We, the Egyptians, celebrated Christmas this year and were very happy to receive a special gift from the president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, which is the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East in the new administrative capital. Moreove,r it was opened at the same day with the mosque of Fattah Aliem. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar visited the Cathedral and the mosque was visited by Pope Tawadros. Furthermore, president has delivered a speech in which he denounced violence and sectarian attacks and supported equal citizenship.
Such great picture was aired by international media and we were proud to hear the president assuring the right to freedom of worship and defending equal citizenship among all. However, we realized that we will never get rid of extremism so fast just by building a mosque and a church!
We had to realize that the change will come provided that we truly believe in the court of law as well as continues claim for our rights. Yet, the nice words during celebration may contradict with actions.
What happened last week in Minya has become a repeated scenario where a place owned by the diocese of Minya and dedicated to hold prayers, which doesn t please the extremists. They, according to a statement by the diocese, tried to break into the place and then demonstrated with more than a thousand people demanding the prevention of Copts from holding prayers in the building. This comes few days after the statement of Sheikh of Al-Azhar about building churches and its provisions in Islam. The provokers and assailants in such attack have not yet been arrested by police, which may seem as encouragement. This was stated by the diocese s statement and my comment is Your words contradict your actions .
