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Mideast/N. Africa in flux
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Displaced Egyptian Christians want peace
AQABA, Jordan (BP)--Nabil* stretches out his calloused hand and points to the green cross tattooed into his olive skin near his wrist. It's tiny, and barely noticeable, but it causes problems. Sometimes, a lot of problems.
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Egyptian Christian's goal: restrictions lifted on Gospel
NEW ORLEANS (BP)--The transfer of power in Egypt has the potential to be "even more dramatic than the fall of the Berlin Wall," a Southern Baptist observer said after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11.
"It is a great time for us to pray ... for followers of Jesus Christ living in Egypt and among Egyptians to be bold and effective in living out and sharing the Gospel."
-- professor Mike Edens | "In these uncertain times, I am sure that God is drawing Egyptians to Himself in Jesus Christ. That is of primary importance, but He is also seeking to give all people a government in which our God-given personhood can excel," Mike Edens, professor of Islamic studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press.
"In such environments, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience flourish. Egypt and most of the world has not experienced that. For God to give that gift to Egyptians, an extraordinary period of free discussion by Egyptians of Egyptian concerns, hopes and dreams needs to occur. What has happened in these past days is unique in the Arab and Muslim worlds but it is also rare within the human family.
"This can be an event even more dramatic than the fall of the Berlin Wall," Edens said. "It is a great time for us to pray for God to be glorified in the course of His choosing in Egypt, to pray for followers of Jesus Christ living in Egypt and among Egyptians to be bold and effective in living out and sharing the Gospel."
Amid change, Egyptian Christians are asking for prayer. In an e-mail shared with Baptist Press, an Egyptian Christian asked specifically that believers pray for Mubarak to be succeeded by a godly president who cares for the people; for freedom, including freedom of worship; ...
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'Hang out' with Mideast students & make a difference, U.S. Egyptian student says
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Tapping away on his computer keyboard, David uses Facebook to read the latest on what's happening in Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East -- and to monitor his family's safety.
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Prayer is for grassroots revival in Egypt
| "It's our prayer ... that we're on the verge of something big," Christian worker says | CAIRO (BP)--Hayden Hammond* has his eye on the men wielding clubs and bats in the streets of Cairo, but not for the reason you'd think.
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Amidst chaos, Egypt family structures are shaken & in flux
CAIRO (BP)--The long-running social and political upheaval in Egypt, which toppled the presidency of Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, also has shaken family structures, one Christian worker says, noting that the resulting uncertainty presents a "key" evangelism opportunity for the global Christian community.
"I think we are going to see more people becoming more open [to exploring ideas] and a lot of people who are going to be seeking spiritual answers," said Brad Carmichael*, a Christian worker who has spent time in Egypt. "I also believe there are going to be a lot of people who will become a lot more dedicated [in their religion], including Islam."
Carmichael said that the socioeconomic structure in Egypt -- and primarily in the capital city of Cairo -- has dramatically shifted Egypt in recent years from being family-centric, often with extended families occupying multiple floors of the same high-rise apartment, to separation and isolation from family members. The result is an uncertainty about how to exist in a shifting culture. It raises a lot of questions in their minds, Carmichael said.
"Whereas [families being scattered across America] is common to us," Carmichael said, "that's not common to them, so in all these new dynamics people are going to look to something to be an anchor. Where they are going to look is unfortunately very limited, so the posture of the church both from within Egypt and without is going to be very important. This is a key time for us. Some are going to [believe they've found] their answer in Islam. But others are going to look elsewhere."
To the Western world the chaos in Egypt and Tunisia may appear to have been a spontaneous event, Carmichael said, but it has been "brewing for some time." The protests in Egypt particularly, according to The Economist magazine, were not initiated by an uneducated mob but by socially connected, urban professionals and university students with few -- if any -- future job prospects.
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Egyptian crisis helps believers build bonds
CAIRO (BP)--Two weeks ago, Mina Peter* didn't know a soul in his Cairo apartment building. Like many young Egyptians, the 22-year-old computer science major was simply too busy to make the effort. And as the only Christian in the building, Peter wasn't sure his Muslim neighbors cared to know him.
