The inauguration of a new pope for the Coptic Church comes at a critical time for Copts. Kameel Sadeek, a church leader, illustrates that Bishop Tawadros II is facing a political environment mined with hot sectarian issues.
The inauguration of a new pope for the Coptic Church comes at a critical time for Copts. Kameel Sadeek, a church leader, illustrates that Bishop Tawadros II is facing a political environment mined with hot sectarian issues.
The Copts’ situation has become more critical after political Islam seized both the executive and legislative powers, in addition to the constituent assembly. Many statements made by some Muslim Brotherhood members or some Salafist leaders prefer the substitution of citizenship notion – a pillar of modern states – with other notions more biased to the religious majority in the country.
Dr. Kameel Sadeek, Secretary of the General Congregation Council (GCC) in Alexandria, which is the authority specializing in administrative or ‘laity’ affairs of Copts gave his take on the Copt’s new leader.
What would you like to say to Bishop Tawadros II after being selected by the Papal Altar Lot?
Having received a degree in pharmacy, Bishop Tawadros enjoys deep knowledge, goodness and rationality, and everyone loves him. He is also a great social figure. May God help him with this important task in serving the church.
Is it true that the new pope does not like politics?
I’d rather not talk about that right now, but I can say that the church involvement in politics started under Sadat, who supported Islamists at the expense of the unity of the national fabric. Only then did Copts resort to the church to help them restore some of their stolen rights. Some people demand that the church distances itself from politics and goes back to its spiritual and pastoral role, but first, the values of citizenship must be activated.
What are the problems that have faced Copts after President Muhammad Morsi took office?
After the January 25 revolution, we hoped the negative image and discrimination against Copts would stop, but it was even worse than before. For example, the media offends Copts, and even calls them infidels, just like the Salafist preacher, Abu Islam, who burned the bible and promised that next time he would bring along his grandson and make him urinate on it in front of the cathedral. Unfortunately, Abu Islam did that after he got confidence and power from the regime and from President Morsi who hasn’t denounced the incident.
Do you think that Copts’ life was better under Mubarak?
There are so many problems that Copts suffer from, which is not new. There were a lot of wrong practices against them under Mubarak; the regime used to put all obstacles in our face, concerning building places of worship or even a WC inside a church. The new regime is Islamized and has set-up obstacles but in a different way; it demolishes and burns churches.
I believe both regimes impede the practice of religious rituals. One regime prevents, while the other hinders. The bombings of the Saints Church and the events of Kasheh village took place under Mubarak, so it wasn’t a golden age. The best age when there was a kind of understanding with Copts was the age of Abdul Nasser.
What is the difference in your view between the reign of Mubarak and the Islamists?
In the past, there used to be the National Party and a majority that committed violations, but now the same majority has brought a bearded national party. It’s just a change in the costume and discourse while the core remains the same. I even see this Islamized reign is more ferocious and even flagrant.
What do you think about enforcing the Religion Defamation Law?
I agree with that, but unfortunately what is happening in Egypt is a punishing only those who defame Islam. If a Christian in Egypt does with a Quranic verse what Abu Islam has done, I think we would watch a rehearsal of doomsday.
What do you think of the constitution constituent assembly and its draft?
The strange thing is that neighboring countries, such as Turkey, seek the help of greatly experienced legists to draft constitutions, but unfortunately, here we have sought the help of unknown people, even though we have prominent law and judiciary figures such as Hisham Sadek and Noor Eddin Farhat?
Everything now is foggy; the majority is drafting the constitution, which is an unacceptable chaos. It is well known that a constitution is made by concord since it’s a social contract between the regime and individuals.
What is the Copts’ role in the constitution drafting? What do you think about the drafts formed so far?
Copts are part of the society and they don’t ask for any discrimination or preference. We demand the endorsement of the rights of citizenship and equality in rights and duties.
What are the Copts’ demands from President Morsi?
His practices so far don’t reflect that he is a president for all Egyptians, but we hope he becomes so. Christians don’t ask for any extraordinary things in the state; we only demand the activation of rights and duties. Don’t I have the right to find a place where I can worship my God? We face a lot of difficulties, even humiliation and begging when we want to build a toilet in a church. We even resort to circumvention and carry out renovations while pretending to build a barn. Do they really believe that we would build a church in each house? This is nonsense. We have come to a time when building a night club is much easier than building a church.
What about the complaint submitted by the church, demanding that President Morsi should be included in the list of defendants in the bombings of the Saints Church?
When President Morsi was in Alexandria addressing citizens, he said that the previous regime, represented in Mubarak and el-Adly, were responsible for the bombings of the Saints Church. I believe those words didn’t come accidently or just for media propaganda; I think Morsi has information about the incident.
We, the Copts, demand Morsi to disclose the information he has. So far we haven’t seen a single defendant.
