Another Christian exodus?

The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood could force Christians to flee Egypt.

By ELWOOD MCQUAID
coptic christian protest 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
coptic christian protest 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
“All Egyptian Christians should flee from Egypt, and they should never look back.” This stark warning came from a commentator in the aftermath of Mohammed Mursi’s election as Egypt’s new president in June. Mursi was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood – the radical Islamist faction now taking control of the country.
Christians fear a bloodbath if the MB eventually suppresses the army, enshrines Sharia law, and installs an Islamic caliphate-type government. Though they pray this will not be the final outcome of the Arab Spring, the various Christian sects – which comprise approximately 10 percent of Egypt’s population – are not optimistic.
Radical Islamist groups frequently attack Christians, giving ample reason for concern. Compass Direct News reported that Gamal Abdou Massoud , a Coptic Christian teenager, has been sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly insulting Islam. The court claimed the 17-year-old posted cartoons on his Facebook page mocking Islam and its prophet, Muhammad. Compass Direct News reported that "After the incident came to light, Muslims in Assuit, where Massoud lives, rioted. They fire-bombed his home and burned down at least five other Christian-owned homes in several Assuit villages. Massoud’s family left their village. . . . The court also held Massoud responsible for inciting the riots. No one responsible for burning down any of the homes has been charged. . . . The three-year sentence was the maximum Massoud could have received."
Ironically, Watani, a weekly newspaper in Cairo, claimed the charges were trumped up by anti-Christian radicals and reported that it could find no evidence Massoud even had a Facebook page, calling him “almost computer illiterate.”
Such court rulings provide what some regard as a window into the future. Certain elements within Egypt view the Islamists’ ascent to power as a license to attack churches and individual Christians – as they did in May 2011, when 12 people were killed and an estimated 200 injured when members of the hard-line Salafi Muslim movement assaulted two Cairo churches, burning one in a fire that  gutted the five-story structure. The crowd then surrounded Christian-owned homes and businesses. This attack was one of many by Salafi militants on Coptic Christians. The Cairo incident marked the second time in two months that a church was burned.
Will Egypt become yet another Middle Eastern country in which Islamists drive Christians from their homes, producing a massive Christian exodus? The answer is still uncertain. But uncertainty is the fear.
As for the victims, their unfortunate options are to (1) remain in Egypt and live in fear or (2) pack up and leave the region where their ancestors have lived for hundreds — in many cases, thousands — of years, in search of safe havens.
One would like to think that the era of unspeakable atrocities has ended and that mankind has entered into a more civil state where life, limb, and divergent choices are respected — or at least tolerated.
However, history does repeat itself, and we are witnessing these tragic reruns. Humanity has learned nothing from the past. The instruments of death have changed, but the hate-fueled frenzy to eliminate Christians has spanned the centuries; and today’s lions still gather to take their turn.
The writer is executive editor for The Friends of Israel.