H.G. Bishop Youssef of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese with the Southern United States said that the world has been watching the promised and historic transition to democracy in Egypt, but the recent and serial attacks on the Coptic Patriarchate and Copts throughout the country has "fundamentally undermined the movement with disgrace."

"The onslaught of innocent Christians in a pervasive and remorseless series of attacks severely threatens the healing of a wounded nation … [A nation] which has been marred by pandemonium and incessant, systematic subjugation of the marginalized Coptic people," Youssef said.

The bishop described the attack on St. Mark's Cathedral during the Khosos victims' funeral, as "deplorable," stating that "Christians have the right to live in Egypt with every human dignity as any Muslim." more >>

The Consultation Chamber in the North Cairo Court postponed the lawsuit filed against Ahmed Mahmoud Abdallah, a controversial entertainer more commonly known as Abu Islam, for contempt of Christianity to May 20, so that related documents can be submitted and processed.

Sheikh Abu Islam previously burned a Bible and called for people to urinate on it during a demonstration of Salafis and Islamic groups in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to protest the anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Muslims, which was released in the summer of 2012.

Abu Islam mocked the Christian faith and Jesus Christ on Al-Ummah [The Nation] TV channel, which he owns. He also infamously claimed that girls who demonstrate in Tahrir Square are Christians who want to be harassed by protesters. more >>

Mohamed Hamd el-Gamal, former head of the State Council, stated that Egypt's Interior Ministry and the Muslim Brotherhood have adopted a plan to eliminate Copts and media figures supportive of Copts in the country.

Gamal added that the detention of Coptic activists who had been injured during the skirmish was a reflection of the current discrimination Copts experience by those in power.

Gamal noted that the authorities have not arrested those people who attacked St. Mark's Cathedral, although cameras captured a large number of them carrying firearms during the attack. more >>

Last week in Egypt, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II delivered an unprecedented condemnation of the escalating religious attacks there against Coptic Christians: "The church has been a national symbol for 2,000 years," he told a television interviewer. "It has not been subjected to anything like this even during the darkest ages. . . . There has been no positive and clear action from the state, but there is a God. The church does not ask for anyone's protection, only from God." Tawadros's appeal was prompted by an unprecedented attack on Cairo's St. Mark Cathedral two days earlier.

A week ago last Sunday, Copts filing out of an evening funeral service at the Cathedral were set upon by a 200-strong Muslim mob that hurled firebombs, live ammunition, tear gas, and rocks at them while they were still trapped inside the Cathedral compound. This reportedly resulted in one Copt, Mahrous Hanna Ibrahim, being killed from a gunshot and in dozens of others being wounded. One Muslim also died after reportedly falling from a ladder, which he had climbed in order to destroy the Cathedral's security camera. The duration of the assault was five hours.

Police were slow to arrive on the scene and when they finally did, they either failed to act or joined in the attack on the Christians at the Cathedral. A reporter with the American-based Morning Star News reported seeing one police officer sitting in his car who "fired a tear-gas grenade into the cathedral compound" where the Christian mourners were pinned down. more >>

Researchers have recently revealed their methods for determining that the Gospel of Judas, a fragmented Coptic text traced to Egypt in approximately A.D. 280, is in fact free of forgeries.

Daniel B. Wallace, professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, contends that although the text may in fact be free of forgeries, it carries no historic credibility, and proves to be a fake gospel that paints a heretic view of Jesus.

The text, which was discovered in Egypt in the 1970s, was analyzed in a 2006 National Geographic Society investigation by a team of researchers led by microscopist Joseph Barabe of McCrone Associates in Illinois to determine if the ancient Egyptian text raised any red flags regarding forgeries. more >>

The Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Holy See of St. Mark the Apostle, H.H. Pope Tawadros II, has accused the Egyptian regime and security forces for failing to prevent the sectarian incidents of El-Khosos and St. Mark's Cathedral.

The patriarch added that security forces came up short in performing their duty, as it was possible to contain the situation by making the right decision to protect innocent citizens. Due to the state of unrest and idleness, forces instead chose the "leniency of law."

Pope Tawadros highlighted the negligence and complacency with which the St. Mark's Cathedral attacks were handled crossed all lines. He also pointed out that the events had reached a chaotic state and placed the responsibility on the state and President Mahmoud Morsi. more >>