Coptic Christians fear continued turmoil, new Constitution in Egypt
An interview with Coptic activist Ashraf Ramelah
Dr. Ashraf Ramelah is the founder and president of Voice of the Copts, a human rights nonprofit organization 501 (c) (3). The organization has offices in Italy and the United States. Dr. Ramelah is a Coptic Christian activist dedicated to the Coptic cause and believes that his life’s mission is to speak up for the oppressed Copts who cannot speak up for themselves. His web site is www.voiceofthecopts.org. This is a Q&A with Dr. Ramelah.
1 — What is your view of the newly proposed constitution
Any constitution containing religious references is antiquated. The writers of Egypt’s new constitution tried to please both Islamists and secularists, an impossibility, and in doing so left an open door to another uprising and another constitution.
2 — How does it address the rights of Coptic Christians?
Copts are citizens of Egypt. They do not need to have special rights. In a democratic country all citizens are equal under the law. However, this constitution is not democratic and falls short of establishing principles of individual freedom and human rights; therefore, it undermines the rights of all Egyptians especially Christians who remain second-class citizens.
3 — Are Coptic Christians better off today than they were under Mubarak and Sadat, or has their situation worsened?
The situation for Copts is worse than ever. The Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi experiment made life more difficult and oppressive than under Mubarak but reverting to the Mubarak era is not what Copts have risked their lives to obtain. Thus, I believe that if things are to get better in Egypt (real freedom in Egypt), things will first get worse.

Worse now: Decades of adverse conditions for Copts weakened the body of Christians into passivity even before Morsi’s Sharia-leaning, anti-Christian and anti-democracy government came to power. During Morsi’s term, Copts were daily victims of mob violence with no guilty party ever paying the price. Then Morsi’s downfall resulted in a Muslim Brotherhood backlash against Christians faulted for Morsi’s overthrow. Egypt’s new constitutional draft just written proves to be a replica of the Sadat-Mubarak constitution without any promise of equal rights for all citizens.
4 — Has the Arab Spring treated Christians fairly or has the Arab Spring focused more on Islamic concerns and needs, ignoring Christians
Arab Spring is a deceptive label created by western leftists as a misnomer for the Islamic revival in Arab countries. Arab Spring was a massive project instigated by the Muslim Brotherhood in a series of countries with the Islamic Caliphate as its ultimate goal. Christians, like the Jews before them, are meant to be purged from each country. In the Middle East — Egypt, Iraq and Syria – Christians suffered the most losses (property damage, injury, and death). Central Africa – Nigeria and Kenya – on the whole had less impact on the Christian populations, although much suffering.
5 — What is the current state of Coptic Christians? How bad is the discrimination they face?

6 — What needs to be done?
By some miracle this past July, the sea parted for the Egyptian people. Now freedom fighters must be led through this time period by true representatives acting boldly to achieve their ends. First, the police and the army must be cleansed of terrorist and Islamist infiltration, both in ranks and in leadership, in order that the people have real protection. Also, all terrorists and criminals roaming the streets must be rounded up and jailed or deported from Egypt. Already, all Islamic teachings on satellite TV can no longer be seen because TV stations spewing Islamic propaganda have been shut down – a hopeful sign.
As well, this interim time between governments should be used by true liberal leaders to begin to de-Islamize the country. Egypt’s entire school system teaches every subject using Islamic religious doctrine in textbooks responsible for brainwashing students into believing Islam’s supremacy ideology. Authorities must begin to replace all school textbooks in order that Egypt’s future generation of leaders learn well that religion must be separate from the state and that all religions must have equality under the law.
Leaders pursuing a modern state must put in place a plan to reverse the course of adult illiteracy and teach the principles of freedom and democracy. The voting process must be taught as election polls must be lawful and regulated and overseers prepared.
Actually, there are no leaders in Egypt at this moment with any real commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, much less a democratic constitution. But pro-democracy freedom fighters still have power as long as they continue to have General Al Sisi’s support.