Copts feel marginalized in land of ancestors
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CAIRO — Egypt’s Copts, who celebrate Christmas Eve on Thursday just days after a deadly attack on one of their churches, feel marginalized in a country whose Christian roots date back to the religion’s early days.
The head of the Coptic church, Pope Shenuda III, expressed the despair of his beleaguered people by saying after Saturday’s bombing in Alexandria that “everyone in Egypt must enjoy full rights of citizenship, without discrimination.”
Copts account for up to 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million and are the largest Christian community in the Middle East.
And Egypt’s Christian past dates back to the first century. Tradition holds that the new faith was brought by the evangelist Saint Mark, himself later martyred by being dragged through the streets of Alexandria with a rope around his neck..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110107com5.html
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