15 January 2010

Welcome to the fundraising page for the  Nag Hammadi Appeal at UK Copts Association

The New York Times
5 Feb 2010


    Tim Sebastian

CAIRO — Grand larceny is alive and well at my multi-starred hotel.

“Your taxi will cost $150 — the journey is 45 minutes.” The concierge raises his hands to the sky as if the price has been determined by a higher authority.

I don’t travel to have arguments, but sometimes it would be rude to resist. After a blunt exchange with the Guest Services Manager, we agree that the taxi in question will manage the journey for roughly a third of the original asking price.

Haaretz
5 Feb 2010


The majority of Christians in Egypt are Coptic
Orthodox. The very word “Copt” comes from an
early Greek name for Egypt. After all Christianity
and Egypt have a long and holy history. Perhaps
that is part of the reason why the persistent
persecution of Christians in Egypt is so appalling.

"Egypt resembles an iceberg," the late Coptic-Egyptian writer Louis Awad once wrote. "One-eighth is above sea level. Seven-eighths are submerged in the depths. One-eighth of our lives takes place in the light of the 20th century, seven-eighths in medieval darkness."

The Acton Institute PowerBlog

Protection and justice for the Egyptian Coptic community is an issue that is very close to my heart. That is a major reason that this week’s Acton commentary highlights the grave difficulty of their situation.

3 Feb 2010

Cairo (AINA) -- In an interview with BBC Arabic on January 31, 2010, Dr. Fathi Sourour, speaker of the People's Assembly (parliament) said that the Nag Hammadi shooting of Christians on Christmas Eve was a single criminal act, with no sectarian dimensions, prompted by the "death" of a Muslim girl as a result of being raped by a Copt (video).

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Church of Virgin Mary in Waraaq district in Giza

Leonard Leo, chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, told US news channel Fox News Saturday that the US State Department was "concerned" over the state of religious freedom in Egypt, especially in light of recent acts of violence against the country's Coptic minority.

Bikya Masr
2 Feb 2010

CAIRO: In a new escalation by Copts Abroad, the American Coptic Assembly and the Free Copts Association, they have called on the Coptic community in Egypt not to vote for President Mubarak, or any candidate from the NDP as a result of what they called negligence on the part of the government. The statement from the Coptic organizations also called on the Copts in Egypt not to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood in both Parliamentary and Presidential Elections this year and in 2011.

Bikya Masr
2 Feb 2010

When a staff member for the Egyptian national football team pushed a Qur’an into the camera following one of Egypt’s four goals in Thursday’s thumping of Algeria in the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations, I couldn’t help but cringe. This overt showing of religion was only one of dozens of displays Egyptian players and staff gave in the match and it makes one wonder how this goes down with the Egyptian population.