While the future of Egypt is not clear, we have to avoid hasty, fear-mongering speculations which are preparing people to dislike what comes out of all the civil unrest. Some pundits are making this appear as a purely Muslim uprising, seeking to turn Egypt into an Islamist state. What they do not tell you is that the Coptics are actively working with and are among the protesters, as this article from The Catholic Review points out:
“To date, you had Muslims guarding the Christian churches. You had Christians surrounding the mosques on Friday (Jan. 28) to keep the police from storming them,” said James Zogby, author of “Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters.”
“As folks used to say in the labor movement: ‘On the line, allies get made.’ I think there is a public coming together of at least some elements,” he added. “We don’t know enough, because America doesn’t listen enough and isn’t engaged enough in following the public discourse (in Egypt). So we don’t know yet who the key players and what the key elements of this movement are going to be.”
You can see Christian involvement with the protests in this Daily Mail article; it points out that many of the non-Coptic, Protestant Christians are acting in solidarity with Muslim protesters. The revolution, if it comes to that, is inter-religious. During the current regime, Christians have had little protection given to them by the state. Coptic Christians living outside of Egypt have been warned to stay away from Egypt. Yet, it seems that something is changing. Muslims, not the state, protecting Christians during Christmas seems to have been the beginning of something good. Christians are responding in kind. They are getting to know each other. They are helping each other. Instead of all the fear-mongering, warning of a takeover in Egypt by radical Muslims, pundits should be looking to the real story, the story of how Christians and Muslims have learned that they need to help each other if they want a better future.
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