Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

[The Night Owl]

A nice story someone posted over at DF...

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"

Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt’s threatened Christian community

Yasmine El-Rashidi , Friday 7 Jan 2011

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.

Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular Muslim televangelist and preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole.

...

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

[Articulate_Ape]

I find that highly encouraging.

[Rockntractor]

Good post Owl!

[Bleda]

I hate to rain on this parade, but let's not get carried away here. The very first sentence of the article is misleading. How can "Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night" be true when, out of 80 million people, only thousands attended?

And let's not forget that Egypt is the same country where 50% of the population support Hamas (20% support Hezbollah, and 20% support al-Qaeda), where 60% identify as "fundamentalist" Muslims, where 54% favor gender segregation in the workplace, where 82% support stoning people for adultery, where 77% support cutting off the hands of thieves and robbers, and where 84% support the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/musl...and-hezbollah/

It's Islam, stupid.

[Articulate_Ape]

I hate to rain on this parade, but let's not get carried away here. The very first sentence of the article is misleading. How can "Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night" be true when, out of 80 million people, only thousands attended?

And let's not forget that Egypt is the same country where 50% of the population support Hamas (20% support Hezbollah, and 20% support al-Qaeda), where 60% identify as "fundamentalist" Muslims, where 54% favor gender segregation in the workplace, where 82% support stoning people for adultery, where 77% support cutting off the hands of thieves and robbers, and where 84% support the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/musl...and-hezbollah/

It's Islam, stupid.

Yes, we must discourage this in the future. WTF were we thinking?

[Bleda]

Yes, we must discourage this in the future. WTF were we thinking?

No, don't discourage it, but don't claim the majority of Egyptian Muslims support it either. You can't change Islam. The only solution is to convert to irreligion or another religion.

[Rockntractor]

Let's just put it this way, it's a step in the right direction no matter how large.

[Articulate_Ape]

No, don't discourage it, but don't claim the majority of Egyptian Muslims support it either. You can't change Islam. The only solution is to convert to irreligion or another religion.

I could be mistaken, but I think you are reading into what was a poorly constructed headline. Believe me, Bleda, I am no fan of Islam in the least, but I also think that if non-Muslims reflexively quash support for those Muslims that are reaching up from the midst of that backward cult, then we really do become part of the problem.

Just my opinion, but I am right 99% of the time. Ask anyone, not my wife, anyone else.

[Bleda]

I know what you mean. But all I said in this thread is that I don't think most Egyptian Muslims are moderate Muslims. I wasn't talking about the Muslims who did show up and stand with the Coptics. You're right that it is encouraging, but I just wanted to make sure we don't forget how widespread fundamentalism is in the Muslim world, or believe that the problem isn't Islam but a distortion of it.

[Articulate_Ape]

I know what you mean. But all I said in this thread is that I don't think most Egyptian Muslims are moderate Muslims. I wasn't talking about the Muslims who did show up and stand with the Coptics. You're right that it is encouraging, but I just wanted to make sure we don't forget how widespread fundamentalism is in the Muslim world, or believe that the problem isn't Islam but a distortion of it.

You are, of course, correct. I also doubt that discerning minds would disagree. I guess it is just nice to see a little conspicuous evolution taking place on the event horizon of that dying black hole. Cheers.