In April 2013, the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya was attacked and 3 Copts were killed and 84 were injured. The perpetrators were likely searching for weapons in the church or Coptic women who have converted into Islam and are still trapped in the church according to many stories spread by fanatics. They were likely searching for a reason to justify their attacks on Christian houses and churches. Ever since, the fascist regime was collapsing and this attack was a step towards overthrowing the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood. During the transitional period from July 2013 to June 2014, Copts were subject to many sectarian attacks as a price to pay by the Copts for supporting President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, and they are still supporting him.

Unfortunately, there is a Coptic priest killed yesterday in a series of persecution against Copts and physically and emotionally. And shame on the media which tried to cover on the accident by saying that the person who killed the priest is crazy one. In fact, we in all our problems in Egypt we try to cover it until it be a mountain you cant reach and no one can reach, instead of facing the problem and trying to understand why the fanaticism increased in Egypt lately, we try to just say “ the person who killed the priest was crazy”

A new Coptic Christian man was killed today to join the martyrs of the Coptic Church. This time he is a Coptic priest called Father Samaan Shehata, priest of St. Julius Al-Akfahsi Church in Baba Al-Fashn diocese. As the officials started to give their usual description to the murderer as mentally retarded, I searched the dictionary to find out more about that disease that gives professional murderers such motivation to commit their crimes. A mentally retarded person is partly outdated and often no longer considered polite) intellectually disabled, medically defined as having an IQ (intelligence quotient) below 70 in addition to deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors (which means having problems with basic functional skills that affect every day, general living.

One man was standing on crutches, dancing with one foot with much joy at the victory of Egyptian football team, and the other was crying after the opposing team has scored in his country. They are Egyptians who have not received as much privileges in their country as other citizens in developed countries, but they have another thing in common which is the love of their country. Their slogan is Egypt in the heart. They don’t think about special privileges offered to some Egyptian businessmen that helps them to monopolize the market for a number of strategic goods and enables them to raise their prices and make the people suffer more and more.

I spent my life until 1978 defending the working class and the hardworking. From 1987 to 1987, I studied the culture of minorities in the Arab region and wandered among minorities in almost 24 countries, Kurds, Shiites, Amazighs, Nubians, Armenians, Maronites, etc. I realized the suffering of those peoples and returned back to Egypt. I was working then with Abdul Rahim Ali, the famous journalist, to expose the extremist groups all over Egypt. We have reported several massacres of Ezbet Nassarah and of Muharraq monastery, in which 320 people were killed on their Christian identity. It should be mentioned that we were risking our lives then. In 1992, I met with Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and participated in the establishment of the Ibn Khaldun Center. We also participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Minorities. I was the first coordinator of the minorities unit in the Arab region. In 1994, we held the Minorities Conference in Egypt and wrote an Encyclopedia of minorities in the region and dedicated a special chapter on the Copts with a respected group of thinkers, including Dr. Mona Makram Ebeid, Dr. Mostafa El Feki, Samir Morcos, Dr. Aly El Din Halal, and others.

As we face our problems in Egypt, we may stop by offering solutions to them without really applying these solutions. We may believe these solutions will solve the problems, but they really don’t. Such illusion of solving our problems should be turned into reality. These solutions may include to establish a Council of citizenship, or to let the National Council for Human Rights do the job? Should we establish a higher committee that includes the sheikh of Al-Azhar and Coptic Pope, or should a committee of sages do the job away from clergy? Should we activating the code of press honor, or apply mechanisms union accountability?

On this Sunday all Egyptian will be around their TVS waiting their dream to reach the world cup to come true. I can assure that not less than 60 % of population will be united on one goal and watching the same event this day. Last time we went to the world cup was in 1990, I remember this event as it was yesterday, when all Egyptian was so excited to watch their team playing in one of the most important sportive event in the world.

The public opinion in Egypt was surprised by the message from Mahmoud al-Alayli, head of the Free Egyptians Party, in which he told a story about a judge who refused to hear a Christian witness and demanded the lawyer to bring a Muslim witness instead.Can a citizen be deprived of one of his civil rights because of his religion? If this is the position of the judiciary against a Christian citizen, how can we complain of the fanatics and extremists among the public! Moreover, how can such fanatic judge issue ruling in other cases related to sectarian strife, building a church or other Christian complaints! I see that the subject is more dangerous than burning churches and blowing them up. It is more important than targeting Christian citizens and preventing them from praying, and it is more important than preventing Christians from taking senior jobs in the state. The issue is about extracting a basic civil right before the judiciary based on one s religion. It should be known that several cases in four where a Christian mother was deprived from custody to her children because their father changed his religion to Islam, which is considered by Egyptian law: the best religion! This is clear in the Islamic books and has been practiced by Egyptian courts for years.

By his blood, the era of systematic martyrdom led by the Roman Empire against Christianity came to an end. He is Pope Boutros XVII, who was called the Seal of the Martyrs as he was the last martyr among his children at that time during the ages of martyrdom. In his article on Pope Peter the Seal of the Martyrs , Abba Bakhomius, Bishop of Behaira and Matrouh, talked about the spiritual lessons learned from the Biography of this Patriarch. First lesson is the discipleship as he was taught by the Patriarch Thaouna XVI all details of Christian faith, the same faith of the Fathers of the Church.

