Egypt: Terrified Christians flee homes following blasphemy accusations

"Coptic Christian homes have been attacked and families forced to flee from a village in Egypt after reports that Islam was insulted on Facebook."

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch directs his introductory comments to this report as a warning to comfortable Christians in the West who oppose "provoking" Muslims through cartoons of Muhammad or other means. But as I wrote here recently,

"Christians themselves in the Islamic world � by their very being, by their very presence � are all the provocation Muslims need to slaughter them. No cartoons required."

Egypt: Terrified Christians flee homes following blasphemy accusations
Jihad Watch � June 8, 2015

The comfortable, suburban Christians who are sitting in their armchairs and tut-tutting at us for being so uncharitable as to hold a Muhammad cartoon contest should take careful note of this. Islamic law asserts authority over non-Muslims. To send the signal that we will submit to Sharia blasphemy laws regarding drawing Muhammad, even if we are doing so out of a misguided sense of �respect,� will only embolden Islamic supremacists to make more demands. The endpoint of these demands is shown in this incident in Egypt. These comfortable, suburban Christians in the West are ensuring a future of harassment, persecution, violence and bloodshed for their children and children�s children.

More on this story. �Terrified Coptic Christians flee from their homes following blasphemy accusations,� by Oge Okonkwo, Pulse, June 3, 2015:

Coptic Christian homes have been attacked and families forced to flee from a village in Egypt after reports that Islam was insulted on Facebook. 

But some Muslims in the Beni Suef governorate in Egypt tried to protect Copts from villagers angered over alleged �insults to Islam�.

Christian Today reports that Ayman Youssef Tawfiq, from Kafr Darwish in Al-Fashn, denies he posted cartoons on Facebook that were insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. 

Nevertheless, Coptic homes in his village have been stoned and attacked with Molotov cocktails. A car has been destroyed and several homes set on fire. 

Reports say meetings were even held in the village in an attempt to resolve the crisis, but this merely led to Youssef and four of his relatives� families being driven out of town. After this, a further 10 Coptic homes were burned down. 

The Coptic newspaper Al-Watani reported that among those who defended the Coptic homes from the attackers were a number of Muslim youths. Police also intervened promptly. 

Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher on religion at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told Daily News Egypt: �Ayman is an illiterate person who usually lives in Jordan who was accused of sharing the picture by locals at his village in Beni Suef when he returned. At first, a case was filed against him and the people in the village wanted to charge him with a fine. They later changed their minds and decided they wanted him to leave. Ayman has three brothers, each with a family, and elderly parents in their 70s and 80s living in the village. All of them were made to leave the village.� 

He said local officials had authorised the decision to drive the families out of the village. 

�There were two meetings, one at a police station and the second in the Mayor�s house, attended by local Christians and Muslims,� he said. 

The Mayor, Ahmed Maher, is reported to have told the families that the police could not guarantee their safety if they decided to stay. 

Ibrahim continued: �The violations of people who express their religious opinions and the persecution of minorities is ongoing in Egypt. It increases when individuals are accused of insulting religion, as usually the trials in these cases are not fair. 

�The charges for insulting religion are very vague and do not define which acts can be considered insulting or not. For instance if an imam said that all Christians are kuffar, would this be considered insulting? Anyone who openly calls for violence and hatred should be the only ones charged.�

Exposed: Egypt�s Institutionalized Persecution of Coptic Christians

Bishop Agathon concludes that �Copts are between a state anvil and aggressor hammers,� meaning that, the state serves only to keep its Christian citizens in place while Islamic radicals pound away at them.

by Raymond Ibrahim � May 4, 2015

In a 25-minute interview on Arabic satellite TV with Dr. Mona Roman, Coptic Christian Bishop Agathon fully exposed the plight of his Christian flock in Minya, Egypt�a region that has a large Coptic minority that is steadily under attack.

While several important points were made, most notable was that the Egyptian State itself is often behind the persecution of and discrimination against Christians.

