Global News Post: Christianity

Egypt's Coptics Choose New Pope

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By
VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Egypt</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s Coptic Christian Church has chosen a new
pope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bishop
Tawadros became the new head the church early Sunday when a blindfolded boy
picked his name from a transparent container in a ceremony at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>'s Coptic Cathedral.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bishop
Tawadros, who is 60 years old, succeeds Pope Shenouda III who died in March at
the age of 88.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Church
activists are expressing hope the new pope's leadership will guide Coptics
safely through the uncertainty in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> following the country's
political revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Christians
make up about 10 percent of the population of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which is mainly Muslim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Egypt's Coptics Choose New Pope

By VOA News Egypt 's Coptic Christian Church has chosen a new pope. Bishop Tawadros became the new head the church earl...

Voluntary 'De-Baptism' Rising in Europe

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</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">By Lisa Bryant from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Sunday evening youth mass in Saint-Germain-des-Pres is overflowing with parishioners. People stand in aisles or sit cross-legged in corners of the cavernous, sixth century <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Paris</st1:city></st1:place> church.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Father Benoist de Sinety, parish priest at Saint Germain for the past three years, says he has always had the good fortune of seeing crowds of young people seeking their bearings or rediscovering faith. But he knows it is not the same everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Churches in <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> and elsewhere in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> have been battling falling numbers, a trend evident not only in the empty pews, but in the sharp fall in baptisms. But "de-baptisms", a church's deletion of one's name from the official baptismal registry at a parishioner's request,  are a recent phenomenon, and they are taking place in both Protestant and Catholic communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There are no official statistics, but experts and activists count the numbers of those seeking de-baptism in the tens of thousands, and websites offering informal "de-baptism" certificates have mushroomed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Anne Morelli, who heads a center for religion and secularity studies at the Free University of Brussels, says de-baptisms, both official and unofficial, increased in 2011, particularly in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Belgium</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Austria</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The numbers, she said, reflect public anger at the church pedophilia scandals.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>, agrees. "I think what sparked the real desire of people to leave the church, particularly the Catholic church, were the huge child-abuse scandals that revolted so many people [that] they no longer wanted to be associated with it," he said. "That's when people started to leave in large numbers."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A decade ago, Sanderson's society posted an unofficial "de-baptism certificate" on its website, which has been downloaded more than 100,000 times to date.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"It was a joke to begin with, but now it has taken on a new significance because there are so many people who are anxious to leave the church that they are actually taking it seriously now, and they want some way to make their break with the church formal," he says. "Often the church won't acknowledge their desire to leave."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But Christian Weisner, a spokesman for the international grassroots We Are Church movement, points not only to a range of issues that have resulted in de-baptism, but a range methods by which people choose to sever ties to the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>, where a record 181,000 Catholics formally split from the church in 2011, some terminated their relations by legally opting out of paying state church taxes. For the first time, he says, more German Catholics cut ties to their church last year than Protestants.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"They are thinking about leaving the church and there might be one special event, like the pedophilia crisis, like a [conservative] announcement by the pope, and then they decide now is the time to go," says Weisner, referring to the fact that some Catholics oppose Pope Benedict's stances on issues like abortion, homosexuality and married priests.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:place>, 71-year-old Rene Lebouvier decided it was time to go a decade ago. After requesting to have his name crossed off his church's baptismal registry, he ultimately filed a lawsuit to have it legally deleted. In October, a lower court in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Normandy</st1:state></st1:place> ruled in his favor, but a local bishop is appealing the verdict. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According to religion professor Philippe Portier of the <st1:placename w:st="on">National</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype> for Scientific Research in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Paris</st1:city></st1:place>, Lebouvier's case could set a legal precedent in a country where few seek to be de-baptized.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"It will be the first time in Europe, and especially in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:place>, that the church will be obliged to delete from its registers the name of churchgoers who do not want to be considered as church goers," he says. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">While Portier doubts the appeals court will rule in Lebouvier's favor, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s Catholic Church will not comment on the court case.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bernard Podvin, spokesman for the French Bishops Confederation, says the church views de-baptisms with vigilance and willingness for dialogue, but that the phenomenon should not be exaggerated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Church figures indicate that numbers of baptisms are plummeting, with only about one in three French children baptized compared to 90 percent half a century ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Portier says the church has been proactive in addressing the issue, putting in place a new evangelizing strategy to encourage families to baptize their children.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">At Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the effort appears to be working. The church offers many activities, from ski outings to professional support networks, in order to draw in young Catholics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Aware of dwindling baptisms, Father Benoist says there may be fewer Christians today, but those who remain also understand their mission more strongly -- to be of service to man and God and to love.<span class="apple-style-span"> ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Voluntary 'De-Baptism' Rising in Europe

