Global Citizenship

The conflict between the Muslim and Christian communities within Egypt is probably not new news to the average American. According to a Breitbart news article, Egypt is home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Officially about ten percent of the ninety-five million population are Christian, although many believe the figure is significantly higher (Kent 2018). As a matter of fact, Coptic Christians are the largest religious minority in Egypt. It is because there is no exact distinction that is believed, that there is either a continuous hidden or public conflict of interest. More specifically, the attacks on Coptic Christian communities in Egypt.

For reference, the Christian Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt is based on the teachings of Saint Mark who brought Christianity to Egypt during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero in the first century (The Coptic Network 2006). The reason this was brought up was to offer incite to the beliefs of those who are being discussed. Being a religious minority, Coptic Christians are often persecuted as well as being repeated victims of attacks on their place of worship. Unfortunately they have also been known to suffer marginalization as well blame from the State.

The suffering and persecution of the Coptic Christians in Egypt does not stop in their history, many of these actions occur today. A prime example from an ABC news article would be that they are frequently openly discriminated against or lynched, and the predominantly Muslim Government is subsequently criticized for turning a blind eye to their plight (Viney 2017). They are even withheld from reasonable requests such as permission to build places of worship. An example of a more specific case would be two church bombings near Easter of 2017 killing 49 people. That does not even include the fifteen plus girls who were forced to marry Muslims and convert to Islam or be killed after they were kidnapped in 2017.

So, that the problems have been stated, what are some of the causes? Well, The Guardian reports that 128 Christians were killed in Egypt for their faith and more than 200 were driven out of their homes in 2017. It attributed the rise in persecution to the overspill of Islamic terrorists driven out of Iraq and Syria (Sherwood 2018). Based on the reasoning of this entry, one can believe that the recent increases in attacks on Coptic Christians could be based on the inflow of Islamic extremists from Iraq and Syria.

With the problems and causes have been covered, one may ask themselves what can I do as a global citizen to help? Well, there are plenty of things that one can do to help the relief effort. As an individual, one can fund support groups to aid in religious oppression relief organizations. There are multiple organizations raising money to aid in the relief of those directly impacted by these attacks, an example would be fondly.com with their Support the Coptic Christians in Egypt fund. If funding is not a very enticing option, there are mission trips that are offered both nationally and internationally to actively offer support to those who are in need. Mission trips are definitely a great way to have a personal investment in the service that you provide. If traveling is on the mind, what better way to see the world than to help those with a personal face-to-face connection.

If financial support or personal involvement is an intangible reality for some, there are still options to help out the cause. Offering public support and raising awareness is one of the many great tools one can use to be an involved global citizen as well as to help be a part of the solution. Ignorance is one of the biggest problems facing us as global citizens today. That is why we need to spread the word of what is going on around the world that we share. No one is expected to fund absolutely every, and all organizations because no one can feasibly be capable of doing that. However, that does not mean that there aren't plenty of people who have a personal connection with one issue or another. That is why we need to spread the knowledge of this major issue, so that those who are personally compelled, those who are closely related are able to know what is going on. It is very hard to do something about a problem that one cares about if no intel has been provided to make the problem known. That is why it is our duty as global citizens to spread the word and make these injustices widely known so that change can be implemented.

Works Cited

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-10/who-are-egypts-copts/8429634

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2018/09/02/muslim-extremists-attack-coptic-christian-homes-in-egypt/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/christians-egypt-unprecedented-persecution-report

https://www.coptic.net/EncyclopediaCoptica/

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