I can t deny the efforts of Dr. Tarek Shawki, Minister of Education in Egypt, concerning the problems of education in Egypt. I admit the man has solved the problem of Thanawia Amma, but there is even more important problem that he should care about. There are hundreds of villages without schools and hundreds of schools with too many students and very few teachers. This was followed by a controversial statement by the Egyptian businessman Samieh Sawirous who announced he failed to build 10.000 schools in Egypt thanks to the bureaucracy. Sawirous announced he spent two years trying to get the permits to build the schools, but he failed!

The road to a good future for our children in Egypt is a dangerous one. Our way is not furnished with flowers, and requires will, determination and awareness. We have to stop and evaluate the situation before we take the next step. What is after restricting the freedom of opinion and expression, and silencing the opposition and media! More than six years have passed since the revolution of January 2011. Yet, the regime has learned nothing and has not changed. Had Egypt an appointment with hope, but has never produced something valuable! Is not it time to realize that the concept of politics is much broader than the concept of security and that keeping mouths shut does not prevent minds from thinking and that the lesson is not the military or civilian background of the presidential candidate, but the traditions and political values adopted by the institutions in which the country is run. How is Egypt supposed to develop while and its laws and the Constitution are far from practice and as the political environment is that bad.

Last week, there is no one in the Egyptian media didn’t talk about Homosexuality, not just the media but also the leaders like Pope Tawdraus, Al-Azhar and many leaders and Journalists. All of them tried to defend the society and the community from that danger we face and called “Homosexuality”. In fact, I’m not here to defend “Homosexuality, however, I’m totally against this campaign against them which actually might lead to more violence because I believe that the best solution to heal and cure any problem in the society is trying to absorb it not to attack it. All the media and Journalists started to attack and defend by saying that “God forbid Homosexuality”, and Homosexuality comes

God has turned St. Paul s weakness to the good of mankind, where he led him to believe and became a preacher of Christianity after he oppressed its followers for years. God said about him in (Acts 9:15) he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel . In his article entitled Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another , HG Abba Serbion, Bishop of Los Angeles, said It is clear that the divine choice for the ministers does not give them an immaculacy, but gives them power and fill them with grace. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. (Philippians 3: 15) St. Paul has never doubted he was sent by God: Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead) (Galatians 1: 1)

Christianity and teachings of the Holy Bible rejects and condemns homosexuality. St. Paul in (Romans 1: 24-27) said ‘Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.’ Homosexuality is one psychological and social disorder. It results in a deviation in psychological development and psychological identity as well as behavioral and moral deviation that clearly needs to be treated. Homeopathy has nothing to do with the human biology and there are no genes in human that causes homosexuality according to many researches. Therefore, parents have to carry their role in raising their children well.

No matter how dire or terrible situation you have, you may still be better than the vagrant Ted Williams, I mean the great: Ted Williams who was nicknamed the Golden Voice! Williams grew up in Bedford, Brooklyn, New York, worked for three years in the US Army before he left it. He joined a school to be a voice over talent, and worked as an anchor for a while. He amrreid and had 9 children, including 7 girls. But his life began to break down since 1986. He joined a group of drug dealers and was arrested several times for theft and possession of drugs. He was imprisoned twice for three months in 1990 for theft and the second for two months in 2004 for forgery, theft and obstruction of official work.

The only way out of our crises is to insist on the new national civil state project, based on the principles of citizenship, equality, the rule of law and human rights. These were the words of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi addressed to the whole world in the UN General Assembly. However, if we think about the situation in Egypt, we shall find the opposite of this speech on the ground. This includes the official institutions, and the conduct of the people. The religious armies, for example, are trying to seize the schools in various stages, especially the legions of Al-Azhar University and the Azhar institutes across Egypt. It spread to the majority of the schools of the Ministry of Education at different stages, especially the primary stage. Salafis control the curricula and the teachers. This led hundreds of thousands of young girls to wear hijab before they even understand what it is. Such religious appearance extended to the majority of state institution including the Minister of interiors that forced the women s police to wear hijab.

I had chance to watch the US presidents speech yesterday as part of following and trying to find out what would be his focus in his first speech in UN. The US president talked about many issues like Israel and the conflict Middle east, reconsider the nuclear weapon agreement with Iran, the threats that North Korea represents, the dictatorship in Venezuela, human rights in Africa and the American aid to those countries especially in south Sudan, fighting Isis in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and finally talking about the UN itself and it should play more important roles in the international conflicts.

During the visit of the Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, we, the Egyptians, decided to support him in order to support our country against the evil forces and enemies of Egypt abroad. Egypt and the Middle East region are going through very critical situation that are no secret with too many political and economic challenges. Copts don’t need to receive any instructions from somebody to teach them how to take care of their homeland. They support their country knowing that change and building need time. Moreover, they have good understanding of the challenges that face their country at the moment. These challenges only need the Egyptian to unite and do their best to overcome their problems.

This weekend, I picked up Nelson Mandela s "Long Walk to Freedom" and reread parts of this well-thumbed tome. The last time I read it, the world was a very different place; this time, I found that its themes of social inequality, injustice, resilience and courage resonated in new ways. Perhaps because of my work with the International Rescue Committee, I found myself reflecting on another long walk to freedom -- that of strong women, like Sherine. Widowed before she was 20, pregnant and terrified of living under ISIS rule, in November, Sherine fled Mosul, Iraq. She wandered through desert, survived waves of fighting and dodged landmines -- all while searching for refuge to give birth.