By Lisa Bryant from Paris Sunday evening youth mass in Saint-Germain-des-Pres is overflowing with parishioners. People stand in aisles o...

Romania: We must be permanently concerned with future of Christian family and Romanian nation, Says Patriarch Daniel

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</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWdHJ6AQ4P5Fue9YGk3e7svsXLtKbMi62UUEGAVikO1trSJRCoFho0r5E4GoS9W-P1z5TDcOpGDtjD42IYLRlgLD6U0llTEEmmeo7gDNsRYfryTXLXYGyh6opVl-Ceho1o8Re5huV6ZY/s1600/romanianchurch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWdHJ6AQ4P5Fue9YGk3e7svsXLtKbMi62UUEGAVikO1trSJRCoFho0r5E4GoS9W-P1z5TDcOpGDtjD42IYLRlgLD6U0llTEEmmeo7gDNsRYfryTXLXYGyh6opVl-Ceho1o8Re5huV6ZY/s1600/romanianchurch.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) Patriarch Daniel, in his Christmas Pastoral Letter of this year, urges a special attention to be paid to the family, at large, and to the Christian family, particularly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">BOR Head opines we should always be happy within our families. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'We must never forget that abortion is a crime, an innocent baby who cannot even defend itself, is murdered. Therefore, who murder their unborn children may not take the Eucharist, because Jesus Christ Loves children,' HB Daniel teaches us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Likewise, BOR Patriarch says that Our Lord Blesses, Saves and Bestows eternal life to the Christian family where children are warmly welcomed by birth or by adoption, and are brought-up in love, and are Christianly educated and supported to take an useful path in their life.' <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Patriarch Daniel reminds the Romanian believers that BOR celebrated the Year 2011 as the Year of the Sacraments of the Holy Baptism and of the Marriage, considering that the Christian family relies on the two Sacraments. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On the other hand, Patriarch Daniel urges us to take advantage of the Feast of the Nativity and bring joy both to the children and the parents, to everybody particularly where there is sorrow and confusion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'The Light of Bethlehem calls us to bring hope where it has faded away,' Patriarch Daniel calls us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He also tells us to unceasingly pray the Holy Virgin Mother of Christ to protect our country and our nation and help all the children and the parents, all the families, who need God's help and blessing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">As always at the end of the year, at the night over December 31 and Jan 1, 2012, we are called to pray God the Lord of time and history for health and redemption to all the Romanians, at home or living outside <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Romania</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s borders, BOR Head stressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On the special occasion of the Holy Feast of the Nativity, of the New Year 2012, and of the Epiphany, BOR Patriarch Daniel wishes everybody to be in good health, salvation, peace, joy, happiness and plenty of help in everything they do, along with A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. AGERPRES<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Romania: We must be permanently concerned with future of Christian family and Romanian nation, Says Patriarch Daniel

Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) Patriarch Daniel, in his Christmas Pastoral Letter of this year, urges a special attention to be paid to th...

Pope Condemns Commercialization of Christmas

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) - Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the commercialization of Christmas as he held Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” the 84-year-old pope said in his homily.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bethlehem</st1:place></st1:city>, so as to find true joy and true light,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">About 10,000 people attended Christmas Eve Mass.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans and some Orthodox churches mark Christmas on December 25 in line with the Gregorian calendar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Russian, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, Serbian and Georgian Orthodox churches, Athos monasteries, some Catholics and some Protestants celebrate the feast on January 7 in line with the Julian calendar.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Pope Condemns Commercialization of Christmas

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the commercialization of Christmas as he held Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the ...

