The Copts suffer from their state, but so do all Egyptians

East Meredith, NY September 1, 2009

Egypt has the largest and oldest Christian community in the Middle East, the Copts. The status of the Copts affects all Christian communities in the region.

In the Arab world minorities learn to seek justice with a broadminded and a long term perspective. The Christian Copts of Egypt feel marginalized and face a dilemma: keep quiet or challenge the system. Minorities of the region often ponder how to deal with their own specific issues of justice, when the entire political system is broken.

It is easy for emigrants to speak their minds about their home country from their comfortable position abroad.

When Egyptian President Husni Mubarak visited President Obama on August 17, the Voice of the Copts strongly protested with a rally and a press conference in Washington DC. The Voice, a human rights diaspora organization, which enjoys only limited support of the Christians they claim to represent in Egypt, is charging Mubarak with full complicity in alleged oppression of Christians and other minorities. DC protesters demanded “that Mubarak take action to stop Muslim extremist violence against Coptic Christians and others in Egypt”.

“Others” refers to a tiny Bahai Egyptian community which faces severe rejection because many Egyptians do not consider Bahaism a valid religion; this is a sad fact.

The Copts are suffering but they are not oppressed. Are the Copts really suffering for being Christians, or are they momentarily distanced from political representation by a regime that wishes to appear more Muslim than it really is?

There are ten to fifteen million Christians in Egypt, representing 12 to 15% of the population. Today, more than in the past, being a Copt is both a religious affiliation and an adherence to a different way of life.

Prejudice and political marginalization in the Arab world are not easy to explain; the dynamics of injustice are commonly misunderstood by outsiders.

Islam and Christianity have coexisted for fourteen centuries in the Middle East. Often the similarities of the two Abrahamic faiths are overlooked and the differences are exaggerated by narcisstic theologians, manipulative politicians and co-opted clerics. In an increasingly insecure and poorly managed society minorities often faced disproportional pressures.

The Voice of the Copts assumes that President Mubarak is able, but unwilling, to control sectarian tension and isolated acts of violence against individual Christians in remote areas of Egypt. The Voice is asking for the impossible. The suffering of the Christians is largely a consequence of political chaos that all Egyptians live under. The most disadvantaged Egyptians are not the Christians; they are the poor, women and children, and the political dissidents.

Christian citizens of Egypt, together with their Muslim compatriots, might consider joining the political struggle against oppression that victimizes all segments of society.

Overall, the Copts are not doing better or worse than the general population. Some are doing better because they tend to have good education. Most feel politically disadvantaged as minorities; some may feel uncomfortable merely for being Christian.

There are no quotas or strong political parties to guarantee a minimum of representation of Copts in Egypt. There are no ways for stopping disgruntled civil servants from abusing the law against minorities.

Copts have many churches and endowed ecclesiastical facilities throughout the country. Still the legal discrimination of not allowing churches to be built or repaired without super rigorous approval procedures is a painful fact.

The Copts are not being attacked as a community. Conflict arises from time to time around local disputes such as mixed-marriage, sexual norms, economic rivalry and village feuds. Copts are not known to be vindictive or politically active. Their leaders have turned inward.

The government is not threatened by the Christians. The Copts are hard working and loyal citizens. The threat to the government is political Islam. The government is appeasing the Muslim fundamentalist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, in not making life easier for Copts.

Social distance is also a factor in sectarian tension. Because Copts tend to live in Coptic neighborhoods or villages there develops a social line of separation between them and larger society. When the local community is economically comfortable, communal tension is minimal. When there is widespread poverty and misguided local leadership, inter communal trouble is expected. The role of community leaders - the Christian bishops and the Muslim clerics, the Sheiks - is crucial for prevention of tension. The more open minded religious leaders are the better the inter communal relations.

When Copts cry martyrdom about the inconvenience they face as a minority, the majority Muslim community responds negatively. What the larger society is not saying directly, but may be it should, is that the national priority is changing the overall political system in order to achieve equality for all. The Muslim majority would prefer to see the Copts join the larger political struggle to emancipate Egypt from a milieu of autocracy that suffocates all segments of society.

Any attempt to provocatively broadcast local sectarian tension outside Egypt is counterproductive. The recent Christian community’s appeal to Washington provokes the Muslim majority and makes discrimination – at least partially- a self fulfilling prophecy. In their advocacy the expatriate Coptic organizations are hurting their national image inside Egypt; inadvertently, they are doing a disservice to their community.

Written for Daily Star