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Commentary
The best reporting guidelines apply: report, verify; do not assume or editorialize.
Recent newsworthy events from Egypt require reporting that informs as accurately and dispassionately as possible, with historical or background information that connects with new events.
This is the case with Coptic Christian history, which goes back to followers of Christ in ancient Egypt. That was the time of St. Mark's teaching and witness there.
Attacks against Copts occurred recently after their peaceful protests* to express concerns over a church burning. Terror and massacre followed. The violence carried out by the new military system reflects religious and sectarian persecution of Coptic believers in Christ, one group within the Christian religious minority in Egypt.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former Secretary General of the United Nations, was known to be a Coptic Christian. then as now. The term Coptic refers to cultural as well as religious influences, including definitive art. Before this year's Arab spring protests, Copts lived in relative freedom with protection under former President Mubarak, as did Muslims and Jews. (After the spring protests, attended by some Jews, many Jews left Egypt, fearing the future in Egypt.)
As of today, the post-Mubarak leadership in Egypt has extended an olive branch of peace and fairness to the head of the Coptic church. Many are watching to see what happens into the future of a new Egypt trying to rise out of a population still holding on to sectarian favoritism and inability to live peacefully with differences. Recent newsworthy events from Egypt require reporting that informs as accurately and dispassionately as possible, with historical or background information that connects with new events.
This is the case with Coptic Christian history, which goes back to followers of Christ in ancient Egypt. That was the time of St. Mark's teaching and witness there.
Attacks against Copts occurred recently after their peaceful protests* to express concerns over a church burning. Terror and massacre followed. The violence carried out by the new military system reflects religious and sectarian persecution of Coptic believers in Christ, one group within the Christian religious minority in Egypt.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former Secretary General of the United Nations, was known to be a Coptic Christian. then as now. The term Coptic refers to cultural as well as religious influences, including definitive art. Before this year's Arab spring protests, Copts lived in relative freedom with protection under former President Mubarak, as did Muslims and Jews. (After the spring protests, attended by some Jews, many Jews left Egypt, fearing the future in Egypt.)
* It is an outrage what has happened....May the people of Egypt come to see the tragedy the other week not just as a crime against Christians but as a crime against Islam too - no true religion can contemplate this kind of horror." --Australia's Opposition Leader,Tony Abbott (see link "Protest in Sydney..." below, to read full report)
Copyright (c)2011 Opinari Writers
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