Remembering God's Sacrifice

Hey Everyone,

Happy Belated Easter! I hope everyone is enjoying the Holy Fifty and truly ringing in the joy with plenty of lahma and other favorites that we have been unable to indulge in during Lent. For those who do not know what the Holy Fifty is, think of it as a type of celebration for the resurrection of Christ.

Coptic Orthodox Christians fast approximately two-thirds of the year, mainly due to refraining from dairy, meat, and seafood every Wednesdays and Fridays--Wednesdays in remembrance of Judas' bretrayal and Fridays for the crucifixion--in addition to several fasting seaons including Advent and Lent. During the Holy Fifty, however, we refrain from fasting even on Wednesdays and Fridays. The reason behind fasting is to become closer to God and to grow spiritually. But after the resurrection, Christ came down and spent time with his disciples. So there is no point in fasting when God is already in our mist. Of course, He is always with us, but this Church season is done with more of a symbolic remembrance rather than God actually coming back and then leaving us to go to Paradise fifty days later.

In order to prevent losing the spiritual growth we've gained from Lent, I have attached a video I've found on Facebook and YouTube about a bridge master and his son. It's a simple story that will remind us just how much God sacrificed in order to give us salvation. Enjoy! And don't forget to have some tissues near by.

Hey Everyone,

Now that we're in the fasting season for Lent, I thought it would be fun to show a
"Fasting Trailer" video I found on YouTube about a month ago. This is by user MohebBassily. This guy is so talented and funny... I highly recommend checking out his other videos on YouTube. Enjoy!

DC Protest Photos

Hey Everyone!

This is a bit late, but I just want to give a big shout out to those who attended the Protest in DC regarding the Christmas Eve Massacre in Nag Hammadi. There was a huge turn-out of Copts from all over the East Coast... one estimated 2,000 participants. We even had an American Presbyterian Minister say a few words in support and pray with us. For those who were not there, we demenstrated in front of the White House and then moved out to the Egyptian Embassy. Check out the photos from the protest below, all courtesy of the wonderful Mirey Elias:

Christmas Eve Massacre in Nag Hammadi: One Massacre Too Many

I need a little moment of enlightenment, an epiphany. Because as we all know, life isn't fair nor was it ever meant to be. But it just boggles my mind the way history can repeat itself and the stupidity of hatred, revenge, and the lengths people will tread just to make a point.

I wanted write a post about the glorious appearance the Virgin Mary has made all over Egypt and to wish everyone a late, but very merry Christmas and remind those that the birth of our Lord is a grandeur of blessings that is not to be reckoned with. However, like clockwork, there has been another shooting at a church in Egypt on our Orthodox Christmas Eve, January 6th, 2010.

While Copts all around the world dressed in their finest apparel and singing praises during the evening Christmas Eve liturgy, the grapevine started spreading the word of the massacre outside a church in Nag Hammadi, a town in Upper Egypt forty miles (65 km) north of Luxor. A drive-by shooting occured shortly before midnight as the congregation exit the church. The motive for this shooting is thought be a revenge tactic for the allege rape of a twelve-year old Muslim girl by a Christian man, even though after a physical examination reported that the girl's hymen is perfectly intact. This comes as an addition to the five-day riot in November when news of the alleged raped spread.

It has been report that six Copts have been killed as well as one Muslim due to the open fire of machine guns used in the drive-by. Two of these martyrs include Abanoub Karim, on the left, and Paula Atef, on the right. Different newspapers have reported various numbers of those wounded from seven, fifteen, the highest reported being twenty-one. Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reported that the shooters traveled to other areas afterwards and killed two more. In totally, the six victims at the church were mostly young men in their early twenties. Others include a fourteen year old boy and a man and his fiance.

Bishop Kirollos of the Diocese of Nag Hammadi told Middle East Christian Association (MECA) that he was the one intended to be assassinated. He also told UK's Guardian that "it's all religious now. This is a religious war, about how they can finish off the Christians in Egypt."

Needless to say, when I heard about the attacks, I was perturbed. Actually, I was more than that. I was angry. Where is our justice? Where is our vindication of peace and sense of safety? And most importantly, when will the Egyptian society finally get off their Islamic high horse and treat their Christian neighbors, those who were here long before they invaded, our God-given human rights?

Christians have rioted in Egypt and Diaspora Copts have protested and held vigils on their behalf. Now it's time for all of us, Coptic or not, Christian or not, to lend our hand to the struggle of righting an injustice.

