Muslims rush to restore torched Egypt church

(Reuters) - Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, removing soot from its surface inside a church gutted in an attack by Islamist militants this month.

"It takes a lot of careful work to do that," Fathi said. "We have to do a lot of tests with chemicals to try to restore the icon to its original condition."

The 26-year-old is one of a vast group of mostly Muslim craftsmen tasked with restoring St Mary's Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba after militants set it on fire on May 7.

Egypt's military rulers have ordered its restoration at a time when tensions between Christians, who account for about 10 percent of Egypt's population, and Muslims are on the rise.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-egypt-church-idUSTRE74O7CA20110525

prayers!

Stories coming out of Egypt that you wouldn't hear anywhere else.

That was 2005-2009. I worked with Egyptians who were both Coptic Xian and Muslim, though naturally the latter were always in the majority.

Pretty much like in the US, where we work/socialize with people of different or no religion, I never saw any strife between those groups on the personal level.

Just the opposite. At my job site, the Muslims would cover the work shifts of Xians when they wanted to take their families on vacation during the Coptic Easter. Likewise, the Copts would cover for the Muslims during their Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha holidays. No problem.

The non-personal level is different. I lived in Alexandria, which had 2 very big religious riots between Coptic Xians and Muslims while I lived there.

For the record, my co-workers of both religions were horrified by those riots. Over and over, I heard - "This sort of thing does not happen in Alexandria. We all get along here. We don't care what you believe, only how you act." Etc., with many variations. (They're probably sincere about that last part - some of them knew I was an atheist and never bothered me about it.)

Riot #1 broke out in November 2005 around the beautiful old Geragis (St. George's) church, during Egypt's first elections in two decades. I heard - and suspect - that the election was the real reason for the riots. Supposedly a Muslim Brotherhood candidate was running behind in the polls and decided to stir the pot.

The offical reason - the Copts had put on a play in that church two years earlier. The play dealt with a Muslim suicide bomber who converts to Xianity. Supposedly the play was copied on DVD and distributed to all the Coptic churches. I have no way of knowing if any of that is true, but that's what the (govt.-controlled) media reported.

Riot #2 was very close to where I lived. At All Saints' Church, which I passed twice a day on my commute to work, a lunatic with a knife attacked worshippers on the Coptic Good Friday. Inside the church. IIRC, an elderly woman died of her stab wounds and several others were badly hurt.

Two other churches were attacked in the same way on that same Good Friday. The media/govt. put forward a Crazed Lone Knife-man theory, which nobody believed. The three churches were miles apart, in different districts of the city, and it is not that easy to get around quickly in Alexandria.

It was just bizarre. Every day, going/coming to work, I saw Muslims and Xians in that district walking together, herding their kids onto the school buses, chatting and shopping together, etc. etc.

Suddenly everbody was separated into two groups, and trying to kill each other. And that's not an overstatement. I remember looking at some funny marks on the metal rolldown door of a shop. Then I realized what had made those marks - an axe. They were literally trying to break down doors and kill each other.

For several weeks we drove to work every day past burned out cars and buses, with the lovely aroma of tear gas lingering in the air. The Riot Police guarded the area 24/7, carrying shotguns. And many times, the Riot Police were just about the only people on the street.

The only word I could think of for the whole thing was "heartbreaking." If I were not a Bitter Gnu Atheist and HAD a heart, of course. ;-)

It makes the situation very vivid for those of us who haven't seen it in person.