January 11, 2011
By Paul-Gordon Chandler

[Episcopal News Service] Many Americans have heard of the recent terrorist suicide bombing at a church here in Egypt. In the midst of this tragedy and resulting tensions, there are some hopeful signs that are often not presented in the media's coverage.

On New Year's Day, just after midnight, a bomb exploded outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, just as worshipers were beginning to leave the church. Twenty-one were instantly killed (four others died later) and more than 90 were seriously wounded.

Since last October, al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq have threatened to attack churches in Egypt. Despite increased security by Egyptian police at the more than 3,000 churches in Egypt, it is humanly impossible to prevent ill-intentioned incidents like that in Alexandria on New Year's Day.

Following the bombing, many frustrated Egyptian Christians across the country took to the streets in anger and significant violence.

Many already sense they are discriminated against as a minority in Egypt's majority Muslim country. And due to the various incidents of attacks on Christians in the past few years, and the general economic crisis, all this frustration finally erupted with this recent attack.

Church leaders were greatly distressed by the violence and anger expressed by mobs of Christians around the country and worked hard to calm this reaction, pointing out that it is against the spirit of forgiveness and peace of Christ. The majority of Muslims have expressed deep sorrow about what happened in Alexandria.

Last Thursday, the night of Feast of the Epiphany (January 6), when Coptic Christians across Egypt celebrated Eastern Christmas, while many people were afraid, church attendance this year was most probably greater than ever before. Amazingly, there is a considerable movement throughout Egypt among Muslims to stand in solidarity with the Christians at this time, and many Muslims therefore attended the services with Christians, to show unity with them and to send a message to terrorists that if they attack churches they will be harming Muslims as well as Christians. Also, hundreds of Muslim government officials were at Coptic churches last Thursday.

To help give some context, the Christian minority (up to 12 percent) in Egypt is unique in that it represents a remnant of the original Egyptians (descendents of the pharaohs) and traces their heritage to the gospel writer St. Mark, the first bishop of Alexandria. While many Christians in Egypt are slum dwellers or poor villagers, numerous Christian business persons have thrived and it is estimated that they now control nearly 30 percent of Egypt's wealth.

In spite of the great difficulty in getting permission to build new churches, dozens of new church buildings are opened every year and churches are flourishing with growing numbers of weekly worshippers. While Christians in Egypt experience hardship as a minority or often feel that they are "second class" citizens, they are nevertheless a thriving community. One of the primary challenges at this time is the escalating tension within the country between the vocal advocates of an Islamic State and the majority moderate Muslims and Christians who are working peacefully within the present legal system for a more balanced democracy which respects human rights for all. In response to this tragedy, coalitions are being formed between the faith communities and actions are being planned to seek ways to increase solidarity, to bring greater peace to the nation and to ensure full citizenship be applied to all Egyptians.

As a mission partner of the Episcopal Church, serving here within the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt & North Africa, we personally feel very safe. This last weekend our church, St. John's Church, had many machined-gunned security forces in front of it that have been sent by the government to protect our church, for which we are grateful.

Times such as these remind us of one of the main reasons we are here in Cairo, to build bridges of peace, understanding and friendship between Muslims and Christians through our work at St. John's and all its various interfaith projects.

In the wake of this suicide bombing, we will be hosting in February 2011 our interfaith CARAVAN Festival of the Arts, bringing together 45 premier Arab and Western artists – with the goal of building bridges between Muslims and Christians, through the visual arts, literature, film and music. It will be held our church, St. John's, and officially opened by the Grand Imam of Al Azhar in Cairo, Sheik Ahmed el Tayeb, the intellectual and spiritual heart of Sunni Islam, and Reza Aslan, the New York Times best-selling author. For more information visit: http://www.oncaravan.org.

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Canon Paul-Gordon Chandler, mission partner with the Episcopal Church, is an author, Episcopal priest, and interfaith advocate serving as the Rector of St. John's Church in Cairo (www.maadichurch.org/, and http://www.paulgordonchandler.com/)