On Thursday, January 21st, there will be a peaceful protest held in front of the main gates of the White House at 11am. Buses from St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church in Fairfax, VA as well as St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church in Maryland will be leaving their prospective churches to DC at 10am. Alternative means of transportation, and the easiest in my opinion, is to hop on the Orange Line to McPhearson Square (Blue Line if you live in Springfield, VA or Largo, MD) and walk the couple blocks to the White House. I hope to see you all there.

For those who cannot make the protest due to work, school, or transportation issues, you can still help out. The Coptic Assembly of America has composed a letter to send to President Obama pleading with him to address the injustice in Egypt. You can find this letter here:http://capwiz.com/copticassembly/issues/alert/?alertid=14549671 or at the Coptic Assembly's homepage: http://www.copticassembly.com/index.php

Let's all keep the victims, their families, and the success of this week's protest in our prayers.

On Why I Muse Over the Complexities of the Threshold

Growing up as a second-generation immigrant isn't easy. Add in a religion and ingrained culture that seems to have polar opposite views as the new country you currently reside in doesn't help either.

When I was growing up, the decision of which view to assimilate into the American acceptability and which to maintain in the Egyptian propriety became one of the hardest hurdles to overcome. So, I did everything by the book. The Egyptian book. My second home was my church. Everything they said I took for gospel, regardless if they used the actual religious dogma or the old country's justifications to proclaim it was right . For example, I remember a Sunday school class when I was in elementary school that talked about dressing appropriately for church because it was the house of God--something that any Christian religion would advocate. When we reached our teen years, one teacher who was clearly new to the country told us to dress appropriately because if we didn't, we would cause the men in church to sin--an extreme Middle Eastern cultural view of the two sexes. She went on to say that men were the weaker sex and it was our job as women to make sure we dressed in a way that wouldn't tempt them to think sexual thoughts. If we did, then we were responsible for their sin and we would get punished for it--a more severe punishment than the man who performed the actual impure thought.

Apparently, this woman never got the memo that women have hormones and an imagination as well.

But I did as they asked because, hey, it was much easier to listen to one school of thought than two. You see, there weren't any websites like mine out there; those that tackled the identity crisis. Basically, there were two types of websites that discussed the Coptic community: those that alerted others to the persecution in the Middle East and those that enlightened others of the Coptic Orthodox beliefs. That was it. And for a while, I was fine with that. But then something changed. Something that made me see the "gray-area" light.

I went to college.

I saw all different types of cultures, beliefs, and daily practices from people who seemed undoubtably confident in what they were doing. I began debating what could I ease up on without going against my religion and the main positive aspects of Coptic culture. And so I created this blog.

It became clear to me that I needed to set a foundation of our roots before I got into the tangled mess of American and Coptic notions: roots like correcting the misconception that Copts are Arabs, that we come from the Church of the Martyrs, and the history behind our notorious cross tattoos. By doing that, I was then able to discuss whether we should get tattooed or not, my views on dancing, when it's appropriate to date. These are all problems we go through today.

I look forward to continuing this blog and addressing other issues that can help Coptic teens ease into the American society without feeling like they left their ethnicity back in the old country.

When Hani Met Samia: The Difficulties of Dating in the Coptic Community

Certainly one of most difficult elements of assimilation to endure is the relationship between men and women. To come from a country where there are so many taboos and rules of propriety involving the separation of boys and girls and moving to another country where it seems that anything goes is the ultimate definition of culture shock.

In America, the average teen starts dating when they are about sixteen years old—not including the “dating” that middle schoolers do that literally involves the bragging rights of calling someone their boyfriend/girlfriend while making dreamy looks at each other during class and hold hands during lunch—but actually going out on a date. The boy picks up the girl, probably after just getting his license the week before, and they go off alone. The locations may vary from the movies to dinner at a restaurant to a house party or school dance. Afterwards, it’s usually expected that there is a goodnight kiss involved if the date is a success and an “I’ll call you” promise to set up another time to go out.

In America, it’s typical to date several people when you’re in high school and keep your “options open.” Dating, for the most part, isn’t anything too serious; it’s not an engagement period for two people nor is it a sacred thing for most couples in the early stages. (Although that little girl doesn't look too happy that her boyfriend is playing the field, does she?) Each individual has their own standards of what physical activity is allowed and not allowed, which they usually describe by the commonly referenced baseball field analogy. Although there are variations of which base is equivalent to which activity, the commonly agreed bases deal with first being kissing and “home run” being sexual intercourse. Regardless of what your limits are, it’s become a rite of passage into adulthood to lose your virginity by prom night for many American teens.

