Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

[Pepsi]

• Tweet

I'm going to guess no right wing blogs will pick this story up..

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt’s threatened Christian community

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

[notoc]

I'm going to guess no right wing blogs will pick this story up..

It certainly doesn't fit the anti-Muslim narrative so beloved by the likes of this mob:

http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/learn/what-people-are-saying

"Organizations like ACT! for America have come into existence because of the very real threat posed to free people everywhere by what some call “radical Islam” or “Islamism.”  Sadly, the response I see from too many in the Muslim world is to reflexively label such efforts as “Islamophobic” rather than conduct a serious evaluation of Islam that asks why so many non-Muslims harbor legitimate fears and concerns.  I believe the Muslim world needs to provide a peaceful understanding of the religion that unambiguously rejects the current mainstream teachings in Islam that promote hatred, discrimination, and violence.  It is the responsibility of Islamic scholars to provide such alternative teaching to Muslims before asking the world to stop engaging in so-called “Islamophobia.” 

[johnhp]

How in the world did Mornac miss this story?

[notoc]

How in the world did Mornac miss this story?

His beloved Vortex insulates all who enter.

[johnhp]

Oh he's not insulated at all.  He runs from threads like this.  He even runs from the ones he's started when it is shown that he is wrong on facts.

[notoc]

Ah well ... at least he gives us all something to talk about.

[johnhp]

Ah well ... at least he gives us all something to talk about.

Too bad he doesn't learn from his mistakes.

[notoc]

Too bad he doesn't learn from his mistakes.

... and conform to yours or my world view, where's the fun in that?

[johnhp]

... and conform to yours or my world view, where's the fun in that?

He would not have to conform to our views.  i think it is possible to honestly disagree with people.

[notoc]

He would not have to conform to our views.  i think it is possible to honestly disagree with people.

Ah, I would tend to agree ... but when people take their lead from others, especially those who proclaim to be their god's representative on Earth, it is difficult for me to credit any form of basic honestly much past the delusional ... be those delusions forced, self-inflicted or otherwise.

[johnhp]

Ah, I would tend to agree ... but when people take their lead from others, especially those who proclaim to be their god's representative on Earth, it is difficult for me to credit any form of basic honestly much past the delusional ... be those delusions forced, self-inflicted or otherwise.

What you need to say here is when people pick and choose their lead.  because that is what Mornac does with his Catholicism.  And let's be frank, a few months ago he forwarded a theological argument that the church had annulled centuries ago.  So his theological statements should be taken with a ton or so of salt.  Especially this recent business about authority and omnipotence.

[Mornac]

I'm going to guess no right wing blogs will pick this story up..

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

--I'm going to guess no left wing blogs will pick this story up..


Egypt: Church blames state security forces for deaths of 40 Christians

John Pontifex
October 10, 2011   
 
The Catholic Church in Egypt has implicated the regime in the deaths of around 40 people – most of them Copts – in the worst spate of violence since the downfall of former president Hosni Mubarak.

The Church claimed that the army and police "used" a mob of street fighters armed with rifles, sticks, stones and swords who it says carried out an unprovoked attack on thousands of demonstrators in Cairo late yesterday (Sunday, 9th October).

The protesters, made up of Muslims as well as Christians, marched to Egypt's state television headquarters, calling for greater action to protect Christians in Egypt after a spate of attacks against them.

In yesterday's violence, in central Cairo, 25 people were killed – 17 of them Coptic Christians – and more than 200 others were injured.

Father Rafic Greiche, official spokesman for the Catholic Church in Egypt, told Aid to the Church in Need: "We are accusing the army and the police who used vagabonds, a rabble force of street fighters, to attack the demonstrators."

"They were armed with swords, sticks and stones – some of them had rifles it seems. They did not have to use force. It was a peaceful demonstration."

Father Greiche described the "anger and hurt" after the deaths of the 25 – most of them in their 20s and 30s.

"Today [Monday], people are very angry about what happened last night. The army and the police are confronting the Copts. This is the problem. It is not a Christian/Muslim problem any more."

