Egypt

The Middle East is not overloaded with statues of historic figures, but they do exist. Some are of imperialists and slavers.

Here lies the main problem with the article by Candace Lukasik: outside of its wrong claims, the article shows a clear lack of knowledge of anything resembling Coptic culture or history.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Middle Eastern Christians like MP Neemat Frem and Dr. Issam Raad are living up to the best of their community’s tradition as healers of the sick.

Even as we remember that Jesus rose from the dead in Jerusalem, Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere experience some of the highest levels of persecution in the world.

Given the alarming trends in the Middle East, America should fashion agile media platforms that influence audiences in the region and—even more importantly—say something compelling.

For those worried about the Coptic Church’s future, the question is not that of a Christmas date or necessary adjustments for pastoral needs, but rather whether years from now we may look back at this decision as the first step in a painful schism that separates the Church in Egypt from its churches in the West, a separation of the daughter from the mother.

Egypt boasts the largest population of Christians in the Near East and thus offers the best chance to protect and empower them. A successful model here can be duplicated elsewhere.

In the fate of Egypt and its Christians, we should read one crucial fact: neither democratic nor authoritarian governance delivered anything resembling equal citizenship.

In AD 641, Muslim Arabs completed their conquest of Egypt, expelling the former Byzantine rulers. The native Christian Copts embarked on a grueling centuries-long struggle for survival.