Tag: Copts

Freedom of religion or belief ‘the defining issue of our time’

September 16, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, Boko Haram, Canada, Copts, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Kandhamal, Myanmar, New York, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi, Syria

Over 100 parliamentarians from 60 countries met this week in Berlin for a series of workshops and seminars under the title, “An Embattled Right: Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion of Belief”. The second conference of this size after last year’s meeting in New York, it was organised by the . . . Read More

Egypt’s Christians ‘at breaking point’ says bishop

September 8, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Upper Egypt

Christians feel “under siege” in Egypt after a series of attacks this summer, and continued difficulties faced by the community in building churches, the New York Times reports. In Minya (Upper Egypt) alone, Copts continue to “suffer violence and humiliation”. Houses have been burned, Copts attacked on the streets and . . . Read More

Copt teens flee Egypt after blasphemy convictions

September 5, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Upper Egypt

Four Coptic teenagers sentenced to five years in prison for “blasphemy against Islam” have escaped from Egypt, via Turkey, to apply for religious asylum in Switzerland. They flew out of Istanbul on 1 Sept. under special “humanitarian” visas granted by the Swiss government. Since early April, they had lived in . . . Read More

Egypt’s Coptic Church rejects amendments to long-awaited church-building law

August 24, 2016 Egypt Copts, Islamic extremism

The Coptic Orthodox Church has voiced its dismay at amendments to a draft law that was hoped to put churches on a par with the country’s numerous mosques. “The Church did not expect to see so many unacceptable amendments and impractical additions,” the country’s largest Christian body said in a . . . Read More

Coptic priests in Gulf meet to discuss challenges

August 13, 2016 Alexandria, Arabian Peninsula, Bahrain, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

Egyptian priests serving in the Arab Gulf region have held their first conference to discuss challenges faced in the heartland of Islam: “Challenges facing Gulf priests and their wives”. The head of the largest group of Christians in the Middle East, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II led bishops and priests . . . Read More

Egypt parliament urged to ease church-building

August 8, 2016 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism

The Egyptian parliament should affirm equality and freedom of religion, a US-based Coptic group has said, urging Egypt to “abandon the historically systematic discrimination against Copts”. “Draconian stipulations, related to the historical condition of Dhimmitude, make construction or even renovation of a church in Egypt a near impossibility,” Coptic Solidarity . . . Read More

Copts attacked, forced to settle for nothing, in absence of Egyptian justice

July 27, 2016 Egypt Al-Azhar, Anba Macarius, Bishop Angaelos, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Pope Tawadros II, Salafism, Sharia, Soad Thabet, Sunni

Eight Christian homes were attacked and an equal number of Copts were detained after Muslims in an Egyptian village went on a rampage following rumours of a house church being built. The attack last week in Saft el-Khirsa (180km south of Cairo) trails more than a dozen others that have, . . . Read More

Coptic Pope prays in ancient church symbolic of past persecutions

July 21, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Pope Tawadros II

Egypt’s Pope Tawadros II made a heartfelt plea on Wednesday (20 July) on behalf of his country’s Coptic minority which has suffered in excess of 12 violent incidents in the last two months. Shifting the venue of his weekly sermon from the downtown Cathedral of Abbasia to the historic ‘hanging . . . Read More

A dozen incidents against Egypt’s Copts in 7 weeks

July 20, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Luxor, Minya, Samalut, Sohag, Tanta

Since May 2016, Egypt’s Christians have suffered multiple attacks. Reflecting what most Copts see as the country turning a blind eye to increased violence against its Christian minority, the Coptic Church’s Bishop Makarius tweeted on 17 July “reminding” president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi that Copts “are Egyptian citizens”, and that his diocese . . . Read More

Assault at Egypt priest’s home kills 1, injures 3

July 18, 2016 Egypt Alexandria, Copts, Egypt, Minya

One Christian was killed and three others were injured in an assault at a Coptic priest’s family home, said a statement by the Diocese of Minya, 240km south of Cairo. “The family of two priests of Minya were subject to assault involving clubs and knives,” said the statement about the . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye