Coptic Christians and their tattoos

I never understood tattoos. For Coptic Christians in Egypt, though, a tattoo is an indelible mark of their faith and a visible testimony that they are not Muslims. From GlobalPost:

Regardless the age of his human canvas [the article is describing young children lined up to get their tattoos], Girgis went to work — inscribing not fire-breathing dragons, fierce skulls or the gestures of star-crossed lovers, but rather simple blue-green crosses on the inside of his subjects’ wrists. The crosses are small, but they symbolize community in a country that Copts often view as hostile towards them.

Girgis’ open-air stand, just outside the church gates, has been his studio for almost two decades. For that long, he has been among the small ranks of Coptic tattooists, marking his subjects with symbols that identify Egypt’s Christian minority. . . .

When Islam first came to Egypt. . tattooing largely died out since  tattooing is forbidden under the laws of Islam as interpreted by some Muslims. . . .

The Copts have long felt themselves a repressed minority — they are thought to make up about 10 percent of the country’s population, or 8 million people — and their tattoos can serve as a means of communal identity in a country that has a history of sectarian friction.

Copts are known to approach Western-looking foreigners and flash their tattoos, asking the startled out-of-towner if they’re Christian too.

Maybe we should do that, sealing a confirmation vow with a tattoo as a reminder that you can’t take it back!

What this does, of course, is to mark the Christian visibly as a non-Muslim in the Muslim world, an in-your-face confession of faith that is also an invitation to persecution.