Christian Persecution Continues Amid Egypt Turmoil
By Joseph C. DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
CAIRO, Egypt (Worthy News)– As the whole world watched Muslims protesting in the streets of Egypt, more than 15 Christians were killed outside Al-Minya, 150 miles south of Cairo.
“With no police available, no one was willing to help them,” said Tom Doyle, Middle East director for E3 Partners. “Family members are taking turns keeping watch over their homes, as robberies, rape, looting, and car theft are occurring routinely now.”
Under Egypt’s constitution, Christians are allowed to practice their faith, but Muslim extremists still managed to murder 23 Christians and injure 70 more when a suicide bomber attacked a Coptic Christian Church during a New Year’s Eve Mass in Alexandria.
“There were only three soldiers and an officer in front of the church,” said Archbishop Raweis, the ranking Coptic cleric in Alexandria. “Why did they have so little security at such a sensitive time when there’s so many threats coming from Al Qaeda?”
When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the number of Christians murdered in the Middle East, he said, “I have not heard … an overarching theory” behind the attacks.
Until the Islamic conquests of the seventh century, Egypt was predominantly Christian, but today, Christians make-up only 10 percent of its population.
“With the Muslim Brotherhood rising up, Christians are very nervous about who might be next in line to take over for Mubarak,” said Doyle. “Many times it’s been stated that there’s democracy, but it’s just been a veil for authoritarianism.”
One of the Brotherhood’s most notorious members is Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was imprisoned for three years on weapons charges following President Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981.
Fox News contributor Walid Phares said the Brotherhood is “the mothership” for jihadi ideologies and thinking … today’s Al-Qaeda and many other jihadists are offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood.