More Than 73 Churches Attacked in Egypt

"Undoubtedly, the last week's wave of fierce attacks on Christians in Egypt is shocking and unprecedented," a Christian leader in Egypt writes to Open Doors USA. "We've always witnessed occasional incidents of variable attacks on churches by radical Muslims in villages or towns, Christian families harassed or forced to migrate from their hometowns, and repeated everyday discrimination against Christians, wherever they lived or worked. But the systematic violence conducted against the Christians of Egypt over the last five days has left the largest church in the Middle East with a long list of losses -- and a number of questions that only God’s holy servant Jesus can show us how to answer. The list is long, and may not mean much to a reader who has not visited Egypt before, or is unable to grasp its geography. But it is certainly painful! According to the latest report published by the head of the Coptic Cultural Center, Christian losses since the violent dismantling of the two sit-ins of the Muslim Brotherhood last Wednesday are massive: 73 churches and monasteries, as well as 22 adjunct church service buildings (including orphanages, schools and Bible bookshops), were either partially or totally burned down or damaged. Moreover, 212 private Coptic Christian properties have been attacked, looted or set on fire, and seven Christians' deaths confirmed."