New Coptic Orthodox Pope Speaks Against Violence, Attacks

Pope Theodore II (al-Anba Bishoy) of Alexandria has stated that he is not intimidated by the rise of Islamism in Egypt since the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying that, "[For] our part, we work with love and respect, we reject violence and...the idea of attacks on property, people, lives and homes." The new Coptic Orthodox patriarch also spoke out against clergy and monks who have participated in political demonstrations. More here.

Aleppan Christians Fear Rebel Attacks

As Syrian rebels attack the city of Aleppo Christians there fear they will suffer as their coreligionists in Homs did. Following Islamist rebels' seizure of parts of Homs most of its 120,000 Christian residents fled the city. More here.

Abductions Up in Egypt as Syrian Islamists Continue Attacks on Christians, Iraqis

It is being reported that planned abductions of Coptic Orthodox women and girls in Egypt have risen significantly since the overthrow there of President Hosni Mubarak, while in Syria Islamist terrorists fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad continue to terrorize the country's large Christian minorities, including the many Iraqi Christian refugees who fled to the country after the US occupation of Iraq. More here and here.

Last Christians in Homs Evacuated

Christians from the Syrian city of Homs have been evacuated under an agreement on the issue between the Syrian Armed Forces and the rebels fighting to take the city. At the time of the evacuation the city, once home to tens of thousands of Christians, only had roughly a hundred left due to Islamist rebels' targeting of the city's churches. More here.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Confirms al-Qaeda Fighters Entering Syria

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has confirmed reports that there is a significant flow of Islamists militants from Iraq into Syria to participate in the Sunni uprisings there against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Supporters of al-Qaeda, theoretically one of the United States' main opponents in the international terrorist scene, are among the militants entering Syria to fight its secularist regime. More here.

Coptic Orthodox Representatives Consider Withdrawal from Egyptian Constituent Assembly

The Coptic Orthodox Church is considering withdrawing its representatives from the Egyptian Constituent Assembly, charged with revising the Egyptian constitution, due to efforts on the part of Islamist members of the Constituent Assembly to strengthen the place of Islamic law in the document. More here. H/t to Ad Orientem.

New Egyptian Government to Include Coptic Vice-President

It has been announced that newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party intends to appoint a Copt and also a woman to the Egyptian vice-presidencies as a sign of his intention to be a president for all Egyptians, very much in opposition to his previous campaign comments on the suitability of women and non-Muslims serving in the Egyptian presidency. More here.

Al-Azhar, Brotherhood Scholars Reject Egyptian Islamist Fatwa

Muslim clergymen and scholars from Egypt's al-Azhar University and its influential Muslim Brotherhood have rejected a fatwa recently issued by an Islamist imam forbidding the country's Muslims from voting for nominal Muslims or Copts (amongst others) in the upcoming Egyptian parliamentary elections. More here.

Maronite Catholic Patriarch Expresses Concern Over the 'Arab Winter'

Maronite Catholic Patriarch Beshara (Rai) has expressed his concern over the ongoing unrest in Syria and much of the Middle East, saying that the so-called 'Arab Spring' may in fact lead to a 'winter' for the region's Orthodox Christians, Eastern Catholics, and Assyrian Christians, as has been the case in Iraq and increasingly seems to be the case in Egypt. More here.

Egyptian Jailed for Anti-Islamic FB Comments

Close on the heels of Egypt's 'Bloody Sunday,' in which Egyptian state media called on Cairenes to come and defend the Egyptian Armed Forces from a "Coptic attack," an Egyptian court has sentenced a man to jail for 3 years for allegedly posting anti-Islamic comments on his Facebook wall. More here.

Egyptian Government to Examine Copt, Muslim Conflicts

In the aftermath of the Cairo clashes between Copts and the Egyptian security forces the Egyptian government has committed itself to examining the church construction issues that led to the clashes. The government previously stated it would make it easier for the Coptic Orthodox Church to repair its existing places of worship and build new ones, but incidents have continued to occur between local Coptic Orthodox parishes and Islamists opposed to changes in the status quo. More here.

Islamists Threaten to Destroy Upper Egyptian Church

Controversy has erupted in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Aswan over the reconstruction of St. George's Church in the village of Elmarinab. The originally church was built over a century ago and was recently renovated using plans approved by the local authorities and reopened in June only to face protests from Islamists from neighboring villages who claim that there was never a church on the site and that they will destroy the church and use its remains as a mosque if Elmarinab's Copts do not agree to remove the church's crosses and domes by tomorrow. More here.

Copts Reject Calls for an Islamist State

Coptic Orthodox political organizations are rejecting calls by Islamists at Friday's demonstrations on Tahrir Square to transform Egypt's January Revolution into a religious revolution, reaffirming their commitment to the establishment of a civil state with equality and freedom for all of its citizens. More here.

Copts, Secularists to Join Friday Protests

Coptic Orthodox and secularist political movements have announced that they intend to participate in demonstrations tomorrow on Tahrir Square alongside Islamist organizations, which had called for protests on a 'Friday of Identity' to defend a supposedly Muslim Egyptian national identity. It appears that the demonstrations will now be in support of 'popular will,' though whether all the Islamist groups originally intending to participate agree with the new designation. More here.

Tajikistani Ban on Minors Attending Services Passes Parliament

The Tajikistani Parliament has passed a bill banning minors from attending services in mosques or churches. The proposed law is intended to halt the growing strength of Islamic fundamentalism in Tajikistan, but would also affect the country's large Orthodox Christian minority. As the bill was proposed to the legislature by the Tajikistani president it is expected to be signed into law shortly. More here.

Egyptian Court Dismisses Shehata Case

An Egyptian court has thrown out an Islamist-backed lawsuit demanding that the location of Camelia Shehata be revealed, stating that investigations had shown she was not being held against her will by the Coptic Orthodox Church. More here.

"The One-Article Constitution"

An excellent article by Sonia Farid on the debates in Egypt over article 2 of the current Egyptian constitution can be found here.

Fundamentalists Block Church Reopening in Cairo

The story of one of the Coptic Orthodox churches Muslim fundamentalists in Egypt have kept from opening (and now reopening) can be found here. Hit tip to Ad Orientem for posting this! Interestingly enough, this sort of thing happens in a low key way in Ethiopia (43% Orthodox, 33% Muslim, 18% Protestant) too. My understanding is that legally you can't build new places of worship within a certain distance of each other. As a result, a number of new mosques have been built along the new highways and roads to raise Islam's visibility in the country and to force churches to build further away from major transportation routes and developing population centers.

Copts Resume Cairo Protests

Hours after ending their protests outside the Egyptian state media buildings in Cairo last week Coptic Orthodox resumed their protests after learning that three churches that the Egyptian government had committed to reopening would not be reopened due to the demands of Muslim fundamentalists. More here and here.

Copt (Turned Muslim?) Turns Herself In

One of the alleged converts from Orthodox Christianity to Islam that Muslim fundamentalists have rioted over in recent days, Abeer Fakhry, has turned herself in to the Egyptian Armed Forces. More here.