Though it does not get much notice in the West, Egypt is home to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world. The city of Alexandria is known as one of the five ancient sees of the early church (along with Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem), and it calls itself the See of St. Mark (he of the Gospel). Today, reflecting how Christendom has fragmented over the centuries, there are three churches that claim to be the heirs of the church started, according to tradition, by the Apostle: the Coptic Church (also known as an Oriental Orthodox Church), the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Coptic Catholic Church. While the Coptic Church is the largest of these three, comprising about 10% of the country’s roughly 90 million, all of them find themselves suffering from persecution as the turmoil in Egypt continues.
I used to have a Coptic employee who emigrated from Egypt. She was used to hiding her faith but it looks like the Muslim Brotherhood has made it much worse.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