According to the frustrated-sounding bishop, local governmental authorities�including the State Security apparatus�are not just ignoring the attacks on Copts, but are often the very ones behind them.   For example, when the Copts were having a serious council meeting with government officials about the possibility of building a church, one of the authorities actually contacted the Islamic sheikhs of the village asking whether they �stand with the Coptic church or with the State?�  If the latter, each Muslim household was instructed to send one family member to protest against the proposed building of a church�so that security can then point to the mob and, as usual, just tell the Copts, �Sorry, no can do.�

Other times, State Security is complicit: Male and female Christian minors�currently 21 from just Minya alone said the Coptic leader�are habitually abducted by surrounding Muslims.  At the moment, the youngest Christian girl abducted had just started elementary school.  Whenever any of these attacks occur, Copts, working with the church, prepare bundles of documents, including photos and other verifications, incriminating the culprits.  These then are placed into the hands of top officials, to make sure they don�t get �lost� or �misplaced� by underlings.  The bishop named many of these top people�at no small risk to himself�and said he even put such proofs and documents into the hands of the Director of Intelligence himself.  �Absolutely nothing was done,� said the despondent Christian.

He discussed the difficulties that Copts encounter whenever they want to build a church�due to their dearth, some of the current churches serve tens of thousands of Christians�or even make simple repairs.  By way of example, he explained how the Virgin Mary Church in Safaniya village has no bathrooms or running water.  Christians �tried time and time again to get approval to build bathrooms, to no avail.�  The bishop lamented how elderly and sick people sometimes urinate on themselves during service, while mothers must change their crying babies� diapers right on the pews.

In response, authorities told the bishop to �Go and ask the Muslims of your region if they will approve the building of a church, or bathroom, or anything�and if they do, so will we.�

It should be noted that Islamic law specifically bans the construction or repair of churches.

Clearly frustrated, the bishop added: �We as Copts are human beings.   And envy takes us when we see our Muslim brothers build mosques where they will, how they will, at any place and at any time.  And the State helps them!   But as for us, we cannot build anything and that which is already open is being closed�.  We, the Copts, are citizens with rights; and we see Muslims get whatever they want, while we are always prevented.�

The Coptic bishop also said that sometimes Christians are punished whenever they go and �bother� authorities about their treatment.  For example, when a Coptic delegation went to make a formal complaint, one of them was immediately kidnapped.  His kidnappers demanded and received 120,000 Egyptian pounds for his release.  Police were notified�even told where the exchange of money for hostage was to take place�but did absolutely nothing.  The bishop referred to this incident as a �punishment� while Dr. Roman, the Coptic hostess, called Minya, Egypt a �State of Retribution� against those Copts who dare refuse to suffer quietly,� adding, �Al-Minya is apparently not an Egyptian province; it is governed by ISIS.�

Finally, Bishop Agathon made clear the despondency he and the average Christian in Egypt feel, repeatedly saying that, no matter which official they talk to, �nothing will change.�  If anything, the plight of Egypt�s Christians has gone �from bad to worse,� said the bishop: �We hear beautiful words but no solution.�

Dr. Roman concluded by imploring Egyptian President Sisi, saying: �I�ve said it before: President Sisi is very meticulous and aware of the nation�s issues.  Why, then, is it that the Coptic plight in Minya is being ignored? Why is he turning a blind eye toward it?�

Bishop Agathon concluded by saying that �Copts are between a state anvil and aggressor hammers,� meaning that, the state serves only to keep its Christian citizens in place while Islamic radicals pound away at them.

Muslims Prevent Christians from Praying in Coptic Home

Rampant violence against Christians by their Muslim "neighbors" (not merely by jihadi terrorist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram) continues to escalate throughout Islamic world.

Related:

• Egypt: Bombs Explode Near Two Churches on Easter Sunday
• Boy Set on Fire for Being Christian in Pakistan
• Broken Arm, Threats to Family: Price of Reporting Muslim Persecution of Christians
• Coptic Christian Arrested for Offending Muslims, Witch-Hunt for 5 Others

By Raymond Ibrahim, April 12, 2015

It is not enough that Muslims in Egypt prevent Christians from building or even renovating churches, but, as in other Muslim majority nations, when Christians merely meet in one of their homes, Muslims still attack and prevent them.

After Muslims in Egypt rioted and engaged in anti-Christian violence at the proposition that a church be built in al-Our to honor the Copts decapitated by the Islamic State in Egypt, and after Muslims rioted and engaged in anti-Christian violence because Copts got a license to renovate one of their dilapidated churches in Gala� village, Muslims are now attacking and preventing Christians from meeting in one of their homes to worship and pray.

In Tulihat Village, in Sohag�where Muslims rose in violence because the government permitted the Copts to repair their church�Arabic media report that, �Extremist Muslims prevented Copts from offering prayers in one of the Coptic homes in the village.�  It is worth noting that back in the 1990�s, the Christians of Tulihat tried to build a church but were attacked and prevented by rioting Muslims.

