How Not to Understand Egypt's Sectarianism (original) (raw)
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Copts, Church, and State: Egypt’s Christians Frustrated with Lack of Protection
The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, 2019
Under the leadership of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, the official message of the Coptic Orthodox Church has been that Copts under Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi are living under their best conditions in modern Egyptian history. Tawadros has championed Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi as a “savior” of the Copts, following the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi. Despite the church’s official statements praising the government for its protection, acts of terrorism and incidents of sectarianism have continued.
Pope Shenouda III's passing comes at a moment of political uncertainty for a new Egypt and its Coptic communities. In Western media, fears of " sectarian violence " and potential " religious discrimination " have been expressed in numerous articles focusing on his passing as the next stage of a timeless religious conflict that will erupt between the Muslim and Coptic communities in Egypt. But, is " sectarianism " in Egypt indeed timeless and inevitable? " Sectarianism " in Egypt and the narrative associated with it has been normalized, naturalized, and constantly reified as something inevitable. This " sectarian " discourse and knowledge is perpetuated through the plethora of mainstream Western media stories addressing the passing of Pope Shenouda III and the " troubled " future of Coptic peoples.
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The partnership between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Egyptian State has been a political technique that has left little space for religious diversity and has overshadowed other Egyptian minorities. Eschewing this dichotomous illusion and blowing the dust off of Missionary Studies that has left Catholic Copts in the past, this ethnographic study gives an account of the life of a Catholic Coptic NGO, the Jesuit Brothers Association for Development (JBAD), within the context of the uncontested capital of sectarian violence in Egypt: Minya. Using participant observation, focus groups, and interviews, this study intends to shed a light on the ways through which sectarian boundaries and identity politics have affected Catholic Copts engaging in activism in the post-2011 era. Particularly, this study explores how three sectarian lines are negotiated in the everyday life of this Catholic Coptic NGO. It explores the convenience and sponsorship that being part of a transnational Catholic Church gives Catholic Coptic institutions such as the JBAD yet its ritualistic remoteness from other types of Catholicism; the negotiation of its common roots with the Coptic Orthodox vis-à-vis their perplexity of their historic rivalry; and the ways in which Catholic Copts relate with the Muslim majority and the Egyptian State that vacillate between spiritual service and sectarian violence. This thesis questions how still today Catholic Copts are perceived as a foreign or fabricated minority while they are actually industrious and even nationalist citizens. Although this research subscribes to the literature that addresses the transitions from Mission to NGO’s that took place at the end of WWII, in the particular case of Catholic Copts, it proposes a change of scholar discourse from Missionary Studies into those of nationalism and citizenship.
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Attacks on churches and individual Christians continue. But as the nature of the attacks has shifted since the Arab Spring, so too have some aspects of the Coptic response. One way they have changed is in the portrayal of violence against Copts internationally. In the past, some diaspora Copts had adopted the minority rights discourse familiar in the West in order to call for pressure to be placed on Egypt to protect Copts. This approach had been strongly rejected by the Coptic leadership in Egypt and largely by Copts in the diaspora too. However, the new context of the post-Arab Spring Middle East and the changed terrorist threat in the shape of ISIS has added a further element to the violence against Copts in Egypt; that is, to trans-nationalize it.
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This article looks at the first year of the reign of Pope Tawadros II (2012–) that started in the middle of the Arab Spring events. The chaos in society turned out to have unforeseen repercussions for the Coptic community; in particular, the number of sectarian incidents rose. While dealing with two Egyptian governments in the course of one year, the Pope also had to address the democratic impulses that, among others due to the Arab Spring, had been growing within the Coptic community and could no longer be ignored. While balancing the internal needs of the community and playing a role on the national as well as the international scene in this period of profound social chaos and transition, the Pope followed familiar, well-tested paths, while at the same time inserting new strategies.