Saturday, January 01, 2011
attack on Coptic church: legacy of Sadat and Mubarak
"I accuse those state bodies who believe that by bolstering the Salafi trend they are undermining the Muslim Brotherhood, and who like to occasionally play to bigoted anti-Coptic sentiments, presumably as an excellent distraction from other more serious issues of government. But most of all, I accuse the millions of supposedly moderate Muslims among us; those who’ve been growing more and more bigoted, inclusive and narrow minded with every passing year. I accuse those among us who would rise up in fury over a decision to halt construction of a Muslim Center near ground zero in New York, but applaud the Egyptian police when they halt the construction of a staircase in a Coptic church in the Omranya district of Greater Cairo. I’ve been around, and I have heard you speak, in the office, or in the club, or in dinner banquets: “The Copts must be taught a lesson,” “the Copts are growing more arrogant,” “the Copts are holding secret conversions of Muslims”, and in the same breath, “the Copts are preventing Christian women from converting to Islam, kidnapping them, and locking them up in monasteries.”"" (thanks Mariam)