In related news, Muslims in Minya, Upper Egypt, attacked Coptic Christian homes, including by throwing stones at them, after Friday�s Islamic prayers yesterday.  The particular grievance here is that a young Coptic teacher and five others reportedly insulted Islam on Facebook.  The teacher is currently under arrested.

Mark Durie: �A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross�

by Mark Durie, February 21, 2015

This post is a analytical explanation of a film produced by Al-Hayat Media of the Islamic State,  which portrays the ritual slaughter of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya, in the film �A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross�.  

Indented, italicized text is commentary by Mark Durie.

Asterisk indicates words from the film, either in the form of titles or sub-titles, or as narration.   

This is Part 2 of a pair of posts about this film.  Part 1 is Bearing the cross: a letter to the Islamic State.  

This post has also appeared on Lapido Media.

* The Coast of Wilayat Tarabulus [in the region of Tripoli] by the Mediterranean Sea

* The people of the cross, the followers of the hostile Egyptian Church 

The opening scenes show the 21 men being led along the coast towards the camera, each one held by a hooded captor.

* All praise is due to Allah, the strong and mighty, and may blessings and peace be upon[1] the one sent by the sword[2] as a mercy for all the world[3].

[1] It is a standard Islamic text opening to bless Muhammad.  

[2] In this case Muhammad  is identified as the �one sent by the sword.� This phrase is taken from Muhammad�s own words:
�I have been sent with a sword in my hand to command people to worship Allah and associate no partners with him. I command you to believe and subjugate those who disobey me.�  Subhi al-Salih, ed., Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah vol 2: 736.  Also cited by (Ibn Taymiyyah in Majmu� Al-Fatawa (Vol. 28, p. 270). 

[3] Sura 21:107 �We have sent you [Muhammad] as a mercy for the worlds.�

* Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of as-Sham [Syria] and on Dabiq�s plain,[4] chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross delusion for a long time, filled with spite against Islam and Muslims[5].

[4] Dabiq is a town in northern Syria. In Islamic eschatology it is believed to be a place of battle between Christians and Muslims.  For this reason Dabiq was chosen as the title for the Islamic State�s propaganda magazine. 

[5] The idea that Christians have enmity against Muslims is from the Koran:  

Sura 60:4 �...enmity and hatred have appeared between us and you forever until you believe in Allah alone� 

Sura 86:15 �Surely, the disbelievers are your ardent enemies.� 

Sura 3:119 �O ye who believe! Take not others than your own people as intimate friends; they will spare no pains to ruin you. They love to see you in trouble. Hatred has already shown itself through the utterances of their mouths and what their breasts hide is greater still.�

*And today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message. �Oh Crusaders, safety for you will only be wishes,[6] especially when you are fighting us all together.[7] Therefore, we will fight you all together,[7] until the war lays down its burdens[8] and Jesus, peace be upon him, will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine and abolishing jizya.[9]�

These few lines are packed with references to Islam�s canonical texts. 

[6] Muhammad famously told the Jews of Medina aslim taslam �convert/surrender (to Islam) and you will be safe�.  By this logic, those who refuse to convert to Islam can never be safe. 

[7] Sura 9:36 �� fight the polytheists all together as they fight you all together.� This verse comes hot on the heels of 9:29 which is the key verse in the Koran to support the subjugation of Christians under Islam�s yoke.  The Arabic word for �fight� here actually means �fight to kill�. 

[8] Sura 47:4 �And when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, smite their necks [i.e. behead them]; and, when you have overcome them, by causing great slaughter among them, bind fast the fetters - then afterwards either release them as a favour or by taking ransom - until the war lays down its burdens.� 

[9] Muhammad said �Isa (Jesus) ... will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish [destroy] all religions except Islam.� (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book of Battles).  According to this well-known tradition of Muhammad, Isa the Islamic Christ will destroy Christianity, and kill anyone who does not submit to the sharia of Muhammad.  In Islamic law the abolition of jizya means the end of tolerance for non-Muslim religions. After Jesus� return, all humanity will be given only two choices: Islam or death.  These Christians in Tripoli are being killed  in anticipation of this end-times principle.

* And the sea you have hidden Shaikh Usama Bin Laden�s body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood.

The principle of qisas or retribution is at play here: just as Bin Ladin was buried at sea, so Christians will have their blood spilled into the ocean.   Cf. Sura 2: 190-94 �fight in the way of Allah those who fight you � slay these transgressors wherever you meet them and derive them out from where they have driven you out � if they fight you, then fight them �  if they violate the prohibition, then you may do the same in retaliation.� And also Sura 16: 126 �retaliate with an equivalent punishment�. 

