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Eye on the World: further attacks in Egypt
Egypt experienced much violence last week when security forces on Wednesday attacked two Cairo protest camps full of supporters of ex-President Mohammed Morsi. Later that day, a wave of attacks on Christian churches, shops, and homes around the country took place as nearly 50 churches and monasteries were burned, looted, or otherwise disturbed. On Friday, clashes between police and protesters took place across the country, bringing the death toll for the week to almost 800. Egypt’s interim, military-backed leaders declared a state of emergency, and seek to stem the violence between Morsi supporters and those who demanded his resignation earlier this year.
How can we pray to support peace, when the situation in Egypt seems to be deteriorating so quickly? One place to start is by challenging the concept that Egypt — or any part of the world — can be defined by intolerance, instability, or insecurity. “The quest for peace and stability in Egypt,” written just this week, argues that prayer can provide a firm basis for this sort of mental protest. “True government and universal brotherhood,” says the author, “are divine ideas that cannot be separated by enmity or strife. They are not limited to any one religion or group of people.”
“Counteracting hate” expands on this concept by explaining the motivation behind mindless violence as impersonal evil, which can be neutralized by the collective understanding that God is the Father and Mother of all, an all-powerful force for unity. God does not sanction violence in His name.
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