The so-called “Arab Spring” has taken a tragic twist for many Christians living in the Middle East. Just last week nearly ten thousand angry Christians gathered at the largest cathedral in Egypt to mourn the death of two-dozen Coptic Christian demonstrators killed the night before in clashes with security forces.
Just eight months after Egyptians celebrated their military as a savior for its refusal to use force against civilians demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak as demonstrators were killed when military-led security forces drove armored vehicles over as many as six people and fired live ammunition into the crowds. For the Coptic Christians, about 10 percent of the population in Egypt, the revolutions associated with the so-called “Arab Spring” saw the promise of a tolerant and pluralistic democracy violently under attack for the Christian minority.
The Coptic Orthodox Church called upon the Egyptian military led government to seek solutions to the violent divisions between Christians, Muslims and the authorities. Egypt’s Christian minority has suffered violent attacks in recent years including attacks at Christmas Masses yet the attackers have repeatedly gone free and unpunished. Christian protestors called for a stop to the violent attacks and for an end to the religious discrimination faced by the religious minority in the Arab world. One protester suggested that in revolution in Egypt many enjoyed a new found freedom but that it is “the one who holds his cross high gets humiliated.” Father Rafic Greiche, a spokesman for Eastern Catholics in Egypt warned that life for the Christian minority was rapidly growing worse and that “the government does not give a damn about what is happening.”
Pope Benedict XVI indicated that he was “profoundly saddened by the episodes of violence that took place in Cairo.” He urged a just resolution in which the Christian minority and Muslim majority might attempt to live in “peaceful coexistence.” Dignitatis Humanae, the Declaration on Religious Freedom of Vatican II, stated that each person had a civil right to religious liberty and to practice religious belief in community with others and that this “right to religious freedom is based on the very dignity of the human person as known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself."
The so-called “Arab Spring” cannot be truly democratic nor ultimately can it be successful in transforming the Middle East unless the rights of the Christian majority in Egypt and across the Arab world are not only recognized but protected from violent attacks. The government of Egypt must claim responsibility for this latest tragic attack against the Coptic Church and pledge their willingness to respect and protect the Christian minority in their nation. Until they do, there is little chance that the “Arab Spring” can reach full blossom especially for the Christian community of the Middle East. In the meantime, we must pledge our support and prayers for our Coptic brothers and sisters in Christ who continue to carry the cross of persecution for their faith.