The same motivation influenced the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot: because his bombs had caused people to die in burning buildings, so it was considered permissible to burn him.  See here. 

The principle of qisas also accounts for the standard Guantanamo Bay-style orange jumpsuits supplied to the beheading victims.  This is saying: �we are humiliating you as you humiliated us at Guatanamo.� 

The worldview of qisas is not limited to the Islamic State. Jordan and Egypt cited the same principle when executing prisoners and launching bombing raids in response to IS atrocities. 

Another theological driver at play here is the principle of collective punishment: if one Christian wrongs a Muslim, then all Christians should be punished, even if these particular Egyptian Christians had absolutely nothing to do with Bin Ladin or his death:  because of the manner in which the United States buried Bin Ladin at sea, Egyptian Christians� blood is to be mingled in the ocean.  Likewise, because of the humiliating way in which the United States treated uncooperative Muslim captives in Guantanamo, Egyptian Christians are to be beheaded wearing orange jumpsuits.

* They supplicate what they worship and die upon their paganism.

As the victims are being forced down, first to kneel, and then to lower their heads into the sand, the subscription declares that they are �supplicating� i.e. down on their knees to worship, and dying for the sake of their religion, which is their pagan �worship�.  As they go down, a number of the men can be seen calling on the name of Jesus.   

This textual inscription is designed to humiliate the victims and make crystal clear to other Christians that these men are being killed for their faith.  The manner of their death is also an enactment of the false worship they are charged with: they are compelled to bow down, as if to an idol, but they are going down to their deaths.  This ritual is communicating, �Because you have bowed down to a false god, you will now bow down to your death.�

This filthy blood is just some of what awaits you, in revenge for Camella and her sisters.

Camilla Shehata is a Coptic woman, the wife of a Christian priest, who went missing.  Her husband reported her missing to the police fearing that she had been kidnapped by Muslim men, who regularly kidnap, rape and forcibly convert Christian women in Egypt, all too often with the collusion of the authorities.  Kidnappers are known especially to target the wives of priests.  Later Camilla appeared on national television to state that she had just gone to be with relatives after a domestic dispute and she had not converted to Islam.  However the Muslim public in Egypt was not to be placated.  It was incited by Muslim leaders with the idea that she had converted to Islam, and the Coptic church, having kidnapped her, was torturing her to force her back into Christianity. This libel against Egyptian Christians was also made in connection with other Coptic women.  

This is a case of projection. Muslims have captured hundreds of Coptic girls and women in recent years (see here and here) compelling them through threats and violence to accept Islam and give false testimony that the have entered Islam willingly.  There is normally no recourse for the families of the captive females. The families are simply told that the women have converted to Islam and are now married, and their new husbands can speak for them, in accordance with Islamic law. (See my book The Third Choice, p.163ff for a theological explanation of why non-Muslim women are especially vulnerable to rape and capture in Islamic conditions.) 

The massacre of congregants in the Baghdad Catholic cathedral on October 31, 2010 was also claimed by the Al Qaida perpetrators to be retribution for Camilla.   

The idea of revenging Camilla by killing random Coptic men is another example of a theological tendency among Islamic radical to promote collective punishment for the People of the Book.  The Moroccan jurist Al-Maghili wrote concerning the dhimma pact of �protection� for non-Muslims, �The fact that one individual (or one group) among them [i.e. the non-Muslims] has broken the statute is enough to invalidate it for all of them�.

* We will conquer Rome, by Allah�s permission, the promise of our prophet, peace be upon him.

This references a number of well-known hadiths of Muhammad in which he prophesies the conquest of Rome, e.g.: �You will attack Arabia and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack Persia and He would make you to conquer it. Then you would attack Rome and Allah will enable you to conquer it,�� (Sahih Muslim, the Book of the Torments and Portents of the Last Hour). 

This boast signifies the final destruction of the fifth of the four original centres of the church. The others, already overrun by Islam, are Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.

* The film ends with a close-up of the blood-red water of the ocean: the signature in blood.

New Martyrs of Libya added to the Coptic Synaxarium

COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH of ALEXANDRIA
Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii
February 21, 2015 � h/t John

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II announced the inclusion of the 21 Coptic New Martyrs of Libya in the Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church today. Every year, they will be commemorated on 8 Amshir in the Coptic calendar, which corresponds to 15 February in the Gregorian calendar, the same day as the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple.

