Mr. Bhatti was the only Christian minority cabinet official and was killed by Muslim extremists because he spoke out against muslim sharia and blasphemy laws.
Muslim Brotherhood, Like Egypt's Future, Remains Murky
By Eric Young|Christian Post Reporter
With the Muslim Brotherhood poised to play a growing role in Egypt’s government following the resignation of the country’s long-time president, many observers have been looking into the long-banned group for clues to what lies ahead for Egypt.
But the group, as many are coming to find, may very well be as murky as the North African country's future.
"It's never entirely clear with the Brothers," Dr. Josh Stacher of Kent State University told the Wall Street Journal in a report Tuesday."It's a big group, with lots of different points of view,” added the political science professor, who spent years in Egypt studying the organization. “You can find the guy always screaming about Israel and then you got the other guys who don't care about Israel because they're too busy worrying about raising literacy rates."
Known also as al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the oldest and most influential Islamic movements in the world. The movement’s stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ... ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state."
“The Brotherhood are, if anything, dedicated pragmatists,” remarked D.C.-based consultant Bob Kubinec in a guest opinion column for Christianity Today.
would continue the status quo,” he added after noting the widespread social discrimination against Christians in Egypt.
Since its foundation in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has combined religion, political activism, and social welfare in its work. The Islamic revivalist movement adopted slogans such as “Islam is the solution” and has sought the establishment of an Islamic state. But sympathizers claim the basic desire of the Brotherhood is to be able to practice Islam as they want to without interference from the state.
“Although it may appear at first counter-intuitive, Egypt's Christians could well be safer if the Muslim Brotherhood were a part of the ruling government,” wrote Kubinec.
Critics, however, disagree.
While members of the Brotherhood include young moderates whose political views on issues such as women's rights and religious freedom mesh with Western values, the movement also includes older conservatives who rail against American imperialism and call for the establishment of an Islamic state.
And notably, the latter outnumbers the former, especially in the leadership, where reportedly no one is under 50.
“Islam is neither philosophically nor theologically compatible with other religions or with democracy. Therefore, it is difficult to take seriously the Muslim Brotherhood’s claims that it wants nothing more than a democratic government,” remarked Dave James, co-founder of the Alliance for Biblical Integrity, in a response to Kubinec’s article.
So while pro-democracy protesters in Egypt celebrate the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak following 18 days of protests, it remains unclear how Friday's change will affect the country – particularly the 10-million-large Christian minority in Egypt.
“The people are afraid for the future, since this is an extremely critical time,” remarked one church pastor who partners with Open Doors in Egypt. “But we trust in God, and we hope and pray for a new Egypt with democracy and freedom for Christians.”
Accordingly, persecution watchdog groups such as Open Doors have issued prayer requests for Egypt, which was ranked No. 19 on the Open Doors 2011 World Watch List of the 50 worst persecutors of Christians.
“We need to remember the church. We need to remember that the Christians in Egypt face the ‘frying pan and the fire,'” commented Dr. Carl Moeller, President/CEO of Open Doors USA. “Their hope is in Jesus Christ and in His sovereignty, but the reality for our brothers and sisters in Egypt is that they face an increasingly uncertain future."
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Study, 84 percent of Egyptian citizens say they would favor public execution of those who leave Islam for another religion and seventy-six percent of Egyptians favor stoning for those caught in adultery.
Such punishments would be carried out under sharia or Islamic law, which Muslim Brotherhood has sought to have implemented in the country.
On Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood announced its intention to form a political party once democracy is established in Egypt. The country's new military rulers, meanwhile, launched a panel of experts to amend the country's constitution enough to allow democratic elections later this year.
Generals from the Armed Forces Supreme Council, which now rules Egypt, said Tuesday the military wants to hand power to a government and elected president within six months. The new constitutional panel is mandated to draw up amendments within ten days to be put to a referendum, paving the way for elections.
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Martyrdom muted: World shrugs as Christians persecuted: By Clifford D. May, Boston Herald.com
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Imagine if Muslims in Europe were being arrested for nothing more than peacefully practicing their religion. Imagine if Muslims in South America were being sentenced to death for “insulting” Jesus. Imagine if mosques were being bombed and burned by terrorists in a growing list of Christian-majority countries.
Now here’s what you don’t need to imagine because it is all too real: In recent days, Christian churches have been bombed in Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria and the Philippines. In Indonesia a mob of 1,000 Muslims burned down two Christian churches. In Iran, scores of Christians have been arrested. In Pakistan, a Christian woman received the death penalty for the “crime” of insulting Islam; the governor of Punjab promised to pardon her - and was then assassinated for the “crime” of blasphemy.
cw-2I could provide dozens of additional examples of the persecution and, in many cases, “cleansing” of Christians in what we have come to call the Muslim world. If the situation were reversed, if such a war were being waged against Muslims, it would be the top story in every newspaper, the most urgent item at the United Nations, the highest priority of all the big-league human rights groups What we have instead is denial.
Professor Janice Stein of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto insists there could be no connection among these dots. The assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, she said, should be viewed
as the consequence of class conflict, not religious extremism.
The assailant who gunned down Taseer - Mumtaz Qadri, one of his own bodyguards - exalted afterward: “I have killed a blasphemer!” He did not say: “I have killed a member of the bourgeoisie!”
Stein also spoke of the “conflict” between Muslims and Christians in Egypt as though both were equally to blame when, in fact, it is clearly Egypt’s ancient but diminishing Coptic community that is under siege with little means to defend itself, much less to wage a campaign of reciprocal oppression.
I remain convinced that most Muslims do not want to be at war with the West - with Christians, Jews, Hindus and others.
That leads to this question: How do moderate and tolerant Muslims fight the tyrants within their community? How do they avoid being killed if they dare speak up in defense of their own freedom and rights - much less in defense of religious minorities, ethnic minorities and women?
We cannot possibly come up with an adequate answer so long as we refuse to look reality in the eye. And the reality is this: Within the Muslim world today are regimes, movements and individuals convinced that their religion justifies - and benefits from - the most heinous atrocities. They are determined, ruthless and lethal - as Christians and other minorities across a broad swath of the world have been finding out.
If we in the West fail even to speak up for them, can we really expect moderate Muslims to do more?
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism
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UN alarmed by mass graves in Ivory Coast:
Jan 13, 2011 11:16 PM | By Reuters
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said UN officials had been denied access to the three sites, including a mass grave found earlier, which allegedly contained 80 bodies.
More than 200 people have died in violence since the November 28 presidential election. Fear of more conflict has prompted more than 25000 people to flee into neighbouring Liberia, according to UN officials.
Pillay denounced an ambush in which three UN peacekeepers were injured, allegedly by forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, in Abidjan on Tuesday night.
A third mass grave has been reported in Ivory Coast, the most senior UN human rights official said, denouncing the killing of civilians and an ambush on peacekeepers.
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said UN officials had been denied access to the three sites, including a mass grave found earlier, which allegedly contained 80 bodies.
More than 200 people have died in violence since the November 28 presidential election. Fear of more conflict has prompted more than 25000 people to flee into neighbouring Liberia, according to UN officials.
Pillay denounced an ambush in which three UN peacekeepers were injured, allegedly by forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, in Abidjan on Tuesday night.