In America, it’s much more common to hear about couples having a sexual relationship when they reach adulthood and to even live together before they agree to get married. Their entire opinion on sexuality changes drastically from the time of their first sex ed class to their first serious relationship and even beyond. Take, for example, the euphemisms “hooking up” and “messing around.” In high school, those phrases used to mean that two people were simply making-out. Once you reach college, those same phrases take on a completely different connotation. From now on, when you here that two people “hooked-up,” they didn’t just make-out; they had sex. What’s frightening is this: what changes is not the literal meaning of the words, but the person’s interpretation of sex. To “hook up” with someone while you’re in high school is not a big deal because you two didn’t have sex. And when you “hook up” with someone in college, it isn’t a big deal either because one-night stands are simply part of the college experience for many Americans.

And while the country is dealing with a 50% divorce rate, you have to wonder if it is their flexible views on dating and sex that has a hand in it.

Egypt, on the other hand, is quite different. A friend said it best when, during his father’s eulogy, he stated: “at forty, after three Master’s degrees, he decided it was time to get married. So he went to Egypt and a week later he was married.” Not dated, not engaged, but married. There’s no concept of dating in Egypt. In fact, your contact with most people of the opposite sex by the time you hit puberty is cut dramatically. Long gone are the days where you could play with everyone, like this boy and girl photographed on the left, and not have a major gossip column dedicated to your personal life. It’s as if the elders smelled the hormones bubbling and decided to take action before your reputation became tainted.

During the liturgy or any church service, regardless of the continent it’s on, men and women are separated (usually men sit on the left side of the church and women sit on the right). Even when taking Communion, they go to separate sides of the altar. In social outings, a girl cannot sit alone with a boy and vice versa—they’re always within a group regardless if those two are best friends. And if there’s a moment when those of the opposite sex are at a home and they’re not related, there’s always a chaperone of sorts lurking around the corner. Actually most won’t lurk; they openly sit and watch so as not to give these two people the option to give into temptation—even though they may not be each other’s type. You may be laughing, but I’ve experienced this personally on several occasions.

In Egypt, it’s very common to hear about a boy and girl getting engage shortly after they've met—and most importantly, after their parents have met and discussed the prospects of their children marrying. Once they are engaged, then they can start going out in public and sitting by themselves, etc. However, the sexual nature of dating is not even in Egyptians’ vocabulary. It’s just not something they do until they get married. And those who are rebellious enough to date like the Americans or Europeans do so secretly.

So where does that leave those Copts who straddle the Atlantic threshold? Do they date the American way or abstain the Egyptian way? We Diaspora Copts who were born in America or moved here at a younger age know three sure-fire ways to give our parents a conniption by becoming consensual partners-in-crime to some of the major cultural taboos within the underground dating scene.

The first: coming out. It’s one thing to date undercover. It’s another thing entirely when you’re dating someone who shares the same gender that you do. To be gay in the Coptic/Egyptian community is a major no-no for both religious and cultural reasons and will definitely have your parents dragging you by your black hair to the priest’s house to exercise the gayness out of you until you are on the straight and narrow path of heterosexuality.

The second: the Muslim lover. Parents and Church elders look at this interreligious coupling as if a Holocaust survivor started dating a Nazi solider. It is completely unacceptable not only because of the major religious differences, but also because of the clashes between the two in the motherland. The whole reason we are here and not back “home” is because of how Christians are treated by the Muslim inhabitants. Many who are in these types of relationships give the excuse that their Muslim counterpart could always convert, since the Church only recognizes marriages between two Coptic Orthodox believers. But let’s be realistic: how many of us actually marry our high school sweetheart? With that in mind, is it really worth it the secrets and the fighting? You decide.

The third: going black. Dating an African-American has been the cause of fights between all Coptic girls and their parents. We can’t help it. Stereotypically, black men prefer women with wide hips and thighs… and let’s face it, ladies, we like men who appreciate our assets. However, parents disagree with their girls getting romantic with the naturally tanner men because “their culture is different,” even though we both come from the same continent. But have no fear, my dear girls: out of these three taboos, this is the one that will most likely be accepted with the right guy, good timing, and your persistence.

But like I said, I already knew all of that. And the fact of the matter is, when we are ready to get married, most of us combine the American and Egyptian way. We’ll date someone for at least a year or two before we get engaged, but sex is not an option until the wedding night.

However, one of the hot button issues is dating in high school. I wanted to find out what’s going on in the minds of Coptic teenagers nowadays; so, once again, I took a poll at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church of Washington, DC and asked their high school group and college freshmen a few questions about dating at their age.

My first question dealt with this growing phenomenon of “talking” among the high school. When confronted with interrogations if they are dating someone, many will deny it and say variations of “No, we’re not dating, we’re ‘talking.’” So what is “talking” exactly?

