This Thursday, President Barack Obama will address the Muslim world from Egypt, a predominantly Muslim country and one of the most prominent countries in the Middle East. The president has suggested that he will use the speech to “reboot the U.S. relationship with the Muslim world.” Pundits have opined that the speech will focus on building trust. Still others say he will address the decades-long Arab-Israel conflict.
I hope the Obama administration will take advantage of the unique opportunity it has on Thursday to stand up for the universal ideals of human rights in a land where such ideals are oppressed. Speaking from Egypt which remains a backdrop of authoritarian rule that has suffocated dissent and reform, President Obama must address the two-fold cancer which plagues reform and modernization in the so-called "Muslim world." That cancer is Arab secular fascism (i.e. the Mubarak regime) and radical Islamism (i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Azhar University). For President Obama to avoid these two major cancers which ultimately fuel terrorism is to avoid one of his responsibilities as leader of the free world.
One of the Coptic cultural attributes which has and continues to enhance the Copts’ prospects for growth and success over the centuries is their adaptability, flexibility and predisposition for innovation. This cultural attribute has its genesis in the early ancient Egypt history. As early as the Old Kingdom era, ancient Egyptian engineers conceived the then new and innovative idea to build a mastaba. Subsequently they modified and adapted it into a stepped pyramid, and later on into a pyramid.
The Persecution Of Christians In Egypt: A Coptic-Christian Leader Speaks Out
The Bulletin
By JOSEPH PUDER, For The Bulletin
The American Coptic Association had planned a demonstration in front of the White House during the May 26 meeting between President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which has been cancelled due to the death of Mr. Mubarak’s grandchild.
Dr. Monir Dawoud, chairman of the American Coptic Association was therefore asked by this journalist to comment on what he had planned to say to both presidents.
Will Christian Copt in ‘Honour Killing” Get Same Justice As Muslims?
By Anonymous
This is pretty messed-up because they’re not even trying to project any semblance of justice. The police report was written the day before the suspect was arrested, a guy who can’t drive supposedly drove a getaway car, and the judge is inexplicably hysterical. Some justice. At least the police protected the church when the mobs tried to storm it. I also differ with Mary regarding honor killings.
Plea: Save Egypt's Christian Children From Forced Islamization
(AINA)
A letter addressed to Egypt's First Lady demanded urgent intervention 'to save the Egyptian Christian children from forced Islamization', was sent by Dr. Naguib Gibraeel, President of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization (EUHRO).
"The compulsory subordination of Christian minors to their converted to Islam fathers has a religious background and no legal basis whatsoever," stressed Gibraeel, who is an attorney and a Christian Copt himself.
By Perry Chiarmonte, Lorena Mongelli in Newburgh, NY and Douglas Montero and Lukas I. Alpert in New York Link They were like a million other petty criminals -- until they embraced radical Islam behind bars, launching a terrifying march to a planned mass murder that ended only when authorities sabotaged their sinister plot.
Among the Christian teachings treasured by the Copts are the history and lives of the Desert Fathers, who followed in the footsteps of Saint Anthony the Great. One of the ancient sources narrating the lives of the Desert Fathers is the “Lausiac History” written by Palladius (363- c 430) AD). Palladius was born in Galatia. He travelled to Egypt, and practiced asceticism among the monks of Nitria for eight years. Palladius was appointed as bishop for Helenpolis and later on as bishop for Aspuna. He wrote the Greek “Lausiac History” around 420AD. A detailed review of the “Lausiac History” is beyond the scope of this article. The Coptic version of that history, the “Coptic Palladiana”, shows similarities to the Greek version; however it also differs in some respects (1). Some scholars tend to think that the “Coptic Palladiana” could be an earlier version of the “Lausiac History” written during the years he spent among the monks of Nitria.
