Coptic Christians are preparing to celebrate Christmas Eve amid tight security after a bomb attack on a church in Egypt in which 23 died.
Armed Egyptian police have been ordered to protect churches where Copts are expected to gather in large numbers.
There have been calls for Muslims to hold vigils outside Coptic churches in a gesture of solidarity.
But some radical Islamist websites have urged more attacks, publishing church addresses in Egypt and Europe.
The piece above mentions that “there have been calls” for Muslims to engage in clear public protest over the terrorist attacks. Likewise Kendall posted an article a few days ago that said that “several religious leaders” had decried the attacks.
Which brings to mind a question that keeps recurring for me. When reporters say that “there have been calls” — who is doing the calling? Are there a large number of Muslim clerics calling for protest — or just Christians, secular people, and perhaps some Muslim laity? When reporters refer to “religious leaders” decrying the latest bombing of a church, are these leaders people like the Pope, Rowan Williams, the bishop of Jerusalem, etc. — or are there many Muslim clerics joining them?
I would really love to read a carefully researched article that accurately reports the extent to which Muslim clerics in various countries are denouncing anti-Christian violence. It would be a joy to discover that Muslim clerics are deeply involved in this.
The Governor of Punjab province who stood against the blasphemy law and defended the woman accused of blasphemy in Pakistan was assasinated. Anyone who speaks out against this plague of violent persecution – is making himself and his family a target.
One would think this would deter people from converting to Islam, especially women, considering the treatment of women under Sharia law…but over 100,000, primarily young women, in the UK have converted to Islam.
More on the murder of the Governor of Punjab from Bill Muehlenberg:
“As to the murder of the governor of Punjab in Pakistan, those responsible for it said it had to be done to stop blasphemy. The governor had denounced the state’s blasphemy law, and this Muslim terrorist found this to be quite unacceptable.
But he is not alone in this. Now some 500 Muslim scholars have issued a statement endorsing the killing of governor Taseer. The statement said in part, “We pay rich tributes and salute the bravery, valor and faith of [the killer] Mumtaz Qadri. There should be no expression of grief or sympathy on the death of the governor, as those who support blasphemy of the Prophet are themselves indulging in blasphemy.—
#1, here [url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/95/3216/Egypt/Attack-on-Egypt-Copts/Egypt-Muslims-to-act-as-human-shields-at-Coptic-Ch.aspx] is a report [/url] from Ahramonline indicating that several prominent Egyptian Muslims have denounced the murders, and that numerous Muslims were planning to attend the Christmas masses tonight in solidarity and to try to serve as shields. This is a promising development if it comes off.
Thanks much to both St. N and Katherine for their thoughtful posts.
Katherine, I couldn’t agree more: let’s hope and pray that we see a mass action of rank-and-file Muslims tonight.
The news story is encouraging in that sense, but in another less so, in that it looks like the people who are doing the “calling” are secular or lay intellectuals and activists — as far as I can tell, the people who are denouncing the attacks and calling for solidarity are not for the most part Muslim clerics.
Joseph took his family to safety in Egypt during that first Christmas season and so it is fitting that Egypt should continue its history of providing safety for Christians just as it did for the very first Christian family.
I pray that Christmas will be peaceful this year in Egypt.
#5 Jon, the lead sheikh of Al Azhar went in person to offer condolences to Pope Shenouda. In Arab society this is a significant act. The problem is that the head of Al Azhar no longer leads the Islamists. They follow more radical clerics.