Axios, Axios, Axios!

This beautiful icon, which is also featured on the diocese front page, was drawn by Tony Rezk. May the Lord reward his talents.

See also:

• Metropolitan Tikhon speaks at NY memorial for 21 Coptic martyrs
• Names of the Martyrs and Statement on the Martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya
• Coptic Martyrs Call on �Lord Jesus Christ� Before Slaughter

Remember these Holy New Martyrs in your prayers, and ask them to intercede for us! 

The Martyrs� Names

1. Milad Makeen Zaky

2. Abanub Ayad Atiya

3. Maged Solaiman Shehata

4. Yusuf Shukry Yunan

5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy

6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel

7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel

8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet

9. Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros

10. Girgis Milad Sinweet

11. Mina Fayez Aziz

12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib

13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf

14. Samuel Alham Wilson

15. Worker from Awr village

16. Ezat Bishri Naseef

17. Loqa Nagaty

18. Gaber Munir Adly

19. Esam Badir Samir

20. Malak Farag Abram

21. Sameh Salah Faruq

Metropolitan Tikhon speaks at NY memorial for 21 Coptic martyrs

Excerpts from His Beatitude's memorable address at the Memorial held on Thursday, February 19, 2015

OCA.org - February 20, 2015

There are those who would overcome the world with weapons of violence, but this is not our way. 

There are those who cling to death and to sin in order to bring about more death and more evil, but this is not our way. 

There are those who blame religion for tragedies such as the one we mourn today, but they are blind to the reality that true believers become such only when their hearts are purified of sin and their lives filled with the light of the Resurrection. 

Let us, who stand fast in our faith in Christ and His eternal victory, remember that He alone has trampled on death by His own voluntary death. 

Let us, who are filled with the hope of the resurrection, give glory to God for the martyric witness of the 21 souls who now witness to this victory. 

And let us, who each struggle in our own way to remain faithful to God, give example in our own lives of those things which we hold dear�Peace, rather than violence; love, rather than hate; and forgiveness, rather than revenge.

You may read the full text here.

AXIOS! Metropolitan Tikhon!

Islamic State: �Great Reward� for Killing Coptic Christians

How the Islamic State justifies the killing of all Christians anywhere, in the context of collective punishment. 

by Raymond Ibrahim, February 13, 2015

Some of the 21 Coptic Christians executed by the Islamic State in Libya

The following excerpt from the Islamic State captures well the perverse logic that its many members and even more sympathizers operate on.  It recently appeared in an Islamic State report explaining why the jihadis already did... execute 21 Coptic Christian workers abducted in (post-�Arab Spring�) Libya.   The justification begins by positioning the 2010 Islamic raid on the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Iraq � where nearly 60 Christian worshippers were slaughtered (graphic pictures here) � as a response to the absurd allegations (based on Muslim projection) that the Coptic Church of Egypt was forcing � and killing � Muslim women to convert to Christianity.   In short, the Islamic State justifies the killing, not only of Coptic Christians, but all Christians anywhere, in the context of, yet again, �collective punishment.�  The excerpt follows, interspersed with my observations (emphases mine):

[T]he Islamic State leadership decided to target the Catholic Christians of Baghdad so as to teach the taghut [tyrant] of the Copts � [late Pope] Shenouda � that the price of Muslim blood is costly, and so accordingly, if his church persecuted any Muslimah [female Muslim] in Egypt, he would directly be responsible for every single Christian killed anywhere in the world when the Islamic State sought its just revenge�  And the deaths did not begin until after the crusaders had expressed their arrogance and refusal to execute the righteous demands of the mujahidin [jihadis]. 

So more than 100 crusaders were killed and injured by just five brave istishhadiyyin ["martyrs"] from the Islamic State.

  Click here for the graphic aftermath of this �brave� venture.

And the different Christian churches had no one to truly blame but Shenouda for the deaths of their brethren on kufr [disbelief]. 

[...] 

And so, five years after the blessed operation in Iraq, Allah granted the Islamic State expansion to Libya, Sinai, and elsewhere, allowing it easily to capture the Coptic crusaders � the followers of the dead Shenouda and the supporters of the taghut Sisi � as the Salaf [early pious Muslims] said, �The reward for a good deed is another good deed.�

In other words, due to the 2010 �good deed� of killing nearly 60 Christians during church service in Iraq, Allah has allowed the Islamic State to grow and kill more Christians in Libya and elsewhere.

