ISIS News Today 2017: Islamic Terror Group Continues to Target Coptic Christians

By Felix N. Codilla III, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Persecution against Orthodox Copts by an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has escalated in the past weeks. Repeated violence is perpetrated against Orthodox Copts, forcing dozens of families to flee their homes in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

The Coptic Orthodox Church has its roots in Egypt, making it the main Christian religion there. Its 12 million members account for 10 percent of the country's 90 million people. The church has a million more members in other countries in Europe, Africa and Australia.

According to About Religion, Coptic Christianity was founded in 55AD by the apostle Mark, the author of one of the four Gospels. Regarded as the first Pope of Alexandria, Mark purportedly ordained Anianus as the first bishop in Egypt along with seven deacons.

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The Coptic Church is one of the five oldest Christian churches along with the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Church of Jerusalem, and Church of Antioch. It separated from the Catholic Church at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. It was accused of teaching only one nature of Christ although it claims to believe in Jesus' divinity, too.

The wave of attacks against the Copts began in 2013 after the downfall of Muslim President Mohammad Morsi. Christians were accused of supporting the newly installed administration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who launched a crackdown against Islamists. The militants retaliated by conducting 300 attacks on the Christian community.

Now that the terror group's campaign to control Iraq and Syria has lost steam, it is trying to to regain its relevance in areas where it has a foothold, including the Sinai region.

"As the Islamic State comes under pressure in Iraq and Syria, it has to show movement on other fronts," Zack Gold, non-resident fellow of an international affairs research organization told New York Times. "One of them is to demonstrate that it is still fighting a sectarian war," he added.