Alex Schank on Coptic Christians in Egypt

By: Alex Schank

October 1, 2006

Ask most Americans on the street to generate categories describing the people of the Middle East, and you will probably get responses like: "Muslim," "extremist," "Arab," "Bedouin," and perhaps "Jewish" or "Israeli." One adjective you are unlikely to get is "Christian." A crucial demographic group often overlooked in the American media and public consciousness, Christians compose between 7 and 10 percent of the Arab world (i.e., 21 to 30 million people)—though Arab governments tend to underestimate the Christian population and the Christians themselves usually overestimate their numbers. Egypt is a particularly interesting case study of Arab Christians, not only because the Egyptian Copts represent the largest Arab Christian community (roughly 7 million people), but also because the discrimination the Copts face reflects larger problems confronting Arab states today: democracy and the protection of minority rights.
According to the US Department of State's 2006 International Religious Freedom Report, the Egyptian government discriminates against non-Muslim citizens. The ruling National Democratic Party rarely nominates Christians to run in elections, and consequently, Copts are vastly underrepresented in the Egyptian Parliament (holding less than 2 percent of the seats). Only one Copt was elected to the People's Assembly in the most recent elections, and the government offered only peanuts in terms of appointments: five Coptic appointments to the Assembly, six to the Shura Council, and two to the cabinet. Discrimination is also evident in government hiring practices. Christians rarely receive appointments in public universities or advance in the security services or armed forces.

Likewise, Christians remain legally disadvantaged because of their faith. In April 2005, police arrested Baha al-Accad, because he was born a Muslim but reportedly converted to Christianity—a big no-no in Islam. Also, sharia law (as interpreted by the government) dominates in personal matters between Muslims and Christians. It stipulates, for example, that a non-Muslim wife who converts to Islam has to divorce her "apostate" non-Muslim husband, and unless he is willing to convert, she automatically receives custody of the children. The idea is superiority—Muslims should not be ruled by non-Muslims. Equality is an acceptable sacrifice in the eyes of the government and dominant religious establishment. Copts continue to complain that their requests to the government for the construction of new churches or even repair of existing churches are continually delayed, sometimes for years. Unlike mosques, churches are subject to the approval of the government under a law known as the Hamayonic Decree, left over from the Ottoman days. In a small concession, President Mubarak issued Decree 291 in 2005, shifting the power to authorize the renovation and reconstruction of churches from himself to Egypt's 26 governors.

Still, the very existence of vast restrictions on church-building represents the "most oppressive of any discriminatory law" considering the fact that mosques face no such restrictions, respected Egyptian sociologist and democracy advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in December 2005. "[The law] is expressly intended to restrict the ability of Copts to practice their faith. [... There] can be no genuine hope for true democracy, civil liberties or the abatement of deeply entrenched religious discrimination in Egypt as long as the Hamayonic Decree stands in flagrant violation of the constitution and human rights," Ibrahim said.

All of this has a very human cost as well. Copts frequently assert that they are second-class citizens in Egypt, even though they are fully Egyptian and socially integrated at all levels (they, in fact, pre-date the arrival of Muslims in Egypt by centuries). They stage demonstrations when they feel something especially unacceptable has happened to them. And several even immigrate (often to North America), because the prospects for the future are less dim and less discriminatory abroad. Even those who leave Egypt, however, continue to see the pain their family members experience back home, while they themselves adapt to life in a new country and culture. It seems that the treatment of minorities is a good indicator of democratic progress and social harmony. If this is true and the treatment of Copts in Egypt is any indicator, democracy has a long trek to make in Egypt—one that should not be overlooked in the West.
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