· “Well, if this means that they aren’t dating but they “like” each other, then it’s talking a great amount (at all hours of the day) and/or at late hours. We like to deny that we are actually ‘dating’ because it’s frowned upon, but in reality, that’s what is happening when two people are ‘talking’ in that way. Also....certain things are said that wouldn’t be said to any other person.” M—, age 16, Copt.

· “Talking can be used to mean a few different things: 1) It's like dating without the title. Having the title can bring on complications. 2) The term that covers flirting without the promiscuous feel put on display. 3) A way to be involved in the feel of having a significant other without the commitment. 4) ‘practice dating.’” S—, age 15, Copt

When asked about their views on dating at their age, I found polar opposite responses. About half were okay with dating, saying there’s nothing wrong with it, while others found dating in high school to be immoral and illogical:

· “I want to date when I want to find love and I want to find love when I want to get married, I am not getting married at 16. Dating [in high school] is frivolous and hazardous. Sure everyone wants the kind of attention one receives in a relationship, but it’s bound to end if you enter the dating world too soon. When a relationship ends it usually causes emotional pain that one begins to associate with having a boyfriend/girlfriend and looks for another person to fill this void. It is like a drug.” Germeen, age 16, Copt.

· “My parents have expressed the importance of getting an excellent education. They have no problem with me commenting that XYZ is hot, but that's as far as it goes. ‘You have one chance on education right now, and a million for boys when you're done, stay focused.’” S—, age 15, Copt.

· “Well, I don’t think it's wrong. I mean, I understand why everyone was saying don’t date in high school...but the older you get, your views change and start seeing things that you didn't pay attention to before!” Miriam, age 18, Copt.

· “My views on dating are that it is completely acceptable to date within a pure and God-centered context. It is a chance for two individuals to learn to grow independently, but also with one another to find if a long-term relationship is possible. I do not believe that dating should be simply casual (though it should be enjoyable); I believe that dating should be with the intent to find someone compatible for you, and someone from God that will walk with you lovingly, emotionally, and spiritually for the rest of your life. There needs to be an aspect of vulnerability in the relationship, but boundaries are necessary. Those in a dating relationship are to prepare themselves to be husbands/wives, but not be ‘practicing’ or acting as if a married couple would.” Mary, age 20, Coptic American.

Very few have admitted to a moderate belief in the positives and negatives of dating in high school; however, they have personally chosen to abstain from dating until they are older. Those who have decided to date had their first date when they were about sixteen or seventeen. One person admitted to having his when he was twelve while the other waited until she was nineteen.


And of course, every individual draws a line at what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Less than one percent of those who were polled admitted to having been sexually active. A couple individuals discussed how everything except oral sex and sexual intercourse were fine, while you are in a relationship. Others drew the line at several different places:

· “Personally, I think that if you do decide to date in high school, like, there is nothing wrong with kissing. But the making out and PDA and just nastiness pisses me off. Just a little kiss and holding hands are not that bad.” Yordi, age 16, Ethopian-Coptic-American

· “I think the line should be drawn after hugging or holding hands because then you can't really control yourself sometimes and one thing will lead to another.” Miriam, age 18, Copt.

· “Since [I began] dating, it has been a tension to establish boundaries. I prefer not to use the word ‘allowed,’ but rather, what is ‘appropriate.’ Much of that comes from the idea of 1 Corinthians 6:12 that ‘everything is permissible for me— but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything.’ Making ‘rules’ is not the same as setting boundaries. For me and my boyfriend, we have decided that holding hands is appropriate and light kissing, but avoiding making out. We decided this because these are the ways we wanted to show affection, without causing each other to stumble. Although we have set boundaries, we have found that it is absolutely essential to continue defining our boundaries based on the changes we go through as a couple, and redefining places where we have made mistakes, etc.” Mary, age 20, Coptic American.

Although the lines of propriety and views on dating may vary, they all have one thing in common: parents who did it the “Egyptian way.” Those who decided to hide their past and present relationships from their parents justify their actions by saying their parents are “old-fashioned” or “close-minded.” One said: [My mom] would get mad and start yelling and then she would go all Christian on me and tell everyone and make me break up with her.” K—, age 14, Copt. They have a complex that, because their parents are Egyptians who’ve done everything by the old-country’s standards, their children need abide by those standards as well. If they find out, there will be hell to pay. There will be beatings involving the notorious flip-flop, forced break-ups, and a lack of trust that will probably follow them until they’re thirty.

