As violence envelops Egypt, Christians are paying a heavy price with scores of their most sacred buildings and monuments being systematically destroyed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in what one Coptic leader called an attempt at ethnic cleansing.
The group, which is clashing with the military throughout the North African nation, has zeroed in on Christians since the Muslim Brotherhood-backed administration of Mohamed Morsi was ousted on July 3. The military removed him from power after he imposed several sweeping constitutional changes that appeared to put the nation of 90 million on a path toward Islamist rule.
“The Muslim Brotherhood continues its attacks on churches to implement their scheme, which includes ethnic cleansing and the forced displacement of Copts,” Abul Ezz el-Hariri, a Christian and former presidential candidate from Alexandria, told MidEast Christian News. “Egyptian churches are part of a blueprint by the MB to lure other Islamist groups.”
At least 50 Christian churches and schools have been looted and set ablaze since fierce fighting broke out last week. In one recent case, Islamists torched a Franciscan school and then paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war" before a Muslim woman offered them refuge.
The campaign of intimidation also has targeted the homes and businesses of Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the nation's population. Egypt's Christian community is one of the world's oldest, and generally kept a low-profile before becoming more active after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and the rapidly spiraling Islamification that followed under Morsi.
Onward & upward with the "Islamification" of Egypt with monasteries, dioceses, churches, schools and other property of Copts being targeted along with random killings.
Thank allah, the good and merciful moon god, for helping the Egyptian military come down hard on the Morsi/MB savages & for Mubarak's imminent release!!