He said that under Mubarak it was easier to demonstrate but the new regime under Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was opposed to such forms of freedom of speech.

"People – not just Christians but many Muslims too – are frightened for the future of our country."

Father Greiche went on to accuse the government of being complicit in arson attacks on churches, giving tacit approval to Islamists to carry out the attacks.

There was some graffiti on a wall in Egypt proclaiming Muslims love Christians. Egyptians of both faiths were taking part in the demonstration that was attacked by a mob. Sparking yesterday's violence was alleged government inaction following last month's arson attack on a re-built church in Marinab, a village in southern Egypt's Aswan province.

Demonstrators called for the removal of the governor of Aswan who they claim gave permission for the construction work before siding with extremists against the church.

Father Greiche said: "The governor gave the green light for the fundamentalists to burn the church near Aswan.
It's the fourth time in recent months that a church has been burnt in this way by Islamists."

He added that the Church was calling for the governor of Aswan to be dismissed and that a law be passed making it easier for churches to be built.

He said that since the fall of Mubarak in February, Islamists across Egypt, formerly repressed by the president, were now very active, causing great anxiety to many Muslims as well as Christians.

Father Greiche said: "Since the fall of Mubarak, the fundamentalists have developed a very loud voice. The government leaves them to do whatever they want."

He accused fundamentalists of using Facebook and other social media to call for Christians to emigrate to the West, saying Islamists were determined to implement Islamic Shari'a law.

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=19065

[ivanm]

That is pretty low when the government incites the civilians to do their dirt for them.

[Mornac]

I'm going to guess no right wing blogs will pick this story up..

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields" http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

--I'm going to guess no left wing blogs will pick this story up..


Egypt: Christian student murdered for refusing to remove crucifix

October 31, 2011

Ayman Nabil Labib, a 17-year-old Coptic Christian student, was murdered by Muslim classmates after refusing to remove a crucifix he was wearing, the Assyrian International News Agency is reporting.

The murder, which took place on October 16 in the central Egyptian town of Mallawi, took place after a teacher asked Labib to cover up a tattooed cross on his wrist. Labib refused, instead uncovering a cross necklace.

“The teacher nearly choked my son, and some Muslim students joined in the beating,” said Labib’s father.

“They beat my son so much in the classroom that he fled to the lavatory on the ground floor, but they followed him and continued their assault,” the victim’s mother added. “When one of the supervisors took him to his room, Ayman was still breathing. The ambulance transported him from there dead, one hour later.”
 
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12219

[notoc]

Devout Muslim dies after savage beating by 'race-hate' gang


A devout Muslim pensioner attacked by a race-hate gang of schoolboys died yesterday.

Ekram Haque, 67, lost his fight for life a week after he was battered to the ground in front of his three-year-old granddaughter, Marian.

As revealed in yesterday's Daily Mail, he suffered horrific head injuries in the assault outside a mosque in Tooting, South-West London, where he had just prayed.

As he and Marian waited for a lift, the gang ran up behind him and clubbed him around the head.

Two other worshippers chased the thugs away but Mr Haque - described by friends as a 'gentle giant' - had suffered horrific head injuries.

His granddaughter has been left 'very shaken and disturbed', said her father, Mr Haque's son Arfan. Graphic images of the attack were caught on CCTV.

Scotland Yard formally launched a murder inquiry after Mr Haque passed away at St George's Hospital, Tooting, where he had been on a life-support machine since the attack.

Police are linking the assault on the retired care worker to a series of other attacks on elderly Asian people near the mosque.

Three of the earlier victims were also pensioners. As local community tensions grew, police stepped up patrols near the Idara E Jaaferiya mosque where Mr Haque was attacked last Monday.

Police say they are treating the attack on Mr Haque as racially motivated.

Arfan, 35, a consumer law adviser, described the incident as 'mindless violence' but urged people in the Muslim community to remain calm.

He said: 'I would urge people in our community to remember that Islam is a peaceful religion and does not condone revenge attacks. If you want to do anything, just pray.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211556/Devout-Muslim-dies-savage-beating-race-hate-gang-granddaughter-three.html#ixzz1cdnHdkkT