Analysis by Cam McGrath
"CAIRO, Jan 2, 2011 (IPS) - It was a tragic year for Egypt’s minority Coptic Christian community that began with a drive-by shooting at a church in southern Egypt, and ended in deadly clashes near Cairo after authorities halted construction of a church. As 2010 came to a close, Copts ushering in the New Year with a midnight mass in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria wondered if 2011 would be any better.
It took less than 20 minutes to get an answer....
But few Copts are buying it. Most believe the government is painting the church bombing as a foreign plot to hide its own failure in preventing homegrown attacks on Christians.
"Even if Al-Qaeda was involved, the attack could not have succeeded without local help and negligence by security forces," charges Amgad Boutros, a Cairo pharmacist. "If threats were made against the church, why were cars allowed to park in front of it during the service?".....
It wasn’t always like this," recalls Boutros. "When I was growing up, Muslims and Christians would go out together and attend each others’ festivities. But now everyone stays with their own kind, and religious symbols and slogans - which were not that important to us before - are seen everywhere."
Analysts say changes began in the early 1970s after then president Anwar Sadat amended Egypt’s secular constitution to make Sharia (Islamic law) the principal source of legislation. The move coincided with the rise of political Islam and a growing religious consciousness that polarised society along sectarian lines.
One major flashpoint is an antiquated law restricting the construction of churches...."
"CAIRO, Jan 2, 2011 (IPS) - It was a tragic year for Egypt’s minority Coptic Christian community that began with a drive-by shooting at a church in southern Egypt, and ended in deadly clashes near Cairo after authorities halted construction of a church. As 2010 came to a close, Copts ushering in the New Year with a midnight mass in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria wondered if 2011 would be any better.
It took less than 20 minutes to get an answer....
But few Copts are buying it. Most believe the government is painting the church bombing as a foreign plot to hide its own failure in preventing homegrown attacks on Christians.
"Even if Al-Qaeda was involved, the attack could not have succeeded without local help and negligence by security forces," charges Amgad Boutros, a Cairo pharmacist. "If threats were made against the church, why were cars allowed to park in front of it during the service?".....
It wasn’t always like this," recalls Boutros. "When I was growing up, Muslims and Christians would go out together and attend each others’ festivities. But now everyone stays with their own kind, and religious symbols and slogans - which were not that important to us before - are seen everywhere."
Analysts say changes began in the early 1970s after then president Anwar Sadat amended Egypt’s secular constitution to make Sharia (Islamic law) the principal source of legislation. The move coincided with the rise of political Islam and a growing religious consciousness that polarised society along sectarian lines.
One major flashpoint is an antiquated law restricting the construction of churches...."
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