A view that was also expressed included how their high school servants and elders treat them in their dealings with the opposite sex. Anonymity will be used for this section of quotes. Church servants, if you’re reading this, pay attention:

· “I would like to change the perspective of the older people because, especially in out high school ministry, a lot of the servants are very strict with boys and girls and we all heard about the ‘lost generation’ of Copts but this time we are different and we want the servants to kinda not be so strict. Even talking to a boy makes them suspicious.”

· “Oh my goodness! The fact that guys and girls get yelled at if they hug each other. Even if the girl is older, they freak out and think they’re like having sex or something!”

· “Parents and kids need to have a means of understanding one another, and high school outings [need to] lighten up on the severity and strictness.”

· “[High school servants need] to be more relaxed about dating ‘cause no matter what, we're gonna do it behind your back.”

So what do parents and church servants do when they hear something like that: “no matter what, we’re gonna do it behind your back.” Parents try to enforce and beg that their children do it their way; Church servants try to enforce the ideal time to date is when you are “spiritually, mentally, and financially” ready. But is there really anything you can say when someone’s mind is already made up? Maybe the best we can do is give them our opinion and let them learn through experience if dating in high school is really worth it.

The best way to sum up the difference between beliefs and actions of the Second-Generation, Diaspora Copts is through a quote by seventeen year old Mariam. She states: “I have dated before and found no point for it at the end, and I won’t be surprised if I dated again even though I know all of this. And if you ask me why I would date again, I think my answer would be that I can't help it.”

A Modern-Day Genocide

Disclaimer: Due to the topic of this post, there are graphic images that may not be appropriate for young children or those who have a light stomach.

What destroys humanity? Guns? Knives? Bombs?

As stated before in this blog, the Coptic Orthodox Church is known as the Church of the Martyrs. Also as stated many times before, the Church has gone through persecution during the reign of Diocletian and the Arab Invasion of Egypt. And I wish I could say it’s is a thing of the past. I wish I could say that every single person of the world, regardless of race, religion, or color followed the Golden Rule. That they would think twice before harming their fellow man. But that is far from the reality the Coptic community faces today.

During the 1970s, religious fever became an epidemic among the Muslims in Egypt. Before that, Christian and Muslims neighbors ignored their religious differences to play together, support each other, and celebrate each other’s holidays. Christians would celebrate the Eid of Ramadan with their Muslim friends and the Muslims would wish their Christian friends a Merry Christmas and Happy Easter. Secular Christians and Muslims alike would snicker at the more religious hijab wearing women and the men wearing the traditional garb. They didn’t follow the fashion of the time nor did they indulge in the kind of joking and fun activities other less religious classmates would partake in. They, the Qur’an-hugging Muslims, were the minority of their own people after all: the “nerds” of the class and outcasts of the workplace.

And then Anwar al-Sadat became president.

Sadat wanted to convert those who were lovers of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the previous president, and followers of Nasserism. So, Sadat met with the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and gave him free reign. He wanted to be the new icon of Egyptian celebrity and power. With his blessing and the turn of his back, The Muslim Brotherhood moved through college campuses, preaching to students who were great lovers of Nasser. The religious fever among the Egyptian Muslim community began. More men began wearing the traditional garb. Women began wearing hijabs to cover their hair and some even went to the extreme of wearing nijabs, like the one on the left, to cover their nose, mouth, and jaw. Many women also wore loose fitting dresses in accordance to the Qur’an and to distinguish themselves from the Christians.

With the religious fever also came the rise of persecution for the Christians. Eleven years later, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a cleric who also had a role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, approved a fatwa for the assassination of Sadat—the same president who stated: “Fear is, I believe, a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual—and the soul of a people”—a statement that he put into action every day he was in power. And with his death, rose Hosni Mubarack—Sadat’s vice president and now, the current President of Egypt.

Fast-forward to 1998.

In a small rural town in Upper Egypt called Al-Kosheh, tensions rose between Christians and Muslims. Muslims were seeking revenge for the “poisoning” of a Muslim brother. However, the revenge was done in vain, because the man wasn’t poisoned but actually died of natural causes. Regardless, two Copts were murdered by them. In response to seeking revenge, the corrupted Egyptian police arrested 1,200 Christians for investigation. Metropolitan Bishop Wissa of al-Balyana, along with two of his priests were also arrested after criticizing the wrongful round-up of their fellow Christian brothers and sisters. They were charged with “inciting strife and damaging national unity between Christians and Muslims.” Because, apparently, the revenge seekers and policemen were correct in their actions. After all, Christians are only second class citizens. Go figure.

