Dobson's World: Christians vs. Muslims

From Egyptian riots reveal wide religious divide: Muslims and Christians in Alexandria called for calm after two days of clashes by Ursula Lindsey Christian Science Monitor 04/19/06.

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT – An attack on several Christian churches in this Egyptian coastal city, followed by two days of sectarian clashes, raises fresh concerns that the social compact between the country's Muslim majority and Coptic Christian minority is unraveling.

While the government and many Egyptians say religious tolerance is the rule, some in the country's Coptic community view the attack, and the way the investigation is being handled, as evidence they are increasingly under siege.

This is one reason that I have such little respect for American Christians who invent reasons to claim they're persecuted. There are countries where Christians really are persecuted.

I do have to give even some of the more conservative evangelical groups some credit on that score, though. Some of them have made a serious effort to support Christians that are being denied basic freedom of religion in their countries. The conservative Christian Post has been covering the current story from Egypt, for instance. See Egypt Detains More Than 100 After Sectarian Violence Christian Post 04/18/06.

Juan Cole thinks this is an important story.

In Christian-Muslim Riot in Egypt Informed Comment blog 04/16/06, he writes:

The real mystery? Why this isn't news in the United States.

Egypt comprises one-third of the Arabs, and the Copts are probably 6 or 7 million strong, and so are the biggest Christian community in the region.

I guess those small town American murder mysteries and missing white women just take precedence.

He speculated in his first post on it that the original attacker of the Christians was an al-Qaida member seeking to spark sectarian violence in Egypt.

Cole also notes that Iraqi Christians are having a very hard time of it in the new, "liberated" Iraq:

The poor Christians of Iraq, some 3 percent of the population, commemorated Easter in a low-key way, and there was extra security at churches, since the guerrilla movement has targeted them in the past. A lot of Christians are emigrating to Syria.

These are things worth remembering the next time you hear some Christian Right whiner complaining about how the Jews are trying to destroy Chrisitanity in America by stamping out Christmas or Easter or whatever loony accusation Bill O'Reilly comes up with next.

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