The coup in Egypt, especially in the town of Assiut has put fearful Christians in a corner.  It was nighttime and 10,000 Islamists were marching down the most heavily Christian street in this ancient city, chanting “Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians.”  A half-dozen kids were spray-painting, “boycott the Christians” on walls, supervised by an adult.  While Islamists are on the defensive in Cairo following the military coup that ousted President Morsi, in Assiut and elsewhere in Egypt’s deep south they are waging a stepped-up hate campaign, claiming the country’s Christian minority somehow engineered Morsi’s downfall.  The hostility led a coalition of 16 Egyptian rights groups to warn of a wave of violence to come, and to demand that the post-coup authorities protect the Christians who are 10 percent of the population and have been suffering chronic discrimination.  For the 40 percent of Assiut people who are Christian, life hs changed radically.  They find their apartment blocks disfigured by painted crosses with a red “X” painted over them.  They stay at home at night.  Churches have cancelled afternoon activities.   Some of the wealthy have left town.  “We have never experienced the kind of persecution we suffer now.  We are insulted very day,” a mother of two and a Christian pharmacist replied.  At least seven Christians have been killed since the coup, one of them in Assiut.  Scores have been injured.  During Morsi’s year in office, some of his hard-line allies increasingly spoke of Christians as enemies of Islam and warned them to remember they were a minority.  When the wave of protests against Morsi began, the media supportive of his Muslim Brotherhood, depicted the movement as dominated by Christians.  Still, at the ancient convent marking the last spot where the Holy Family is thought to have stayed before they left Egypt, hundreds gathered for an annual festival in an upbeat mood in spite of the fear.  The children played, families picnicked, and people lined up to buy blessed bread.

It is sad the Islamists cannot live in peace with other religions.  The Islamists claim they are a “peaceful religion” – where is that true, pray tell me?  They kill their own people every day within their own religion.  They killed a Catholic priest in Syria recently.  Initially, the report stated the priest was beheaded and then reported he was shot eight times.  Why,  it only takes one bullet to kill a person.  These people are like wild animals or a pack of dogs.  Everything is based on a belief, so who is drilling it  into their heads that they are the only ones who are supposed to be on earth.  I don’t think any of them have died and gone to what they call their heaven and returned to prove that point!

The real truth in all of this is that people in America tend to put things on the shelf that make them uncomfortable about any subject or situation and declare that person “paranoid, baseless attack, or a smear” if they dare entertain the subject matter.  Examples are:  Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Boston bombing, and Fort Hood.  We have had plenty more attacks but never did heed the warnings.  I blame it on our leaders.  This religion is like an octopus – its tentacles are reaching out all over the world so we must cut off the tentacles. 

We must remember the serpent in God’s Garden.  A lot of people reply, “that’s just a fable.”  As we all know, God was  not careless with his words in the Bible when he spoke,  “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith.”  1 Peter 5:8-9

kommonsentsjane