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WORLDVIEW: Youth in Egypt, elsewhere cry, 'Enough!'
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--It's no coincidence that so many of the people you see demanding change on the streets and squares of Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen and other countries in the Arab world are young.
"Freedom of speech and religion … are the kind of rights every human deserves and that we don’t have in Egypt."
-- Young Egyptian-American | They're the expanding majority, for one thing. Two of every three people in the Middle East are under 24. Half of greater Cairo's 18 million people are under 30.
And they've had it.
"Kefaya!" (enough) is the Egyptian Arabic word heard loud and clear in many of the protests. It's also the unofficial name of a grass-roots political reform movement in Egypt, but it has taken on a far wider and deeper meaning in recent days. It has become a cry of anger, of despair -- and of determination. Young people in the region have had enough of being ignored. Enough of being abused. Enough of being silenced. Enough of being forgotten. Enough of being left behind as the rest of the world rushes ahead.
"The regimes and the leaders are the ones under fire, but it's really about despair over the future," said Sami Alfaraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies, in an interview with the Associated Press.
Egyptian opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei admitted as much. "It's all [led by those age] 30 and below ... who want a future and a hope," he told a reporter as the protests gained momentum.
Food shortages -- and food prices -- in many Arab countries are increasing. Jobs are decreasing. Opportunities for young adults with good educations to get ahead often depend on family "connections" and bribes. Political, social and religious freedoms vary from country to country, but they generally fall far below the liberties Arab young people see their counterparts enjoying in other parts of the world.
David, 23, an Egyptian-American follower of Christ, will never forget the first time his parents took him to visit relatives in Egypt. He was talking loudly on the street when his parents nervously told him to be quiet.
"I can say what I want!" he protested.
"No you can't," they sternly warned him. "This is Egypt!"
In that moment, David understood why his grandfather, an Egyptian Christian pastor, had left his beloved homeland many years before....
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ANALYSIS: Social media sparks change in Middle East, helps spread Gospel
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--Events in the Middle East are throwing the spotlight on social media sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as tools for communications in political uprisings.
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Leaders ask: What if Egypt opens doors to Christianity?
CAIRO (BP)--Louder than a storm siren is the alarm the Middle East is sounding to Christians in the West.
"There's serious urgency here," said Nik Ripken,* who has served 25 years with the International Mission Board and is an expert on the persecuted church in Muslim contexts.
Around the world, people are watching and waiting to see if governments will fall in North Africa and the Middle East -- and if they do topple, into whose hands they will fall.
"Are we prepared to face even greater persecution for the sake of the Gospel?" Ripken asked. "Or what if greater freedom does come? What if there is access to the Gospel unprecedented in this part of the world?"
However the political storm plays out, it's imperative that believers stand at the ready in practical ways, Ripken said, because the result might not be in the form of a white knight riding in with a wagonload of New Testaments.
IF THE GRIP IS TIGHTENED
"There is an extremely naïve thing folks are thinking, that if the governments fall, everything will automatically go our way and be wide open," said Greg Turner,* a Christian leader in the region. "But that's highly unlikely."
Turner, who did work in former Soviet countries after the fall of the Iron Curtain, said he doubts the current unrest will follow that same trail to religious freedom.
"We are talking about radically different cultural backgrounds -- radically, radically different," he said. "In the former Soviet Union, for most of the Iron Curtain countries, their background was some form of historic Christianity. Plus what had happened there was complete suppression of religion."
But in the Middle East, the deep-rooted historical context is Islam, a religion most already claim, he said.
Ripken agrees the two aren't parallel.
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Johnny Hunt prays Cairo will become 'major hub' for spreading of Gospel
CAIRO (BP)--As the situation in Egypt grows more uncertain, pastor Johnny Hunt is challenging Christians in America to pray Egyptians will find freedom of a different kind -- freedom that comes from knowing Christ as Savior. Hunt hopes political reforms in Egypt will result in an environment in which believers can more freely share the Gospel.
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Egypt crisis hits home for U.S. pastor
TULSA, Okla. (BP)--For Alex Himaya, the ongoing crisis in Egypt is personal.
