Entropy

As if the state of religious harmony wasn't already in shambels in Alexandria thanks to last week's attack and siege of a church by angry muslims duped by local MB parliamentary candidate, it seems that the situation won't get better anytime soon: The Mujahedeen of Egypt have issued a statement threatening the "cross-worshippers of Egypt" (Hattip Ritzy), and now a young man stabbed a nun and another man in a church in Alexandria while shouting "Allahu Akabar". While the young man was later arrested by the police and while the injuries sustained by the nun and the man were not dangerous, this incident is clearly disturbing, especially given the timing. It may be too early to call it, but there may be a resurrection of secterian violence in Egypt between christians and muslims once again. In a country that claims to be religiously tolerant, it never occured to the people who rule it that it may not stay that way without emphasizing the importance of respecting people from other faiths than that of the majority. After years of the government encouraging openly racist hate-speech against the jews- a.k.a. the evil infidel descendents of the pigs and monkeys-amongst its majorly muslim population because it gave the people someone to hate besides them, they seem rather surprised that the people started having the same attitude and using the same terminology against the christians. The subtitution of the Jews by the christians as objects of hate was rather easy, given that they were both minorities and that there is increasing envy amongst the muslim population because they seem to have this view that the christians are wealthier than them, which of course breeds and fuels the resentment, not to mention the continious marginalzations of the christians in Egypt in terms of representation in government or even being viewed as citizens of Egypt. I used to laugh my ass off when on national television they would congratulate "our christian brothers" on their holidays. I always wonderd, if we were all egyptains and equal, how come when the muslim holidays come along, they won't congratulate us the same way? I would love it if they announced a season greetings to "Our Muslim Brothers" on TV. I believe it would give the islamists ulcers. But even that, which is nothing but a stupid and symbolic example of how deeply rooted inequality and racism in Egypt really is, doesn't happen and likely never will. And yet people wonder how it's so easy in a country as "religiously tolerant" as ours, things like what's been happening in Alexandria could happen. Sigh... No wonder all of my christian friends want to leave this country. I don't blame them. I just feel horrible that this is how badly our state of religious harmony has regressed. Egypt used to be a country where Jews, christians and muslims lived side by side as Egyptians. Now the muslims have effectively kicked the jews out and are working on doing the same to the christians, so that egypt could be a 100% islamic country. I don't know what the victory in that would be really or what purpose it would serve. All I know is that if its price is the persecution and uprooting of a defenseless minority that Islam and the Koran stated should be repsected and protected, then the whole thing can be damned as far as I am concerned.