers. They thought we were going to open a church,” NPR quotes Ebrahim Fahmy, a resident of Kom al-Lufi village, where the houses were attacked and set on fire in April when they had gathered to pray for the families of victims of the Palm Sunday attacks that had killed 44 people.
“Christians should go somewhere else to pray because the village has a lot more Muslims than Christians,” the mother of an underage Muslim student who allegedly attacked a group of Christian students was quoted as saying. She claimed that the Quran says churches are “haram,” or religiously unclean.
Father Daud, a member of the clergy, confirmed that he a has applied for a permit twice since 2006 to build a church in Kom al-Lufi, but the approval is still pending.
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