Coptic Catholic Bishops in Egypt have hailed the result of the referendum on the country’s new constitution, saying the document amounts to a crucial step towards religious freedom and other civil liberties for people of all faiths, including the country’s Christian minority. In interviews with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishops Kyrillos […]
Life is not easy for Christians in Egypt, and the strain is taking its toll. Beyond the reports of churches burned and homes attacked, there is also a more subtle hardship affecting ordinary families. While not universal, mistreatment and discrimination are unfortunately all too common. “Every day we leave our house, not knowing what will […]
Despite a measure of improvement in the security situation for the Christians in Egypt, the media spokesman for the Catholic Church in the country, Father Rafik Greiche, continues to be concerned. Speaking to the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on Wednesday, he said, “Things have become somewhat calmer in […]
“The Islamists are taking revenge on us Christians!” These words were the commentary of Coptic-Catholic Bishop of Assiut, Kyrillos William Samaan, with regard to the latest Islamist attacks on Christians and Christian institutions in Egypt while in conversation on Monday (August 12) with the international Catholic pastoral charity “Aid to the Church in Need” (ACN). […]
Religious representatives from Egypt speaking to the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expressed the hope for a positive development in the crisis-ridden country following the fall from power of the Muslim Brother Mohamed Mursi. The Coptic-Catholic Bishop of Asyut in Upper Egypt, Kyrillos William, told ACN on Tuesday, July […]
A representative of international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has given a first-hand account of last weekend’s mass protest in Egypt in which at least three people died in a drive-by shooting near Assiut’s Coptic Catholic Cathedral. Passing on appeals for prayers for peace from two senior clerics, ACN’s Neville […]
The United States embassy of Egypt is under siege. According to Fox News, “Mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt’s capital Tuesday and brought down the flag, replacing it with a black flag with an Islamic inscription to protest a video attacking Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. Hundreds of protesters marched to […]
Recently an Egyptian Muslim posted a YouTube videotape of himself cursing Islam, its holy book, the Koran, tearing the latter to pieces and throwing it in the garbage. Excerpts of what he said follow: There it is, Allah’s book, this is the basic catastrophe. I don’t know what day it is of this disgusting month […]
Illustrating that the jihadist enterprise transcends all borders, American Islamist groups typically preoccupied with remaking the U.S. have been leaving their fingerprints on the campaign to exchange secular authoritarianism for religious authoritarianism in the Middle East. As these organizations labor stateside to nudge the governing class to embrace Arab Islamists at the expense of liberals […]
Half of Iraq’s indigenous Christians are gone due to the unleashed forces of jihad, many of them fleeing to nearby Syria; yet, as the Assad regime comes under attack by al-Qaeda and others, the jihad now seeps into Syria, where Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the nation’s modern history. Likewise, some […]
The beginning of the New Year saw only an increase in the oppression of Christians under Islam, from Nigeria, where an all-out jihad has been declared in an effort to eradicate the Muslim north of all Christians, to Europe, where Muslim converts to Christianity are still hounded and attacked as apostates. According to the Chairman […]
The so-called “Arab Spring” continues to transition into a “Christian Winter,” including in those nations undergoing democratic change, such as Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis dominated the elections—unsurprisingly so, considering the Obama administration has actually been training Islamists for elections. Arab regimes not overthrown by the “Arab Spring” are under mounting international […]
The Egyptian elections have resulted in a rout for the throngs whose springtime hopes for freedom are now facing the prospect of a nuclear winter at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood and its fellow Salafists. These Islamists appear to have garnered 60% of the seats in the next parliament and the opportunity to shape […]
Egypt’s Maspero massacre—where the military killed dozens of Christians protesting the destruction of their churches—dominates October’s persecution headlines. Facts and details concerning the military’s “crimes against humanity” are documented in this report, and include videos of armored-vehicles running over civilians, a catalog of lies and deceitful tactics employed by Egypt’s rulers and state media, and […]
According to a local Coptic leader in Egypt, “Christians are currently experiencing their worst time in recent centuries.” This statement was made by the Coptic Orthodox Bishop Stephanos of Beba and Elfashn to international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). As he described, Christians are being violently killed under the eyes […]
For at least one group of Middle-Easterners, the Arab Spring is turning out to be a decidedly wintery affair. And if confirmation was ever needed, just consider the escalation of naked violence against Christians throughout the region. The recent instance of Egyptian army vehicles crushing and killing Coptic Christians protesting against a church burning was […]
Rosaries and medals blessed by Pope John Paul II were given to young Catholics from persecuted countries at World Youth Day. Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which held an exhibition about Christian persecution as part of World Youth Day’s cultural program in Madrid, gave the blessed objects to visitors to the […]
Obtaining permission to build new churches in Egypt could become almost as easy as constructing mosques, according to new government proposals which have won the backing of leading clergy. The plan, now in public consultation, proposes to do away with the existing laws whereby church-building plans require permission from the president himself. Instead, such proposals […]
Sobhi Saleh, a top Muslim Brotherhood leader who was elected by Egypt’s Supreme Council to be on the constitution amendment committee, recently gave a speech wherein he insisted that Brotherhood men should only marry Brotherhood women, since they are “superior” to other Muslim women in Egypt—and so they can “produce little Brotherhood kids.” He also […]
Days ago in Egypt, throngs of Muslims (henceforth, “Islamists”), estimated at 3,000, fired guns and rifles and hurled Molotov cocktails at Coptic churches, homes, and businesses in the Imbaba region near Cairo: twelve Christians were killed—some shot by snipers atop rooftops—232 injured; three churches were set aflame to cries of “Allahu Akbar,” while Coptic homes […]
Following the violent attacks on Christian churches in Cairo last weekend, the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, Cardinal Antonios Naguib has spoken of a “very serious situation,” but one not without hope. Last Sunday, May 9, the president of the Sunni Al Azhar University in Cairo issued a joint declaration, together with representatives of all […]
President Obama’s recent explanation for militarily engaging Libya is yet another example of how U.S. leaders increasingly rationalize their policies via sentimental and idealistic platitudes, rather than reality or the long view—or just plain common sense. In a speech replete with moralizing intonations, Obama did manage to evoke U.S. “interests”—six times—though he never explained what […]
After decades of stasis, the Middle East is in uproar. With too much going on to focus on a single place, here’s a review of developments in four key countries. Libya: With most Americans not quite realizing it, their government haphazardly went to war on Mar. 19 versus Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi’s Libya. Hostilities were barely acknowledged, […]
How curious. At the very moment that the threat posed to U.S. interests by the toxic Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming ever more palpable, a top Senate Democrat seems determined to suppress Americans’ understanding of that menace. Even the New York Times is now acknowledging the obvious: the principal beneficiary of […]
