Sectarian Violence in Egypt continued

I don't want to continue on the same theme forever, but since I've written that last blog I've been seeing articles about Copts and Muslims in Egypt everywhere. In the current issue of Smithsonian magazine, the article "Aftershocks" by Joshua Hammer gave me a closer look at the many factors influencing recent outbreaks of sectarian violence in Egypt. He spent some time meeting with Coptic Christians from many walks of life and interviewing them on their experiences in post-Mubarak Egypt. He also interviewed the head of the Salafist movement in Alexandria and some more moderate Muslim community leaders. It was a relatively balanced article that was helpful in giving a clearer view of the situation. I'd recommend it. (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/A-New-Crisis-for-Egypts-Copts.html)

It left me thinking about two main things. First off, it reminded me that bad consequences usually seem to entail when a religious group is forbidden to build their places of worship. When the group in power forbids a religious group from building their churches, mosques, etc, they are hoping to deprive them of places to gather and of a physical presence in the land. This tactic, seen in Egypt with the building of Christian churches as in France with the building of mosques, is meant to suppress the "undesirable" religious group and to exclude them from having a place in society. But in the cases I've seen so far, it seen to have mostly negative consequences for all involved.

First, the group that isn't allowed to build their mosque/church/temple feels repressed. Being denied places of worship is a pretty clear statement of "we don't want you here." But instead of having the "desired" outcome of decreasing the group's influence, growing sentiments of injustice and persecution often seem to blossom into protests (which sometimes become riots) and sometimes acts of violence. In France, restrictions to where/when/how mosques can be built add to feelings of exclusion and even racism towards France's Muslim citizens, often of immigrant origin. In the past, this clear injustice has been a rallying point for more fundamentalist-style groups. I don't think it's a good idea to make groups get the feeling that they are trapped and oppressed--it could lead to more radical and desperate "solutions" to their problem. One of the main events that led to the recent Maspero riots in Egypt was the destruction of a Coptic church by a group of Muslims who deemed it "unlawful" for them to build.

The second point is one I'm still working out, so I'll leave it open. In so many of these articles, I read about the rise of Salafism, the Muslim Brotherhood/related groups in the wake of so many of these North African (& Middle Eastern) revolutions. Some say that Salafist groups are growing because now they are allowed to gather publicly--to be visible and attract members. But I wonder if these conditions of revolution, change, violence also play a role in making Salafist views more popular than before...it could be interesting to go back to the last chapters of Juergensmeyer and see what he would say.