[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 15, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H5177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             EGYPT AND THE PERSECUTION OF COPTIC CHRISTIANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there is a cultural and religious 
cleansing sweeping across the Middle East. ISIS has made it clear that 
there is no compromise on religion. It is intolerant of any religious 
belief different than its own. If a person is not a Muslim, they are 
forced to pay a tax, convert, or be executed. In the face of this ugly 
terrorist group that preaches hate, Christians are persecuted.
  But ISIS is just one example of groups that are intolerant of 
Christians. Egypt is a hotbed of persecution of Coptic Christians.
  Some people thought after the fall of Mubarak, things would get 
better, but that hasn't been true for Coptic Christians.
  A schoolteacher told a Coptic teenager to hide his cross that was on 
his necklace. He wouldn't do so, so the teacher encouraged the class to 
punish the boy to protect the name of Allah. His classmates beat him to 
death. He died because he was a Christian.
  A mere rumor that a Muslim girl was dating a Christian boy led to 
church burnings and a curfew for Christians.
  Since 2011, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 
has deemed Egypt a ``country of particular concern.''
  In 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood blamed Coptic Christians for the 
downfall of President Morsi, even though it was the majority of the 
Egyptians that were tired of Morsi's oppressive rule. So Muslim mobs 
battered their way into an Orthodox church south of Cairo, tore down 
the cross, and torched the building. After they looted the church, they 
set the church on fire with Molotov cocktails and gasoline. When they 
left, they spray-painted a nearby wall with the words, ``Egypt is 
Islamic.''
  In all, over 40 Christian churches were destroyed or damaged in 
Egypt.
  Like the Nazi marking of Jewish homes, black Xs are painted on 
Christian stores so attackers know which shops to target. Dozens of 
houses, shops, hotels, and vehicles belonging to Christians have been 
burned and looted.
  The military said it would help rebuild churches that were destroyed, 
but the law requires non-Muslim places of worship to receive 
Presidential approval before rebuilding a church; and of course, 
Presidential approval is very difficult to obtain. So this is the 
government's way of stopping construction of Christian churches across 
Egypt. The government is still not protecting Coptic Orthodox 
Christians and their churches.
  Coptic Christians are often treated as second-class citizens by the 
government. Bishoy Boulous was charged with blasphemy, or ``defaming 
Islam,'' in 2009 because he wanted to change his religion on his 
national identity card from Muslim to Christian.
  You see, Mr. Speaker, in Egypt you have to put your religious 
affiliation on your identification card.
  After receiving multiple threats, his wife and his children were 
forced to flee the country. The prosecutors have ignored court 
deadlines for his trial, and he remains in prison today.
  President el-Sisi has staked his legacy on the fight against 
terrorism, ISIS, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Ensuring human rights for 
Christians must be given the same priority.
  Four years after the so-called Arab Spring, attacks against 
Christians have not stopped. In February, 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians 
were beheaded by ISIS. The brutal mass murder was filmed in a 5-minute, 
highly produced video and disseminated by ISIS' propaganda arm. When 
their relatives got permission from the President of Egypt to build a 
church in the memory of the martyrs, they were attacked by rock-
throwing radical mobs.
  Coptic Christians just want to be left alone and worship and exercise 
their religion. They want to be able to gather on Sunday without 
fearing the church they are in will be bombed or burned. They want to 
live in peace without having to hide from radical, intolerant mobs 
ready to attack them.
  These are not unreasonable requests. They are basic freedoms. Our 
ally, Egypt, must do a better job of protecting all religious groups.
  Religious freedom is a human right. We guarantee in our First 
Amendment, and, Mr. Speaker, it is the first right of the five rights 
mentioned in the First Amendment. That placement is not accidental.
  The right to practice one's religion is a basic human right. Egypt 
should protect all religious groups, including Coptic Christians, from 
religious cleansing.
  And that is just the way it is.

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