As happy as I was when Egyptians overthrew their long
reigning dictator and the show of solidarity between ALL Egyptians with a
common goal of a democratic Egypt ,
I also warned that extreme religion and radical religious kooks could spoil the
party…and they are doing just that.
During this weekend in Cairo ,
Coptic Christians and hard-line Muslims clashed over a church burning. The army
stepped in and countless people were killed and many more injured.
Obviously, this type of clash is not unique to Egypt . Recently,
radical Jews burned down a mosque in Israel . Jewish Rabbis immediately
stood with the Muslims in protest against such violent action.
Look at Iraq
with its Sunni vs. Shia.
Yup, religion is again standing in the way of a more perfect
political system designed to unite and not divide.
Here in the U.S.
we are experiencing a war of words between fundamentalist Christians and the
Mormons who are being called a cult and not a Christian religion.
This has been going on basically forever as one group
promotes their god against another group’s god…with violence. I don’t
understand why they can’t just let their gods battle it out, mano a mano.
I bet many do not know what a COPT is and what kind of
Christianity they practice. They represent 10-20% of the Egyptian population of
80 million people and have been around for nearly two (2) thousand years; from
the beginning of Christianity itself.
Christians in the early years of religious formation split
into Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and the Coptic Orthodox. The split was
partly theological and partly political and has remained that way for
centuries.
The theological dispute centered on the “nature” of Jesus,
whether he was both human and divine or separately human and divine, son of god
or god himself, etc………………………..
None of these learned leaders of early Christianity knew
anything about the nature of Jesus and the nature of Jesus was and is
unknowable but that did not stop them from arguing theological points (how many
angels fit on the tip of a needle) as if they really knew what actual facts
were…but alas, I digress.
The fact that poverty and ignorance form the core of radical
religiosity and Egypt
is filled with those types of peoples even though there is a rising class of
educated young people (those that started the protest against Mubarak), make
achieving a peaceful democratic union among Egyptians, highly unlikely.
The one thing that dictators did was to keep peace among the
warring factions. Once controls relax, the religious nuts come out of the
shadows.
Right now the Egyptian army is in control and trying to keep
peace but don’t forget that the soldiers also belong to religious groups and I
am not sure the generals can keep them in check.
I guess having elections would speed the democratic process
but I think a constitution should be in place first, a constitution that
guarantees certain rights to all groups and prevents another theocracy like
they have in Iran
which is just a religious dictatorship.
We are living through a historical event…I wish them well.
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