Egypt (MNN) ― A report Friday indicated
Egyptian Christians in border towns are getting threats of violence if
they don't leave. One church leader suspects the threats are connected
to the anti-Islam film which has angered Muslims throughout the Middle
East.
In other parts of the country, the pressure has increased to the point
where people are fleeing in droves. They represent an increasing number
of the country's 8 million Coptic Christians were already feeling
increasingly cornered.
The atmosphere chilled quickly in the wake of Hosni Mubarak's ouster and
the Muslim Brotherhood's meteoric rise to power. Already subjected
to anti-Christian discrimination and attacks for years under Mubarak,
his fall meant no one was there to suppress the hard-liner Islamists.
The nation's Christians saw an uptick in violence against them alongside
an overall rise in crime since Egypt's 2011 revolution. There are
heightened concerns now that believers might face backlash amid outrage
over the film, says Rody Rodeheaver with IN Network.
It's not something that dies down quickly. "Each subsequent conversation
about that continues to elevate the emotional level in countries like
Egypt and others." As a result, Rodeheaver says their team is very
concerned about exodus of believers.
There's also the danger of the mass hysteria driving a rumor mill that
comes back on the believers. For example, one of the rumors on the
street is that there were six Egyptian Christians that participated in
the making of the video. "There is no way of knowing whether that is
true or false, but that is the word on the street, according to our
staff. What that then does is just escalates the emotional extreme
reaction to this whole situation."
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