12 dead in Egypt as Christians and Muslims clash

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/12-dead-in-egypt-as-christians-and-muslims-clash/2011/05/08/AFFp1pRG_story.html

>>CAIRO — Clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians in a Cairo suburb left 12 people dead, dozens wounded and a church charred in one of the most serious outbreaks of violence Egypt’s interim rulers have faced since taking power in February.

[…]

Salafists, a faction of ultraconservative Muslims, have become increasingly visible in recent months. Christians accuse Salafists of seeking to boost their standing ahead of elections, scheduled for this fall, by fomenting religious tension.>>

And:

Egypt: the two women at the centre of the clashes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8501280/Egypt-the-two-women-at-the-centre-of-the-clashes.html

>>At the time of Mr Mubarak's overthrow, many younger liberals hoped that Egypt's new constitution would be secular. Instead, provisions stating that Egyptian law should be based on Sharia, with rights also for the Christian minority, were left untouched.

This promises to exacerbate the conflict between Muslims and Christians in sensitive areas. Rules against intermarriage underlay many local arguments, often internecine, and frequently exacerbated by the growing role of radical Salafi groups, when young people of different religion are found to be dating.>>

Hopes for an "Arab Spring" may have been premature.

I very much doubt the murdering of Christians is the forerunner to an Islamic country.
Show me, please do, one Muslim country that does not have at least a few bigots in it.
Many Christians, and for that matter Muslims, are murdered by fanatics in many country's.
India has seen Christians burnt to death.
Indonesia too has seen such.
In the end humanity must take responsibility for holding on to fables and Gods in the name of fear and superstition.
Such murders are too often avoidable, when EVERY religion values the right to be different, to worship a different God or no God at all.

dont know

are we witnessing the birth of
a single state in palistein?

guess we wont ever know
the news is so busy with the other stuff
its bud-get time..so dont expect to hear..of either

dont know why yiour brief specificlly mentioned the 'islamic' tag
far as i can tell..

the brother hood says thats not on..[the whole islamaphobic destractions]

sharia has become perverted with bin/lid..larden..et'al
and the cia/mossad destractions..bin laden
taking us away..from the 'other stuff'

possably much more important
than ' destractions'....but media
so loves its latest/destaction..too much
for much more to be heard on your speculation's
at least via the media

Belly,

If and when the Egyptians get around to holding free and fair elections we'll learn whether we're dealing with "a few bigots" or whether the Salfis represent the majority sentiment.

Time will tell.

Dear Belly,

Hold on a minute mate. The report indicated more Muslims died in the clash than Christians. Further the reason for the hostilities was the battered wives of Coptic priests converting to Islam to take advantage of far more lenient divorce laws then finding themselves being spirited off by the Christians to a monastery.

I think a closer look at the Coptics might help inform the situation not withstanding their persecution within Egypt.

Hi csteele

As I said the best gauge of Egyptian sentiment would be a free and fair election. I’m prepared to wait for the outcome of such an election - assuming it is permitted to happen.

That being said I’ll venture a forecast.

The existing military rulers will succeed in co-opting a segment of the Muslim Brotherhood and / or other “Islamist” factions. The pay-off will be a share of the spoils and a modest degree of “sharianisation”. It will be unpleasant for infidels but somewhere short of an outright Islamic Republic.

Thereafter I expect to see “sharia-creep” until Egypt resembles an Islamic Republic in all but name. This process was already under way during the Mubarrak regime. As ever in these cases allowance will be made for the urban elite to enjoy a quasi-Western lifestyle. (cf Pakistan).

Most uprisings start of with high ideals but end up making a bad situation worse. Propaganda from the usual sources about an "Arab spring" notwithstanding I cannot see any reason to suppose the Egyptian one will break the mold?