And thus, the Islamic State strikes terror directly in the hearts of the Copts after striking terror in the hearts of their Catholic allies before� 

Finally, it is important for Muslims everywhere to know that there is no doubt in the great reward to be found on Judgment Day for those who spill the blood of these Coptic crusaders wherever they may be found�

This final bit is reminiscent of what the Islamic State/Al-Qaeda said back in 2010 after the Iraq church attack:

All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them� Let these idolaters [Christians of the world], and at their forefront, the hallucinating tyrant of the Vatican [Pope Benedict], know that the killing sword will not be lifted from the necks of their followers until they declare their innocence from what the dog of the Egyptian Church [Pope Shenouda] is doing.

And yet, back in the real world, the well documented reality in Egypt is that Coptic Christian women are regularly abducted and forced to convert to Islam.  Thus the Islamists project their own vile practices onto Coptic Christians in order to justify killing Coptic Christians.

Names of the Martyrs and Statement on the Martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya

COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH of ALEXANDRIA
Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii

His Grace Bishop Serapion, along with the clergy and laity of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, offers prayers, condolences, and sympathy to the families of the 21 Coptic martyrs of Libya who received the crown of eternal life on February 13, 2015.

We pray that the Lord may receive their pure souls in the Paradise of Joy and grant them eternal rest in the company of all of the holy saints who have pleased Him.

We encourage our children to share their names rather than continue to post the videos and photos of their martyrdom. Our Holy Church depicts martyrs as victorious in Her sacred iconography. Thus, it is more suitable to remember their names in our prayers as those who were victorious over the world and the evil in the world rather than to focus on the gruesome depiction of their martyrdom.

The Martyrs� Names

The names of the martyrs are:

1. Milad Makeen Zaky

2. Abanub Ayad Atiya
3. Maged Solaiman Shehata
4. Yusuf Shukry Yunan
5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy
6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel
7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel
8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet
9. Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros
10. Girgis Milad Sinweet
11. Mina Fayez Aziz
12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib
13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf
14. Samuel Alham Wilson
15. Worker from Awr village
16. Ezat Bishri Naseef
17. Loqa Nagaty
18. Gaber Munir Adly
19. Esam Badir Samir
20. Malak Farag Abram
21. Sameh Salah Faruq

May Christ comfort the families of the martyrs and all those who mourn this great injustice.

Visit the Diocesan Website for more, including letters of condolences.

ISIS Beheadings: Hotwiring the Apocalypse One Christian Martyr At A Time

What the mass beheading of 21 Copts in Libya tells us about the Islamic State

by Timothy R. Furnish
Mahdi Watch, February 15, 2015

The Coptic Christians immediately before being martyred for Christ.

Major news outlets are reporting, today, the mass beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians by the Islamic State affiliate in Libya.

The Ottomans beheaded tens of thousands of Georgian

Christians who stubbornly, and heroically,

clung to their Christian faith.

In my 2005 Middle East Quarterly article, �Beheading in the Name of Islam,� I wrote that �the purpose of terrorism is to strike fear into the hearts of opponents in order to win political concession[s].�  Then I went on to spend much of the article explicating the legitimately Islamic roots (Qur�anic rubrics, precedents by Muhammad, examples from Islamic history, exegesis by Muslim scholars) of decapitating  �non-believers��especially Christians, the primary political and military adversaries of Islamic expansion over the last 14 centuries.

The Islamic State has upped the ante with its regular beheadings of Christians by IS central and, now, its far-flung branches.  Seen in light of incessant calls for recruits, and even more vociferous citations of apocalyptic hadiths�both of which are clearly explained in the many issues of �Dabiq� magazine�I now think that ISIS cares not one whit about political concessions.  Rather, it chops off Christians� heads for three primary reasons: 1) to reinforce its literalist Islamic credentials;  2) to win over young Muslims, particularly men, and persuade them of Islamic State�s power and dedication; and 3) to provoke the �Christian� West, particularly the United States (the world�s most populous Christian nation), into deploying ground troops�which ISIS is certain it will defeat, based on the group�s adherence to this eschatological hadith.

Metrics indicate that Christians, despite being the world�s largest religious group, are the most-persecuted�and particularly in majority-Muslim areas.  This should come as no surprise to anyone who had read the Qur�an, the biographies of Muhammad, or studied much Islamic history, because all three are rife with bitter condemnations  of Christianity, as well as examples of deadly attacks upon Christians.   