Himaya, whose father is Egyptian, has about a dozen relatives living on the outskirts of Cairo, where protests and violence continue to unfold each day. Some family members have armed guards protecting their businesses from looting.
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In Egypt, Christians praying, hoping for greater freedom
CAIRO (BP)--A thunderous roar went up from hundreds of thousands of Egyptians jammed into Cairo's Liberation (Tahrir) Square Feb. 1 as Hosni Mubarak announced he will not run for another term as Egypt's president.
Mubarak's pledge likely will do little, however, to calm the social revolution sparked by protests against his rule. And the euphoria in Liberation Square turned to rage and fear Feb. 2 as Mubarak supporters violently clashed with protesters who continue to demand his immediate departure.
Rival groups threw rocks and chunks of concrete at each other as injuries mounted. Mubarak loyalists wielding whips and clubs rode horses and camels into the crowd -- and were themselves attacked by angry demonstrators. Shots were heard in some areas of the square; members of several foreign news crews reportedly were beaten.
Soldiers circling the square didn't immediately attempt to stop the fighting. The army had appealed to protesters to go home the night before, but promised not to harm those who refused. It was unclear whether the hundreds of Mubarak supporters were acting on their own initiative or on orders from the government, but they reportedly were bused to the square and allowed to enter it by the army. Similar reports of organized pro-Mubarak groups instigating clashes came from the northern coastal city of Alexandria.
Elsewhere in Cairo -- and in other Egyptian cities -- living conditions continued to deteriorate as food shortages grew worse....
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For Egypt's Christians, conditions could worsen -- or even improve
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The turmoil in Egypt threatens to unleash chaos in a country long ruled by a dictator where militant Islam has been growing for years -- and the outcome is difficult to predict, two Southern Baptist observers said ...
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Egypt's 'shock waves' could quicken Gospel's mobility
 | | The Nile River may be the only peaceful thing flowing through Cairo, Egypt, these days as political unrest continues. The swell of discontent has been building "for several years as the economic situation has deteriorated ..." reports Marshall Jackson*, a Christian worker in North Africa. The death toll rose through the weekend as police clashed with protesters. President Hosni Mubarak fired his cabinet and named a vice president for the first time in his nearly 30-year rule, but has yet to step down. |
CAIRO (BP)--At first, it looked like there would be no reaction. Abdou Abdel-Monaam Hamadah, an Egyptian restaurant owner, set himself on fire Jan. 17 to protest bread prices.
In neighboring Tunisia, a demonstration like that brought down the whole government, but Hamadah's statement met with relative silence.
Media analysts initially speculated that it couldn't ignite fires of protest in the rest of the Arab world, especially Egypt. Demonstrations sprang up in Jordan, Yemen and Mauritania as well, but Tunisia had social conditions unmatched in the others, some analysts said -- a unique perfect storm for revolution.
But it took only a week or so for smoldering embers to ignite. After Egyptian protesters gained momentum and organization, tens of thousands marched Jan. 28 in protest of President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
They spilled out of mosques and churches alike to rally around issues transcending religious barriers -- jobs and food.
The swell of discontent has been building "for several years as the economic situation has deteriorated, and there's been more of a grass-roots feeling, a sense that they're being left behind economically in the world and in the region," said Marshall Jackson*, a Christian worker in North Africa. "[There is] a desire for greater freedoms that haven't been afforded to them."
The death toll rose through the weekend. Police clashed with protesters, then withdrew, replaced by the army, which protected major landmarks but left neighborhoods open to looting. Tanks rolled through plazas; planes buzzed the crowds. Mubarak fired his cabinet and named a vice president for the first time in his nearly 30-year rule, but has yet to step down.
And the crowds say they won't quit until he does.
Protesters, led mostly by young Egyptians as political factions rushed to catch up with events, called for a general strike ...
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Egypt: integral to Christianity's rise
CAIRO (BP)--Calls for a change in leadership have swelled into demonstrations and violent clashes in Egypt, two weeks after Tunisia's government toppled ...
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