In October of that same year, two months after the incident, Christina Lamb of London’s Daily Telegraph wrote an article reporting that some of the arrested Christians had undergone mock crucifixions and the Metropolitan bishop faced a possible execution. Now, you have to realize that Egypt is the type of country that will tap your phone, censor the news, and have no problem destroying those who openly disagree with the majority. Can you guess how the Egyptian government took to the international exposure of demeaning us second-class citizens our human rights?

Not very well.

They arrested the head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and accused him of leaking the story to the Daily Telegraph. Both the head of EOHR and the Metropolitan were eventually released, along with the government stating they would punish those members of the police force who acted improperly. What really happened, you may ask? Those officers who violated the human rights of Copts were promoted. Yes, promoted.

This incident became known as the First Al-Kosheh Massacre. Naturally, Copts in America pushed for the US Congress to add Egypt among the nations who openly discriminates against Christians.

The Second Al-Kosheh Massacre happened about a year afterwards on New Year’s Eve 1999, stemming from a dispute between a Christian merchant and a Muslim customer. The incident escalated with the relatives of the customer targeting Christian-owned shops and homes: looting, destroying, and burying them. Two days later, riots spread through neighboring cities killing 21 Christians. More than forty additional Christians were injured and 260 businesses, homes, and kiosks were destroyed—all Christian-owned. In addition, one Muslim was accidentally shot in during the riot by a fellow rioter. This sole event went down as one of Egypt’s bloodiest massacre.

You may be asking, where was the police? Where was the law enforcement, well, enforcing the law? It’s simple. They were watching. Some actually participated in the riot… and not for the good of the Christians.

On the first of December, 2000, a criminal court in Egypt’s Sohag governorate release ALL 89 defendants charged in the New Year’s Eve massacre in Al-Kosheh—without bail. It was an unprecedented move for Egypt, especially since they were a month away from receiving their verdict. ALL suspects that were initially arrested in connection to this massacre were acquitted. THE ONLY PERSON CONVICTED IN THE MASSACRE WAS A MUSLIM CHARGED WITH THE ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING OF ANOTHER MUSLIM; he was sentenced to thirteen years in prison.

Can you guess how the Coptic community felt at this moment? I’ll just say outraged would be an understatement .

H.H. Pope Shenouda III openly rejected the ridiculous verdict: “We want to challenge this ruling. We don’t accept it.” Egypt’s Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahid appealed the acquittal. Metropolitan Wissa of al-Balyana shared the same sentiments with the Pope stating the ruling is “a shame that defames the reputation of Egypt and an invitation for more violence.”

The Bishop was right.

Six days following the acquittal, the homes of four Christian families of Al-Kosheh were set on fire and completely destroyed. One of the homeowners who reported the incident to the police was tortured and forced to sign a statement prepared by a public prosecutor charging him with perpetrating the whole incident. Subsequently, he was forced to post bail for his own release.

Like I said, Coptic Christians around the world were more than outraged. It soon became known that the government wanted to change the name of the town, and therefore, sweep both incidents under the rug by pretending the city never existed. Great way to defend the underdog, don’t you think?

Immediately, the Diaspora Copts rose up seeking the help of their government to take action against Egypt’s corrupted system and double-standard through peaceful vigils, like the one photographed on the left.

Take a look at this video in which the broadcast discusses the difficulty in building churches in Egypt as well as another way the Coptic Christian community is being persecuted: through human trafficking—also known as forced conversions and marriages.




Recent reports included the abductions of Amira Morgan and Ingy Basta: both abducted in Alexandria, Egypt during the month of July in 2009. Ms. Morgan, photographed on the right, was abducted on the 18th of July on her way back from work. That same morning, her mother received a phone call from a Muslim cleric named Sheikh Mohammed. He told her that Amira was fine and that she would be converting to Islam the next Friday. When she travelled to the mosque in her region, searching for her daughter and Sheikh Mohammed, a man told her there were over fifty clerics by that name. When she started crying, another man approached her and said that she shouldn’t report the abduction. Otherwise, her nine year old son would be slaughtered in front of her. In order to save her son, Morgan’s mother fled the region to an unknown location. On the 22nd of July, Ingy Basta, photographed on the left, was abducted in the Nozha Airport area when she went to repair her cell phone. Ms. Basta was supposed to be engaged to a Coptic man on the 26th. Although her father reported the abduction the next day, she has yet to be found.

It isn’t surprising of the double-standard upheld by the Egyptian government. As you can see, these women have been wronged and you don’t hear about Christians rioting down the street knocking down everything and everyone in their path. However, during the month of October several riots took place in Dairout, Egypt due to an alleged sexual relationship between a Muslim girl, Hagger Hassouna, and a Christian man, Romany Farouk Attallah. Rumors of intimate photos of them together sent by Attallah to various cell phones led the Hassona family to kill Attallah’s father on Sunday, October 19, 2009 in the village market of Attaleen. After they shot him with over 140 bullets and wounded two of his relatives, his body was dragged in the streets while there were shouts of victory and hits directed at the dead body.

