A delegation of Muslims and Christians will meet on Sunday (February 12) with Dr. Katātnī to discuss the issue.
“Dr. Katātnī refused to offer the issue for debate after I forwarded an urgent statement and just folded the paper…More than 70 MPs from various political parties are backing the statement to debate such a serious issue,” Jād said, adding all options will be available if the statement was not put up for debate again including his resignation.
He added that the parliament speaker should not settle for debating only what he likes.
“The issue of expelling Egyptian citizens – Muslims or Copts – is ringing an alarm bell on the identity of the society,” Jād said, calling for activating the law and waiting for the findings of the prosecution’s probes. [‘Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Feb. 11, p. 3] Read original text in Arabic
The Copts of Egypt Coalition announced support for and participation in the planned nationwide civil disobedience pending the achievement of the January 25, 2011 revolution objectives.
The coalition called for handing over power to a national salvation government as soon as possible, accelerating presidential elections, holding accountable whoever is involved in dereliction as far as the Port Said massacre was concerned, re-distribution of wealth, linking wages to prices and determining a fair minimum limit for wages. [Shādyah Yūsuf, al-Ahrām, Feb. 11, p. 16] Read original text in Arabic
However, the three churches rejected civil disobedience and supported statements by Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III during his Wednesday’s weekly sermon in which he said this strike is against the state as well as religion.
Archpriest Salīb Mattá Sawirus, a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church’s Millī Council, refused calls for a wildcat strike today (February 1), approving of the idea of granting the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the People’s Assembly to exert efforts to improve the country’s economy.
Dr. Andrea Zakī, deputy head of the Coptic Evangelical church, called for avoiding disruption of the People’s interests.
Father Rafīq Greish, the official spokesman for the Coptic Catholic church, called on the demonstrators to give SCAF and the Egyptian government a chance to rebuild the economy so that the Egyptian people may feel that the revolution brought good prospects, not subversion, to them. [‘Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Feb. 11, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic
Dr. Safwat al-Bayyādī, the head of the Coptic Evangelical church, called in a statement for orchestrated efforts to “cross this important stage of Egypt’s history”.
In the statement, issued by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the stepping down of former President Husnī Mubārak on February 11, 2011, Rev. Zakī urged launching a new phase of Egypt’s history that is based on rebuilding the state institutions through hard work, not only slogans and mottos. [Safā’ Shākir, al-Ahrām, Feb. 11, p. 16] Read original text in Arabic
Experts and political analysts differed over the change in the official religious discourse in Egypt, both Muslim and Christian, after the January 25, 2011 revolution that overthrew President Husnī Mubārak after nearly 30 years in power.
The Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox Church had together agreed to refuse the revolution, which has been evident in their rejection to honor the martyrs of January 25 and 28.
The same thing was repeated this year as both Grand Shaykh of the Azhar Dr. Ahmad al-Tayyīb and Muftī of the Republic Dr. 'Alī Jum'ah flatly rejected all calls for civil disobedience to "avoid tampering with the nation's potentials and disrupting the citizens' interests".
It was also the same position adopted by Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III, who said that these calls are running counter to the faith and the teachings of the Holy Book that call for obeying the ruler.
Coptic thinker Kamāl Zākhir said that the continued accordance between the ruling authority and the existing religious establishments have been there all the time and are likely to remain so in the future because simply these religious institutions are governed by relations interests with the regime regardless of its identity.
Hānī al-Firnwānī, chief of the Arabic department at the University of Assiut, said the Azhar is always pursuing the rationale of the shaykhs to the degree of monotony, adding the Azhar can never seek any adventures because it is always watching for the consequences.
Coptic intellectual Rafīq Habīb said that the church's historical engagement with the powers that be falls within a religious perspective as the Holy Book teaches Christians to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. [Rānyā Rabī' and Ahmad 'Abd al-Halīm, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Feb. 11, p. 7] Read text in Arabic
Meanwhile, the church approved that the majority, the Muslim Brotherhood, should form a new government if the government of Dr. Kamāl al-Janzūrī was sacked on condition that it would be representative of all groups in the society, a church source said.
Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III wishes that four Coptic figures will be named to cabinet portfolios in the new Brotherhood-led government, calling for having one of those four posts in a sovereign ministry. ['Abd al-Wahāb Sha'bān, al-Wafd, Feb. 11, p. 1] Read original text in Arabic
