During the early centuries after Christ, Egypt was predominantly Christian. In A.D. 969, the country was conquered by Jawhar al-Siqilli and Cairo founded as the new capital, but thankfully Egypt's Coptic Christian church never completely disappeared. Today, Egypt has the Middle East's largest Christian community. However, the country's constitution gives preference to Muslims and Christians are treated as second-class citizens, being denied political representation and discriminated against in employment. The government uses an 1856 Ottoman Empire law to keep any church from being built, repaired, or even repainted without the permission of Egypt's president.
Christians are also susceptible to attacks by Muslim extremists.
In February 1997, Muslim militants murdered 15 Christians inside their place of worship. I only hope that concerned Christians will take this issue into their churches and into their homes for discussion and that we may ask our legislature to send the message to the world that our citizens care deeply about religious freedom. It is not sponsored or supported by Focus on the Family . This website is not sponsored by any corporation, but it does contain research from creditable sources about Christian Persecution all over the world.