The second round of violence began on Saturday October 24, 2009 when a rumor circulated that Attallah would appear in court after being arrested and transferred from Alexandria was just a rumor. In addition, they also heard the prosecution extended the detention of the Muslim killers of Attallah’s father. Hundreds of Muslims, mostly from Al-Azhar Institute in Dairout, went rampaging all over the town, but specifically in areas where Coptic businesses and pharmacies were located. They looted and demolished everything in sight. According to activist Wagih Yacoub, of the Middle East Christian Assosication (MECA), the Church of the Virgin and Abu Seifein as well as the Church of the Virgin were attacked via throwing stones and setting the windows on fire.

And of course, we can’t forget our vulnerable Coptic girls. They were subjected to Muslims trying to tear their clothes off as they went to school. Overall, they were subjected to sexual harassment, obscene insults, and recipients of hurled stones in an attempt to avenge the “shame” brought on by Attallah towards the Muslim girl.

And, yet again, the police was nowhere to be found until FIVE HOURS after the initial call.

Those who were interviewed agreed that the couple should be penalized rather than the entire village for their illicit affair. After all, the girl was equally a willing participant as the man.

Attorney Dr. Naguib Gobrail, President of the Egyptian Union Organization for Human Rights, wrote to President Mubarak asking him to intervene. He also blamed the government for neglecting to take the proper actions in regards to both Al-Kosheh Massacres: “Had you condemned those who defamed the Christian religion and those who spread the culture of violence and fanaticism, then no sectarian violence against Copts would have taken place in Dairut, Menoufia (where a Copt was beheaded like the one on the left) or Abu Fana, where monks were tortured in 2008.” He reminded Mubarak that Copts are also Egyptian citizens.

Where’s Martin Luther King Jr. when you need him? All he would have to do is make little revisions here and there in his infamous speech. Maybe something like, “I have a dream that one day these Coptic daughters will live in a nation where they will not be judge by the cross on their skin but by the content of their character.” Or how about, “This swelter summer of the Copt’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.”

You may think that all these attacks only happen in Egypt or only happen in third-world Middle Eastern countries. After all, websites like CoptsUnited.com, TheFreeCopts.net, ForgottenMinority.blogspot.com, and the newspaper The Voice of the Immigrant educate others about the persecution and condemnation Coptic Christians endure—something that local Egyptian news are adamantly ignoring during their daily broadcasts.

But it has recently expanded.

Coptic Americans were shocked when they perused the newspapers in early 2005 to find a Coptic man, Hossam Armanious, and his family slain and mutilated because he was… well, Coptic. The family was outspoken critics of Islam. The father especially, would go on websites and chat rooms via paltalk.com debating theology with Muslims. Armanious received many death threats due to his debating. According to one family friend, one threat stated: “You’d better stop this bull, or we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you.” But Armanious didn’t stop because after all, he wasn’t in Egypt anymore. He was in the land of the free—Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion was grated to him and anyone who wanted to disrupt his right to practice them would be prosecuted. Right? Well, Carrie Devorah states: “Hossam wrongly interpreted America’s Freedom of Religion guaranteed his Freedom of Expression and offline anonymity.”

On January 14, 2005, Armanious (47), his wife Amal Garas (36), and their daughters, Monica (8) and Sylvia (15), all photographed on the left, were found murdered in their New Jersey home. The family was bound and tortured before the murders slit their throats. Sylvia was especially brutalized with her face beaten beyond recognition and repeatedly stabbed in the chest and wrist where she bore her cross tattoo. The later is a common torture mechanism when afflicting those who bear the sign of their faith: either with stabbing them in the wrist or slicing that section of skin so that there is a gap where the cross used to be. Oh, by the way, that Saturday would have been Sylvia’s sixteenth birthday.


So what happened? Was justice sought out? Well, here's where it gets interesting... and a little confusing, so bare with me. According to TalkLeft.com and TheAmericanMuslim.org, they state that the newspapers were wrong… that the motive was robbery, not religious hatred, pointing the finger to an upstairs neighbor, Edward McDonald, and alleged accomplice, Hamiliton Sanchez, who both pleaded not-guilty to the crimes. It’s an interesting conclusion, since at the time, it was believed that all their gold and valuables were left untouched.

