Mr. Bas Belder was between 1999 and 2019 one of the very few members in the European Parliament showing an active interest in the position of Christians in the Middle East. He is to be complimented for his genuine interest in Christians in the Middle East but the sources he used in his paper for our September 26 webinar were very one-sided.
The verbal attack of Coptic Solidarity (USA) on Christian leader Rev. Dr. Andrea Zakī, President of the Protestant Churches in Egypt, in Christian Newswire on August 2, 2022, brought back a discussion about the reliability of some Coptic activist reporting and claims. Much of Coptic Solidarity reporting is sadly based on assumptions. While assumptions are fine when questions are formulated they are not if they are presented as truths. See our “A Response to Coptic Solidarity Regarding Rev. Dr. Andrea Zakī.”
Belder’s paper for our webinar on September 26, 2020, was highly disputed by Anglican Archbishop Munīr, Catholic Bishop Dr. Yūḥannā Qulta, Fr. Dr. Giuseppe Scattolin, Dr. Kamal Boraiqa Abdelsalam (Kamāl Burīqaʿ ʿAbd al-Salām) and others. It shows how far apart the positions of Coptic Solidarity and Egypt’s church leaders and the Azhar are.
Cornelis Hulsman wrote in December 2020 a comment about the presentation of Mr. Bas Belder, addressing all issues in his text. This response was not completed in 2020 because of the then ongoing email correspondence between Fr. Dr. Giuseppe Scattolin, Dr. Kamal Boraiqa Abdelsalam (Kamāl Burīqaʿ ʿAbd al-Salām), and Cornelis Hulsman about the impact of the 9th-century Capitulations of ʿUmar on church building in Egypt throughout the centuries. Hulsman had hoped that Dr. Kamāl Burīqaʿ ʿAbd al-Salām would include this in his paper which was agreed to but not carried out for personal circumstances on the side of Dr. Kamāl Burīqaʿ ʿAbd al-Salām. Now similar arguments come back in the accusation of Coptic Solidarity that Rev. Dr. Andrea Zakī is an ‘agent’ of the al-Sīsī government and Rev. Zakī denying that he is directed by the Egyptian government but that his pro- al-Sīsī stances stem from pragmatic views on what is best for the church in Egypt. This background explains the delayed publication of this text in Dialogue Across Borders.
The Dutch daily Nederlands Dagblad published on August 5, 2022, an article with the title “Waarom steunen christenen in het Midden-Oosten dictators? ‘Er is meer dan mensenrechten’.” (Why do Christians in the Middle East support dictators? There is more than human rights.)[1] This article provides an excellent background to the reasons for the differences between church leaders in Egypt and Coptic activists in the West. “Western Christians,” Jacob Hoekman writes, “are in general tried and tested with ideas about human rights and democracy.” This also applies to Coptic Solidarity. It is not true that Egyptian Christians are not interested in human rights and democracy, but they fear insecurity and Islamists. The main problem is that most reports of Coptic activists lack context and neither do they seem much interested in context since this is shifting the attention from what they believe needs to be the major focus. Christian leaders in Egypt on the other hand are focused on what they believe contributes to stability in the country since they believe this is best for their own church communities.
This text was read by Prof. Dr. Hoda Awad [Hudā ʿAwaḍ], chair of the Center for Arab-West Understanding. She is in agreement with the text formulated in this response
