…we do ourselves a disservice by overstating the plight of Egyptian Christians. Many live comfortably, and while there are many who are poverty stricken, the same is true of all Egyptians. Christmas is a national holiday, and church bells ring on Sundays. But amongst Christians the atmosphere is one of deep concern, bordering on paranoia. One friend told me of how it is much harder for Christians to get Western visas, because the visa staff are all locally employed Muslims, and religion is stamped on one’s passport. I don’t know the truth of that, but am reminded of the saying that just because I’m paranoid, it doesn’t mean I’m not persecuted. And societal divisions are growing, despite protestations to the contrary. These divisions are fuelled by ignorance of the other ”“ one Muslim friend thought Christians worship three gods ”“ and conspiracies about Western ”˜fifth columns’, and they lead to incidents such as the attacks on churches in Suez and Upper Egypt over the past few days.
The Christians were as varied in their voting in the presidential election as everybody else was. Some I knew even voted for Morsi in the second round: better the Muslim Brotherhood than the old regime. Most didn’t vote either way. And a few voted for Shafiq, the Mubarakite, with reasoning ranging from ‘better the devil you know’ to ‘we were served well by Mubarak’. But in largely supporting the overthrow of Morsi, they were in line with the will of the majority of Egypt: Pope Tawadros stood side by side with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar while the people, once again, rejoiced in the streets.
It’s hard to state just how the army, the saviours of the revolution, were despised by June 2012….
Read it all.
Peter Welby–The representation of Egypt in the Western media is completely wrong
…we do ourselves a disservice by overstating the plight of Egyptian Christians. Many live comfortably, and while there are many who are poverty stricken, the same is true of all Egyptians. Christmas is a national holiday, and church bells ring on Sundays. But amongst Christians the atmosphere is one of deep concern, bordering on paranoia. One friend told me of how it is much harder for Christians to get Western visas, because the visa staff are all locally employed Muslims, and religion is stamped on one’s passport. I don’t know the truth of that, but am reminded of the saying that just because I’m paranoid, it doesn’t mean I’m not persecuted. And societal divisions are growing, despite protestations to the contrary. These divisions are fuelled by ignorance of the other ”“ one Muslim friend thought Christians worship three gods ”“ and conspiracies about Western ”˜fifth columns’, and they lead to incidents such as the attacks on churches in Suez and Upper Egypt over the past few days.
The Christians were as varied in their voting in the presidential election as everybody else was. Some I knew even voted for Morsi in the second round: better the Muslim Brotherhood than the old regime. Most didn’t vote either way. And a few voted for Shafiq, the Mubarakite, with reasoning ranging from ‘better the devil you know’ to ‘we were served well by Mubarak’. But in largely supporting the overthrow of Morsi, they were in line with the will of the majority of Egypt: Pope Tawadros stood side by side with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar while the people, once again, rejoiced in the streets.
It’s hard to state just how the army, the saviours of the revolution, were despised by June 2012….
Read it all.