In the process of researching the slaying of the Armanious family, I came across Daniel Pipes blog which posted a summary of the prosecution's case based on the Jersey Journal account. In short, on March 3, 2005, McDonald gave a videotaped confession admitting he and Sanchez held the three woman at gunpoint, masked, and ready to burgarlized the home. According to McDonald, they bound and blindfolded the women. While they ransacked the house, Armanious arrived. He gave them the ATM card and PIN number without resistance. (This would later be the reason authorities believed they were the cause of the murders, finding almost $3,000 withdrawn from Armanious' bank account after the day of the murders). He was also bound and blindfolded. McDonald added that Monica "pulled the thing off--she seen all of us." After mumble a few things inaudibly, he added, "everybody had to die." He then confessed to "stabbing" Monica, while Sanchez killed the other three. In total, his jury convicted him on 29 counts of felony murder, burglary, robbery and weapons possession. According to Michaelangelo Conte of the Jersey Journal: "After the jury was dismissed, one member of the panel said some jurors believed the confession and others did not. That's why there wasn't a guilty verdict on the murder charge to Monica."

Isn't that interesting? The one murder he admits to doesn't get a gulity verdict and the man who McDonald confesses to carrying out the other three murders walks away utterly free. According to Daniel Pipes, defense attorney Paul Feinberg "kept arguing throughout the trial, because McDonald's confession came under dubious circumstances and not a single piece of forensic evidence ties him or Sanchez to the crime." If no one believed it, why wasn't it thrown out? And if it was true, why did he stab Monica? Even if she did see something, she would have seen a tall figure wearing a mask. Besides, he said he threatened the family wearing a mask at gunpoint; why didn't he shoot her?


However, on March 20, 2008, a jury found McDonald, photographed on the right, guilty of felony murder in the slaying of the Armanious family. According to reporter Jason Fink, "The felony murder convictions mean the jury held him responsible for the deaths because they occurred during the commission of a felony (the burglary)" not because he killed him with his own hands. But it just doesn’t make any sense. Bishop David, spiritual leader for most North American Copts states: “It’s very difficult to believe that four people were killed just to steal a card to take some money out of an ATM machine. A lot of things need to be explained in more detail.”

It isn’t the most unheard of thing for people to loot the dead. I suspect he found the family slaughtered, and instead of reporting the crime, he grabbed the ATM card and ran. Also, since his was on parole for drug-dealing, I wouldn’t put it passed him to not report the incident, fearing that he would be accused of the murders. Then again, his background makes him the perfect scapegoat for those who desire to deflate the situation between Muslim- and Coptic-Americans, as well as avoiding any offense against the Muslim community.

But let’s pay devil’s advocate, shall we? Let’s say he did murder all four members of the family just to steal an ATM card. Why would he create such a blood bath? Why torture them? But most importantly, why go through the extra mile of carving out Sylvia's cross tattoo? What does her tattoo have to do with his mission of robbery? After all, most Americans don’t know the significance about the cross tattoo to Copts. Most Americans don’t know much about Copts in general. But fellow Middle Easterners do.

Regardless, on June 30 of the same year, Supreme Court Judge Kevin Callahan sentence McDonald to four 75-year terms to be served consecutively. That’s a pretty hefty sentence to give a man convicted of crime with so many holes in it. Lucky for Sanchez, all charges were dropped on his account.

Why am I writing about something that’s so depressing, you may ask? What does this have to do with Coptic identity or the complexities of the threshold? It’s simple, really. This is something that is happening to our brothers and sisters as we speak. Visit one of the websites regarding persecution listed above and I assure you they will have something new to report weekly, if not daily. The fact of the matter is that it was pure luck that we, the Diaspora Copts, aren’t facing the situation that they are; whether because your family’s name was picked out of the lottery to emigrate out of Egypt or you found out some glitch in the system to escape the country and never look back.

Let me ask you again: what destroys humanity?

It’s hate. Blind, ignorant hate. Hate is like a weed: once implanted, it’s hard to uproot and it destroys everything around it. So how can we protect others from hate? Call me an optimist, but I believe the answer is love. Now hear me out. The love I’m talking about isn’t stationary. It’s active. The love I’m talking about spreads like pollen in a field. It grows and blossoms. Out of love for our people, country, and livelihood, I implore you to identify with these victims imprisoned in these situations, like this girl with the burnt face. What would you want others to do when they hear your story? Would you want them to turn their backs and pretend you never existed? Or would you want them to be active in the struggle and strife to gain your human rights? So out of love, write to your congressmen and to the President asking them to defend the defenseless. Attend the peaceful vigils announcing to your government that you have not forgotten those victims. That you will speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. After all, love is what keeps humanity alive.