The Discovery of Pluralism: Copts must come to terms with new freedoms and discrimination
The past fourteen months have been a trying time for Egyptian Christians. After decades of repression, Copts must come to terms with new freedoms and discrimination. Their response: A diversification of views, not unlike their Muslim contemporaries.
The Virgin Mary church is a dusty, flat-roofed structure which somehow fits snuggly into an alley of Cairo’s impoverished Ain Shams district. The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak used a technicality to close the structure in 2008. In May 2011, members of Egyptian Coptic community tried to re-open the church accompanied by a small detachment of Egyptian police. Angry crowds gathered outside and soon both sides were throwing rocks in the narrow streets. Around nightfall, the Egyptian army deployed armored cars to the neighborhood. Egyptian soldiers could be seen patrolling the slit like streets between rows of towering tenements around the church. The thick dusty haze of the streets was a somber reminder that Cairo has more particulate air pollution than any city in the world. An Egyptian youth approached me and asked sarcastically “Would Baba Shenouda want this?” Such dark sectarian incidents were exactly what Baba Shenouda, known officially as Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, explicitly sought to avoid during his 40 years as head of the 15 million strong Coptic Church.
In mid-March, Pope Shenouda died. But while he should probably be remembered for his message of tolerance and religious dialogue, the Tahrir generation will probably remember another fact of his life: He remained quiet during Egypt’s political upheaval in 2011.
After spending years in internal exile under the rule of both Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, Shenouda opted for political quietism upon his release in 1985.
The fate of the Coptic Church under Mubarak echoed developments in Egypt’s larger Sunni Muslim community. In response to the repression of religion by secular autocrats, the religious views of both Egyptian Christians and Muslims have diversified over the past few decades. During Shenouda’s reign the Coptic community reluctantly embraced pluralism as the pope’s role became increasingly symbolic. Similarly, many Egyptian Muslims have come to see the Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, Mohamed Ahmed el-Tayeb or the Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa as equally distant figures.
The disorder following the toppling of Hosni Mubarak resulted in brief rises in sectarian violence such as the incident I witnessed in Ain Shams. This in turn inspired groups like the Coptic-led Maspero Youth Union to carry out a series of demonstrations in front of Egypt’s State TV building, which ultimately resulted in the bloody crackdown of October 10-11 that shocked the world and the majority of Egypt’s Copts.