"Every taxi driver in Brighton seems to be a Coptic Orthodox Christian" one of my parishioners said. Indeed the largest, congregation wise Church in my parish is Coptic Orthodox. I like Copts, I am impressed by how seriously they take their faith and how well catechised their children are, they know the Bible, they know the teaching of the Fathers, their parents are deeply concerned about education. Most importantly so many of them are simply "good", their children are actually taught goodness. Talking to a taxi driver, who incidently refused to charge me because I was a priest, I asked about the reason for his being in Britain. He told me about the Jubilee Campaign report on Egypt, he was Egyptian, he added, "for the Sudanese the situation is much, much worse".* Disturbing allegations of the rape of Christian women in Egypt by extremists in order to coerce them into converting to Islam. It was alleged to the Jubilee delegation when they were in Egypt that a Christian girl would be raped by Muslim extremists, then informed that if she goes back to her parents they would reject her or kill her because she had been "dishonoured" . The extremists then promise to arrange a marriage between the girl and a Muslim if she converts to Islam, so she would be provided for by her husband. It was stated that the police were reluctant to get involved and sources claimed this practice is widespread in Upper Egypt. Jubilee Campaign is continuing its investigations and has called upon the government of Egypt to conduct an official enquiry into the issue.
* Incitement of hatred against Christians in Egypt. Some Muslim clerics such as Sheikh Muhammad Mitwalli AI-Sharawi were inciting hatred by making very derogatory comparisons between Islam and Christianity in public and what made the problem worse was the fact that often such clerics have ready access to the Egyptian media whilst the Christians had little chance to refute their allegations because they only have access to television twice a year.
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