Here entire neighborhoods look like the Middle East, women walk around veiled, the mayor is a Muslim, sharia law is applied in the courts and the theaters. An extensive report from the most Islamized city in Europe
by Sandro Magister
One of the most indisputable results of Benedict XVI's trip to the Holy Land was the improvement in relations with Islam. The three days he spent in Jordan, and then, in Jerusalem, the visit to the Dome of the Mosque, spread an image among the Muslim general public – to an extent never before seen – of a pope as a friend, surrounded by Islamic leaders happy to welcome him and work together with him for the good of the human family.
Convert’s Religious Rights Case Threatens Egypt’s Islamists
Egypt's State Council issues report stating Christians are infidels, and apostates from Islam should die
Muslims said to fear that freedom to legally change religion would wreak societal havoc.
By Damaris Kremida
CAIRO, Egypt, May 12 (Compass Direct News) – In the dilapidated office here of three lawyers representing one of Egypt’s “most wanted” Christian converts, the mood was hopeful in spite of a barrage of death threats against them and their client.
In the matter of swine flu -- and the single dumbest response to it yet -- first prize was about to go to the government of Egypt, which last week ordered a cull of the country's estimated 400,000 pigs, never mind that the disease, name notwithstanding, is mainly transmitted human-to-human.
But then an Egyptian health official admitted "the authorities took advantage of the situation to resolve the question of disorderly pig rearing." More likely, as the country's Coptic minority was quick to suspect, was that health and sanitation were merely pretexts to extend anti-Christian bigotry into matters of livelihood and diet.
“I am the way and the truth and the life” John 14.6
“
je `Anok pe pimwit nem ]me;myi nem piwnq”
“انا هو الطريق والحق والحياة ”
On a business trip to Austria a few years ago, the writer took some time to visit the Imperial Apartments museum in Vienna, which houses some of the treasures of the Hapsburg emperors. Vienna is a charming city, which offers a rich cultural heritage that satisfies most tastes. Among the displays of museum were some of the imperial kitchen’s utensils, including a common metallic washing tub.
The word “Copt” is derived from the Greek word, “Ai-gypt-os” meaning Egypt. The middle part of the word “gypt” was later pronounced as “Copt” and used to mean Egyptian.
Egypt's Mass Swine Killing Is Part of Forced Islamization
A few weeks ago news surfaced about the H1N1 influenza that was spreading from Mexico. This kind of influenza was known but largely ignored. It appeared to be a mosaic of a wild bird form of flue, a human type and a strain found in pigs. It’s interesting to notice that in 2006 the American Association of Swine Veterinarians reported that humans were passing the H1N1 viruses to pigs; this caused widespread illness in swine, especially in the American Midwest. One year later in Ohio an outbreak occurred, sickening many of the pigs but not their human handlers. The cause was a type of H1N1 that was a close match to the Wisconsin strain that may have been spread from human to pig.
In previous articles of this series, the writer explored the influence of Christian teachings and thought on some of the ancient Egyptian cultural attributes, norms, and values. The writer explored examples from “The Life of Anthony” written by Saint Athanasius. In this article, the writer, with the grace of Christ the Lord, will explore Christian teachings and thought dating earlier than the “Life of Antony”, namely writing of the famous Coptic philosopher Origen (185-254 A.D.). It is perhaps noteworthy that Origen’s name which means “born of Horus” follows a most ancient Egyptian tradition. The contemporary reader should keep in mind that the purpose of Origen’s writing, very much like that of Athanasius’s “The Life of Anthony”, was first and foremost Christian teaching, however as the writers were Copts, the narrative reflects some aspects of the Coptic culture.
Geert Wilders: "The take-over of Europe is part of the global fight of Islam for world domination"
Here is Geert Wilders's acceptance speech for the Freedom Award he was given by the Florida Security Council in Miami on April 27:
Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me and thank you US border police for allowing me to enter this country. These are dramatic times. Europe might be very well on its way to destruction. We are now witnessing the largest influx in human history. This is endangering our heritage, our freedom, our prosperity and our culture. I wish I had come to a place they call the sunshine state with better news, but it would be unwise to deny the situation is gloomy.
In the past few months Coptic activists in and out of Egypt have started to ask the Egyptian government to remove the identification of religion from the official national identification cards. They have also asked to have a law allowing construction of worshiping places.
