Keeping the “Christ” in “Coptic.”
By Sally Bishai (01/30/06)
It seems as though everyone’s passionate about something these days.
Whether sports, gourmet cooking, or human rights, it’s never a bad thing when people spend time doing something to improve themselves—or the state of the world.
As an ardent campaigner for the rights of humans everywhere, I run into hundreds of “activist types” who almost make me ashamed that I don’t do more.
They ride bicycles everywhere, and not because they can’t afford a car.
They use recycled paper in their personal correspondence, but also in their course syllabi or their indie publications.
And they dedicate every moment of their lives—whether public or private—to changing the world.
Activism for the sake of making a change, then, is a noble thing. Advocacy that lends a voice to the voiceless is even more noble.
But fighting for the sake of fighting is NOT. Even if it does bring about change.
The reason I bring this up is because I am an AmeriCopt. That is, I am a Copt who lives in the United States of America.
Working from here, I speak out to let Westerners and others know about the plight of my people. There are so many people who haven’t even heard of us!
Not everyone knows that we are the Christian natives of Egypt.
Not everyone realises that we have to get the signature of the governor if we want to remodel a church or build a new one (we used to have to get Hosni Mubarak’s signature, but in December, 2005, this law—the Hamayouni Decree—underwent some cosmetic surgery. “Cosmetic” because nothing has really changed, except on the surface).
Not everyone is informed of the riots that happen a few times a year—mostly in the villages—that claim the lives of dozens, and end up injuring hundreds or thousands.
For example, this past week, Copts and Muslims in Odaysat “had words” about the conversion of a house into a church; the feud culminated in over a dozen arrests—including the Christian owners of the house—as well as two deaths, and the injury of over 300 Copts. I’m not even going to get into the developments that have happened in the past few days (this is another article).
I’m always surprised when people here—-non-Arabic speakers, I mean—-ask for updates and read my work; they seem to have a genuine interest in the Copts. So it’s for them that I started making documentaries about “the situation.”
My most recent one is a broad overview of what’s going on in Egypt now; titled “Children of Kemet: The Copts, Culture, and Democracy of the Middle East,” the 76-minute show (check out the blog to watch it in an online stream) is a hard-hitting look at our recent struggle for democracy.
But the heart of the documentary—and, indeed, the struggle—is Copts.
As several of my guests told me, democracy is more than an ink print on a finger, and minority rights are an integral part of implementing this democracy. (Then again, wasn’t it Dear Hosni who said, way back in the late 90s, that “We have no minorities here in Egypt”?)
And it’s not just Copts who feel that way (although most Egyptians are actually Coptic from way back; some of them have Arab blood, but others are actually 100% the same, genetically speaking, and were merely converted to Islam).
I was fortunate enough to get several prominent Muslims, including journalist Mona Eltahawy and human rights advocate Dr. Saad El Din Ibrahim, to add to "KEMET'S” segments about the “Coptic struggle.”
Having said all that, however, I would like to say that I’ve been saddened to notice something about the recent spate of Coptic (by Copts, for Copts) activism:
No, it’s not the infighting, the bickering, and—ok, the power struggle—that is inevitable in any group effort; rather, it’s the fact that many activists have forgotten what makes them Coptic.
Being Coptic isn’t JUST about being a native Christian Egyptian and a descendent of the pharaohs (and having cool hair)—it’s about following Jesus!
Ok, so it’s also an ethnic thing, but so many people have turned this into a "land-and-rights" battle, and end up forgetting about the religion part.
Or they flaunt the fact that “Oh, look at me, I’m Coptic! Take that, Muslims!” or “Oh, poor Copts, we always get persecuted for our faith, boo hoo.”
What faith?
Some of the people I’ve met (and this is not the majority, by the way, but having even a handful of people thinking and behaving like this is enough to “do in” our cause before it gets off the ground) are using their status as “Copt” as an opportunity to whine, or to become a poster child for a cause. As in *A* cause.
Does their status in the afterlife concern them, though? Not a bit.
If they care so little about religion, they may as well throw in the towel, convert into secular Muslims and get the top jobs in Egypt.
They may as well forget about the trials of building a church (or fixing a church) and head straight for the corner mosque.
As I often write, I am a Christian because I CHOOSE TO BE. Not because I was born into it. (Although I was. Born into it, I mean..)
A so-called martyr will NOT get rewarded in heaven JUST because he happened to be the 32nd grandson of Ptolemy the 73rd. Lineage means nothing to God. But a relationship with Him does.
So the point is, then, that if Ramses’, Amenhotep’s, and Nefertiti’s descendents want to skip the religious bit, but keep fighting for equal rights in Egypt—then they should leave the word “Coptic” out of their efforts... or get on their knees and get right with God!
(Prizes for anyone who can guess what God’s choice would be...)
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