The Associated Press reports:
Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo wounding three people, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said on Saturday, in the latest assault on members of the country’s Christian minority.
“Unlicensed”? More on that later.
The incident took place after Friday prayers when dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the building and stormed it.
Violent attacks on Christians usually take place on Friday evening, when Muslims stream out of mosques, having been incited to violence by imams. No such phenomenon exists with other religions. Note that the AP calls the attackers “demonstrators.”
The demonstrators chanted hostile slogans and called for the church’s demolition, the diocese in Atfih said. The demonstrators destroyed the church’s contents and assaulted Christians inside before security personnel arrived and dispersed them.
Why was this church “unlicensed”?
The church in Giza just outside of Cairo is yet to be sanctioned by the state but has been holding prayers for 15 years. The diocese said it had officially sought to legalize the building’s status under a 2016 law that laid down the rules for building churches.
Local authorities often refuse to issue building permits for new churches, fearing protests by hardline Muslims.
The AP sums up:
Egypt’s Christian minority has been targeted by Islamic militants in a series of attacks since December 2016 that left more than 100 dead and scores wounded. The country has been under a state of emergency since April after suicide bombings struck two Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday in an attack that was claimed by the local affiliate of the Islamic State group.
The Sun broadens the focus a bit, noting that “Christmas church services around the world are being held under the gaze of armed guards after a string of bloody attacks on defenceless worshippers.”
This man is guarding St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Karachi:
This Methodist church in Quetta, Pakistan, was attacked last week. Now armed guards are stationed on the roof; note the sandbags, too.
For some reason, hardly any American Christians are concerned about the fate of their fellow Christians around the world.
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