Egyptian Christians 'Played a Significant Role in Raising' Largest Revolution in History

Religion Today | Updated: Jul 08, 2013

Egyptian Christians 'Played a Significant Role in Raising' Largest Revolution in History

Egyptian armed forces ousted President Mohammed Morsi and replaced him with a temporary civilian government last Wednesday, in response to huge demonstrations and a petition boasting the signatures of 22 million demanding his removal. Christian communities played a large role and face significant risk in what the BBC called "the largest political event in the history of the world," the Christian Post reports. Coptic Christians and "the other Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox communities, they'll tell you their status was more beleaguered and more fearful than it ever had been," said Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. He recounted speaking to these marginal Christian groups during a February visit. "They played a significant role in raising the masses," he said. He also predicted that Egypt's historic Coptic community and "some of the women's groups" would "play a huge role" in the political movements going forward. Jasser also pointed out that the majority of the protesters were Muslim. "For those that think Muslims have it in our DNA to be run by theocrats, they've proven otherwise," he said. "This was just unprecedented in humanity -- millions in the streets." The protests proved that the Egyptian people "are both against Islamism and against military dictatorship." Steven S. Bucci, director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., agreed with Jasser about the importance of the Christian communities in both Egypt and Syria. "I just think that the fate of the Christian communities in both of these countries is an underreported and underevaluated situation," he said. "I'm not saying they're more important than the other communities, but they're more at risk than other communities."



Egyptian Christians 'Played a Significant Role in Raising' Largest Revolution in History