(Stylized) Ottomans (again!) beheading 800

Catholics in Otranto (Italy) who refused to convert. 

And Islamic civilization is unique today in that it is the only one on the planet in which violence against non- adherents (or, sometimes, even differing brands of its own devotees) is justified by both state (Sunni and Shi`i)  and non-state actors (ISIS, al-Qa`idah, Boko Haram, TTP, Kata�ib Hizbullah, etc.).   Beheading, which seemed so horrifically novel 13 years ago when AQ used it to kill Daniel Pearl, is now a rather routine instrument in the Islamic terrorist toolbox against such.  Muslim authorities, for all their condemnations thereof, will find it difficult to lock this dreadful chest, considering its hallowed tradition in Islamic thought and praxis.   That leaves the option of sending beheaders to meet Allah�or, much more likely, Iblis.  President Obama seems content to simply, gradually �degrade� the Islamic State.  At least we might take some solace in thinking that this minimalist approach will allow Islamic beheadings to create more Christian martyrs.   But they, and we, would probably be better off if the most powerful man in the world were less loathe to wield the sword of punishment. 

Kerry advocates for Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo

The Obama administration is obviously deeply compromised by its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and is doing all it can to keep the MB poised to return to power in Egypt. The Brotherhood continues its persecution of Coptic Christians, and its drive to institute sharia law in Egypt. The issue is not whether the MB is linked to ISIS as the article below reports, but what the MB has always stood for, and what it actually did when it came to power in Egypt. Banners like the one shown above were widely seen during the June 30 demonstrations last year which led to the Egyptian military removing Morsi and the MB from power. 

Kerry seeks to nudge Egypt's new president toward reforms on Cairo visit

by James Rosen, Fox News � June 22, 2014

CAIRO �  In a hastily-organized trip marked by extraordinarily tight security, Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Egypt on Sunday, embarking on a weeklong tour of Middle Eastern and European capitals where he will try to rally support for the embattled central government in Iraq.

But as pressing as the Iraq crisis is, threatening to wreak further havoc on the volatile region and disrupt global oil supplies, Kerry's agenda in Egypt was already stacked with pressing bilateral issues he could scarcely afford to ignore.

Kerry is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Cairo since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi won the Egyptian presidency in national elections last month. The former head of the armed forces, el-Sisi strained relations with America when he orchestrated a coup against Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood, in July 2013. Morsi remains in prison, many of his followers jailed or killed in clashes with state security forces.

Aides traveling with Kerry, who has met el-Sisi before, said he will seek to impress upon the new president that the key to luring foreign investment and tourism back to the land of the pyramids is for el-Sisi to take steps to make his country's political and legal systems more inclusive and fair.

One aide told reporters aboard Kerry's plane, en route to a refueling stop in Ireland, that the Obama administration has observed "a few positive signs ... flickerings" of movement by el-Sisi in that direction, but that "key concerns remain."

State Department officials cited those concerns -- from Egypt's recent staging of mass trials, with hundreds of defendants and across-the-board death penalties imposed, to the jailing of journalists and a near-epidemic of unpunished sexual violence -- as reasons why the Obama administration and Congress have not restored all of the U.S. foreign aid and military assistance suspended last year in the wake of the coup against Morsi.

State Department officials said that of the $1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2014 funding for Egypt, the Obama administration had asked Congress in the last month to release an initial tranche of $650 million, with the result that appropriators unlocked $572 million. The officials said the funds were released by American lawmakers after they certified that Egypt is maintaining a strategic relationship with the United States and is adhering to the terms of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

The U.S. and Egypt have long enjoyed an important strategic partnership, dating to the Camp David accords of 1978. Washington relies on help from Egypt to combat terrorism in Gaza, in the Palestinian Authority, and also in the Sinai, where armed Bedouin tribes have posed a more recent threat. But through a succession of regimes in Cairo, American policy makers have been forced to weigh the strategic value of the relationship against persistent concerns about undemocratic, even authoritarian, rule by Egyptian leaders.

Last year's bloody campaign by el-Sisi against the Muslim Brotherhood has sparked reprisal killings against state security forces and destabilized the Egyptian political climate to the point where foreign investment and tourism have suffered. Such economic setbacks have been devastating to an economy whose citizens number almost 90 million -- making Egypt the world's most populous Arab state -- and nearly half of them live on less than two dollars a day.