Pilgrims, Tourists Descend on Bethlehem for Christmas Celebrations

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Thousands of pilgrims and tourists began arriving in </span><st1:place style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bethlehem</st1:city></st1:place><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> Saturday, to spend Christmas in the town believed to be Jesus' birthplace.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Christmas Eve celebrations in the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place> town culminate with a celebration of Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Holy Land's top Roman Catholic cleric, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal, will lead the mass at the church built over the the spot where it is believed Mary gave birth to Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh says this Christmas carries  special meaning for Palestinians as their bid for statehood moves forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We are celebrating this Christmas hoping that in the near future we'll get our right to self-determination, our right to establish our own democratic, secular, Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. That is why this Christmas is unique," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Early Saturday, visitors gathered around a giant Christmas tree at the town's central <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Manger Square</st1:address></st1:street>, while a marching band performed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">One German tourist said seeing Jesus' birthplace is important to her and her family.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"It's really special, I mean, it's where the story began," she said.  "And for me it's also kind of special for my family because my parents were here and my grandmother was here so it's special to be here.''<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Meanwhile, <st1:city w:st="on">Bethlehem</st1:city> police were patrolling the once restive city, which lies about eight kilometers south of <st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city> in the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bethlehem</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s police chief says that his forces are preparing for thousands of people to descend on the city in the next day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Today we and the ministry of tourism are expecting more than 300,000 pilgrims and tourists," Khalid Tamimi said.<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"> ---VOA News</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Pilgrims, Tourists Descend on Bethlehem for Christmas Celebrations

Thousands of pilgrims and tourists began arriving in Bethlehem Saturday, to spend Christmas in the town believed to be Jesus' birthpla...

Egypt's Coptic Christians Fear Fewer Rights After Elections

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">By Elizabeth Arrott from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">With Islamist groups expected to do well in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s parliamentary elections, many Coptic Christians are concerned that their limited rights will come under greater threat. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The trash of millions of people collects in <st1:city w:st="on">Cairo</st1:city>'s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Garbage</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>, the narrow lanes filled with plastic, metal, wood - anything the district residents can resell to eke out a living.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The slum, on the outskirts of the capital, is home to a large Coptic Christian community.  Many are trash collectors, or zabaleen.  And above the squalor is a testament to their faith - the largest Christian church in the Middle East, cut into the hillside that begins the plateau east of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">For Christians, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> is the land revered for sheltering a young Jesus and his family.  But it has long been the province of an Islamic majority, a fact that some Coptic Christians say Muslims are quick to point out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Said, who gives only his first name, says Christians are discriminated against.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">He says Coptic Christians do not have the same rights as other people in the country, and that others look down on them as if they are not human.  Said says discrimination was institutionalized under the old government, with restrictions on church construction and the ability to change one's faith.  The current military government has proved no better, he says, cracking down on a Coptic protest march last month, in a violent night that left 25 people dead.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Now, some Christians say, it can only get worse.  The elections that started this week are expected to favor Islamist parties, including the conservative Salafis.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Medhat Sa'ad, a resident of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Garbage</st1:placename>  <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>, fears that if Salafis are in charge, a woman walking on the streets without a veil "could be slaughtered."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Although Salafi-inspired violence has dominated newspaper headlines in recent months, some experts say widespread fear is not justified.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">"I know a lot of people, even very practicing Muslims, who take their faith very seriously, who do not want to see this kind of interpretation of Islam being overrepresented in parliament.  I would say, in general, most Egyptians are more leaning to the more moderate interpretation of Islam or moderate involvement of Islam in political life," political analyst Rania el-Malki says.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Even if extremist views prevail, some Coptic Christians in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Garbage</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> say they will never leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Adel Gad el-Rab is a former garbage collector who says God protects everyone in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>.  When reminded that the country's once thriving Jewish community is all but gone, he declares he will never leave until, as he puts it, he goes to "his homeland in heaven."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">El-Rab says the people here are the poorest in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>.  "We are the garbage collectors," he says, "but we live on a mountain of faith." ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"></div></div></div>

Egypt's Coptic Christians Fear Fewer Rights After Elections

By Elizabeth Arrott from Cairo With Islamist groups expected to do well in Egypt 's parliamentary elections, many Coptic Christians are ...