c. 1998 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ Reports of murder, rape and torture of Christians by Muslim extremists in Egypt are”grossly overstated”and there is no evidence of widespread or government-sponsored persecution of Christian minorities in the Muslim-dominated nation, according to a report released Wednesday (March 25) by a delegation of New York religious leaders who visited Egypt earlier this month.”While discrimination exists, we did not discover any government sanctioned persecution of Christians, nor did the government turn a blind eye toward acts of violence against Christians,”said the Rev. Calvin Butts, president of the Council of Churches of the City of New York and head of the delegation.

Butts, who is pastor at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, and the other nine members of the interfaith delegation, met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; Pope Shenouda, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, and Muslim leader Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, grand imam of al-Azhar University, one of Sunni Islam’s most prestigious intellectual centers, to discuss reports of widespread discrimination and the government’s alleged failure to address the problem.

But clearly there is deep disagreement about the severity of discrimination in Egypt, home to as many as 10 million Christians, most of them Copts, one of Christianity’s oldest denominations.

At Wednesday’s news conference, American Copts challenged the New York clerics’ reports and engaged in a shouting match with Egyptian government representatives.

Rafique Iscandar, president of the American Coptic Union, who said he fled his native country to escape religious discrimination, said violence is not isolated and”every week Christians are killed in Egypt.” Over the vocal objections of the Egyptian government officials, he went on to detail what he termed incidents of political and religious oppression, forced religious conversions and educational discrimination.

Butts angrily denied the suggestion his delegation was in anyway controlled by the Egyptian government.”Our motivation was to promote a better understanding between Muslims and Christians and to report accurately about what we found,”said Butts.”You want an independent reading of what’s going on. I’m the right man and this is the right delegation.” In its report the delegation noted several problem areas, including the delays of building permits for new churches and for halting the deterioration of ancient churches. But the panel attributed the problem more to an entrenched bureaucracy than to prejudice.

The report also found Christians are under-represented in the government and that institutional discrimination exists in business, the military and in universities.

But, it concluded, while individual acts of violence exist, the government does not condone it.”The president, Muslim and Christian leaders and the U.S. officials we met with were in accord on the matter of violence,”said the Rev. N.J. L’Heureux, executive director of the Queens Federation of Churches.”Yes, there are acts of violence, but it is not religious violence.” Butts said members of the delegation also met with a number of Egyptian workers who echoed their leaders, saying problems exist and they are working to resolve them.”(The government) could do more in areas where violence occurs, but they have generally tightened security,”said Butts.

Christians make up less than 10 percent of the population in Egypt, but the country has the largest concentration of Christians in the Middle East. Prior to the rise of Islam, Egypt was a predominantly Christian nation.

Rising violence against Christians throughout the Middle East over the past several years has been alleged by, among others, the U.S. State Department.

Christians in the Middle East blame the violence on militant Islamic groups that sprung up throughout the region after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War.

In Egypt, scores of Copts, who trace their origins to St. Mark’s arrival on the continent in about 50 A.D., have reportedly been killed by Muslim radicals in bombings and ambushes since 1992.

But Egyptian officials, citing the recent massacre of tourists at Luxor, argue that Islamic terrorists are indiscriminate in their campaign of violence against the government, attacking Muslims and Christians alike.

While emphasizing they are people of prayer and not diplomats, Butts said the council will continue to do what it can to monitor the situation in Egypt and encourage government action.”We believe we have opened a line of communication and we will be vigilant in monitoring what happens to make sure Egypt moves to address the areas of concern,”he said.

DEA END WORDEN