Senior U.S. officials stopped short of arguing that el-Sisi's program of economic reforms cannot possibly succeed if he fails to initiate some process of reconciliation with the Brotherhood, but they did seek to nudge him in that direction.

"We do not share the view of the Egyptian government about links between the Muslim Brothers and terrorist groups like ISIS [the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq]," an aide to Kerry said. "[Egyptian leaders] need to include, and find ways to reach out to, the Muslim Brothers. ... With regard to the challenge that the Muslim Brothers pose, I would characterize it more as a political challenge than a security challenge."

Kerry's visit to Cairo was only to last a few hours, during which time, in addition to the sit-down with el-Sisi, the secretary of state was to meet with the Egyptian foreign minister, civil society leaders, and the head of the Arab League.

Hundreds of Egyptian women and girls kidnapped, forced into Islam, claims report

Obama administration remains silent on Muslim persecution of Christians in Egypt, sends Kerry to Cairo to advocate on behalf of Muslim Brotherhood, which continues to target Coptic Christians, as documented in this report.

by Jack Ellis, Fox News � June 20, 2014

Fifteen-year-old Amira Hafez Wahim slipped out of the Christian church in Luxor, Egypt, where she had attended services with her mother in February, promising to dash to a nearby store and return quickly.

Five months later, she has not been seen since, although her parents immediately suspected a 28-year-old Muslim man named Yasser Mahmoud, who had tried to kidnap her before, had succeeded this time.  When her father went to the Civil Status Authority for a copy of her birth certificate, his fears were confirmed: Her name had been changed and she was now listed as Muslim.

Amira is one of approximately 550 Coptic Christian girls and women who have disappeared in Egypt over the last three years, according to a report from the Egyptian Association of Victims of Abduction and Enforced Disappearances.

Ebnar Louis, the Cairo activist who founded the association in 2010, said police are typically indifferent to reports of missing girls.

�We file an official police report, but it is often ignored,� Louis told the humanitarian think tank Atlantic Council.

The reasons behind this alleged police indifference are unclear. It could be individual sectarian bias, inadequate resources and funding, or plain incompetence.

The report concluded that many of the missing females were abducted by Salafi Muslims and forced to convert to Islam and marry their captors once estranged from their families. It found the abductions increased after secular strongman Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011 and replaced by Muslim Brotherhood-aligned Mohammed Morsi. Although Morsi was in turn ousted by the military nearly a year ago, the abductions have continued.

Of the 550 missing females AVAED has investigated, only 10 have returned home and offered testimony. But the 10 who made it back tell a familiar tale that Louis� group believes reveals an organized effort by Salafi extremists to kidnap, marry and convert Coptic women and girls.

The American Center for Law and Justice, which has called on the Obama administration to speak out for religious freedom in the Middle East and Africa, believes there is an ominous goal behind the abductions.

�The kidnappings are increasing, and many in the Coptic community believe that it is an attempt to systematically reduce the population of the Coptic community,� said ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow.

Sekulow noted that the 550 figure far exceeds the approximately 300 Nigerian school girls recently kidnapped and forced to convert by Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram. That case drew international condemnation, but the lower-profile, drawn-out wave of abductions in Egypt has gone largely under the radar.

�The international community must stand boldly to let the Egyptian authorities know that this is a matter of grave concern," Sekulow said.

Women who escaped their captors told Louis� group that Salafi Muslim men threatened them, moved them through a network of safe houses and forced them into conversion and arranged marriage. Once they had converted, they said, they were threatened that fleeing as an Islam apostate is punishable by death.

Coptic advocates acknowledge that many of the women and girls initially go willingly with their captors, after being romantically wooed. But once they are away from their families, they soon find they have no options.

�Not all examples are forced,� said Louis. �Some begin as love affairs but then spiral into warnings. �What will your family do to you if you go home? Convert to Islam so we can be together.� But afterwards she is told if you go back you will be killed as an apostate.�

George Nushi, the chief field researcher for AVAED, reports that of the 550 cases investigated, said as few as five percent of the abductions are violent kidnappings.  But preying on women under the guise of romance brings the same result, he said, claiming that most these relationships are formed with ill-intentions on the part of the man.

Zaid Fahmy, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University, called the report a �fabrication� and said Egypt�s real problem with abductions involves holding hostages for ransom.

�Since 2011, there has been a collapse of law and order in Egypt and crime rates have dramatically increased,� Fahmy said. �Kidnappings for monetary ransom have been taking place. Most of the victims, however, are wealthy adult males and religious conversion of any kind is not the object of these criminal acts.