There has been a Coptic church on this site for centuries. St Mina (or Menas) is one of the most well-known of Egypt's saints, and St George needs no introduction.
Yesterday, a church dedicated to their blessed memory was destroyed in a small town just outside Cairo. It was torched by 'thousands of Muslims' (or are they Islamists? Or, for Baroness Warsi, are these 'thousands' simply a minority-of-a-minority ‘extremists’?) chanting ‘Democracy Akhbar’ – Democracy is Great! It is a curiously syncretised slogan, juxtaposing the Anglo-Greek with the Arabic: perhaps we will be hearing many more of them in the years to come. ‘Allah Save the Queen!’, perhaps; or the Aquinas-Mohammed ‘Just Jihad’ theory; or ‘Halal a day helps you work, rest and play’; or ‘Sharia – it’s what your right arm’s for’.
Apparently, the clergy in this church are still unaccounted for. There isn’t a mention of this barbarism on the BBC, or, for that matter, in any of the ‘mainstream’ media. As far as they are concerned, it hasn’t happened. So the UK is oblivious, preoccupied by the drama of the latest Middle East revolution, or distracted by David Beckham’s tattoo. Our media Attention Deficit Disorder can’t be bothered with the aftermath of the delightful downfall of dictators: Saddam was removed from Iraq; the Chaledean Christians are persecuted. Lebanon had its ‘Cedar Revolution’ to eradicate Hezbollah; the land is ‘cleansed’ of Christians. The people of Tunisia topple their corrupt president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali; the Islamist hordes attack women and murder a Roman Catholic priest. And freedom-fighting Egyptians occupy Tahrir Square until Pharaoh Mubarak is forced out of office; and in moves the godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Read it all here.
Yesterday, a church dedicated to their blessed memory was destroyed in a small town just outside Cairo. It was torched by 'thousands of Muslims' (or are they Islamists? Or, for Baroness Warsi, are these 'thousands' simply a minority-of-a-minority ‘extremists’?) chanting ‘Democracy Akhbar’ – Democracy is Great! It is a curiously syncretised slogan, juxtaposing the Anglo-Greek with the Arabic: perhaps we will be hearing many more of them in the years to come. ‘Allah Save the Queen!’, perhaps; or the Aquinas-Mohammed ‘Just Jihad’ theory; or ‘Halal a day helps you work, rest and play’; or ‘Sharia – it’s what your right arm’s for’.
Apparently, the clergy in this church are still unaccounted for. There isn’t a mention of this barbarism on the BBC, or, for that matter, in any of the ‘mainstream’ media. As far as they are concerned, it hasn’t happened. So the UK is oblivious, preoccupied by the drama of the latest Middle East revolution, or distracted by David Beckham’s tattoo. Our media Attention Deficit Disorder can’t be bothered with the aftermath of the delightful downfall of dictators: Saddam was removed from Iraq; the Chaledean Christians are persecuted. Lebanon had its ‘Cedar Revolution’ to eradicate Hezbollah; the land is ‘cleansed’ of Christians. The people of Tunisia topple their corrupt president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali; the Islamist hordes attack women and murder a Roman Catholic priest. And freedom-fighting Egyptians occupy Tahrir Square until Pharaoh Mubarak is forced out of office; and in moves the godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Read it all here.
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