[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 25, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 22--CONDEMNING THE NEW YEAR'S DAY ATTACK ON THE 
    COPTIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT AND URGING THE 
GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT TO FULLY INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE THE PERPETRATORS 
                          OF THIS HEINOUS ACT

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Wicker, 
Mr. Cardin, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Levin, Mr. Casey, Mr. 
Johnson of South Dakota, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. Kyl) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                               S. Res. 22

       Whereas Coptic Christians are a native Egyptian population 
     and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria was founded by 
     the Evangelist Saint Mark the Apostle in approximately 42 
     A.D. and is the oldest Christian church in Africa;
       Whereas Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian 
     community in the Middle East and the largest Christian 
     minority group in the region;
       Whereas Coptic Christians account for at least 9 percent of 
     Egypt's population of 80,000,000 and number more than 
     3,000,000 outside of Egypt, including 1,000,000 in the United 
     States;
       Whereas, on New Year's Day 2011, a suicide bomber targeting 
     Coptic Christians blew himself up in front of the Saint 
     George and Bishop Peter Church in Alexandria, Egypt killing 
     at least 21 people and injuring almost 100 others;
       Whereas President Barack Obama and other world leaders have 
     condemned the attack and called for its perpetrators to ``be 
     brought to justice for this barbaric and heinous act'';
       Whereas the head of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, 
     Pope Shenouda III, has called on President of Egypt Hosni 
     Mubarak to increase security for the Coptic Christian 
     community and to reach agreements over the building and 
     repairing of churches, including the adoption of a single law 
     applicable to both churches and mosques; and
       Whereas the freedom of religion is central to the ability 
     of people to live together and must be upheld by the laws and 
     practices of every democratic nation: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the New Year's Day 2011 attack on the Saint 
     George and Bishop Peter Church in Alexandria, Egypt;
       (2) expresses its deep condolences to the Coptic Christian 
     community who suffered from this attack and lost their loved 
     ones and to all Egyptians who have suffered from terrorist 
     attacks;
       (3) calls on President Hosni Mubarak and the Government of 
     Egypt to continue to fully investigate the bomb attack and to 
     lawfully prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous act;
       (4) calls on President Hosni Mubarak and the Government of 
     Egypt to continue to enhance security for the Coptic 
     Christian community and to work to ensure in law and practice 
     religious freedom and equality of treatment for all people in 
     Egypt;
       (5) calls on the President to work with the Government of 
     Egypt to identify the perpetrators of the New Year's Day 
     attack; and
       (6) calls on the Secretary of State to address the issues 
     of religious freedom and equality of treatment for all people 
     in Egypt with the Government of Egypt.

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