Western Christian orgs use stiff language over sectarianism in Egypt

By Joseph Mayton

1/27/2010 Egypt (BikyaMasr) – Western Christian organizations and news website are continuing their calls for greater American intervention in what they have called a nation of hatred and violence. The most recent case is of a 15-year-old Coptic girl who sent a letter to American President Barack Obama, asking him to intervene to end the “persecution” against Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Not surprisingly, US FOX News was quick to pick up the story of Dina Gowhary, who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity and has taken the mantle of Christian rights in Egypt to Washington. “Mr. President Obama,” she begins her letter, “we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country.”

International Christian organizations, such as Baptist Press, AINA and Christian Press, have launched a stalwart campaign to address issues of sectarianism in Egypt, which reached a head earlier this month when gunmen opened fire on Coptic worshipers as they were leaving a Christmas Eve service on January 6. They are demanding that Obama follow through on his promises of religious tolerance and freedom he called for in his June speech in Cairo.

“Your administration has been completely silent on this massacre, despite the over 1,000 newspaper articles written in English and the protests of thousands of Copts all around the world. Pope Benedict and the Italian Foreign Minister have both spoken out, yet America — supposedly the leader of the free world, and the premier advocate for human rights — stays quiet,” the letter read.

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