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Pope urges Iraq to embrace its Christians on historic visit
Author: Nicole Winfield and Samya Kullab
Publication Date: 5/3/2021
Source: Associated Press
Pope Francis opened the first-ever papal visit to Iraq on Friday with a plea for the country to protect its centuries-old diversity, urging Muslims to embrace their Christian neighbors as a precious resource and asking the embattled Christian community -- “though small like a mustard seed” -- to persevere.
How Cairo’s Heliopolis heritage managed to remain uncovered
Publication Date: 15/2/2021
Source: Al-Monitor
Residents of Cairo’s affluent district of Heliopolis have recently succeeded in stopping at the last minute the construction of a bridge in the heart of the neighborhood that in the eyes of its residents would have threatened its main heritage area. The project was part of the Egyptian authorities' ongoing plans to develop the capital's infrastructure with the aim of solving its increasing traffic problems and improving the connection with surrounding cities.
The new bridge in Heliopolis would have stretched 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across the neighborhood’s largest and oldest heritage sites, according to the Heliopolis Heritage Initiative, a civil initiative aiming to protect and revive the district’s quality of life that led efforts in stopping the construction of the bridge. The bridge would have run across the most important square in Heliopolis, where its famous 108-year Basilica is located, several buildings of historical importance and Ittihadiya Palace.
Egypt's plan to remove Quran from school textbooks faces backlash
Publication Date: 27/2/2021
Source: Al-Monitor
Egypt’s parliamentary Defense and National Security Committee, chaired by Maj. Gen. Kamal Amer, discussed during a Feb. 14 meeting a plan by the ministries of culture, religious endowments and education to remove Quranic verses and hadiths (the prophet's sayings) from textbooks, and limit their inclusion to books for religion courses.
The meeting was held upon the request of the committee’s member Farid el-Bayadi, who put forward the plan aimed to counter extremism, and in the presence of Deputy Minister of Education Reda Hegazy.
Missionary forced to leave Turkey appeals to ECHR: 'God called us there'
Author: Leah Marie Ann Klett
Publication Date: 10/2/2021
Source: The Christian Post
David Byle, a Canadian-American Christian who was forced to leave Turkey after 19 years because of his evangelistic work, has filed a deportation complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
Alliance Defending Freedom International announced it filed an application on Byle’s behalf with Europe’s top human rights court.
“Everyone has the right to choose their religion and to express it publicly and privately. Being forced to suddenly leave the country you have called home for two decades simply because of what you believe is the stuff of nightmares,” said Robert Clarke, deputy director of ADF International.
Court hearing for Pastor Michael
Publication Date: 11/2/2021
Source: Middle East Concern
Prayer was requested for Pastor Michael Feulner of Yalova Lighthouse Church for a court hearing today contesting a security designation that would effectively ban him from the country.
On 11 February Michael and his lawyer attended the hearing at the administrative court in Istanbul. They were given 10 minutes to present their case. The three-judge panel asked no questions and the lawyer representing the immigration department had no comment.
Christian Heritage Still Under Threat
Publication Date: 11/2/2021
Source: FSSPX News
The Surp Toros (St. Toros) Armenian Church in the Kutahya region of western Turkey has been razed to the ground. Armenians have once again experienced the Turkish state's contempt for the country’s Christian heritage.
The ancient Armenian Church of St. Toros of Kutahya was built in the Middle Ages during the reign of Sultan Murad. Destroyed in 1603, then rebuilt immediately afterwards, the building was considered an important place of Armenian memory.
Monitoring group: School textbooks in Turkey call Jews and Christians ‘infidels’
Author: Cnaan Liphshiz
Publication Date: The Times of Israel
Source: 4/3/2021
School textbooks in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been revised to refer to Jews and Christians as “infidels,” according to a new study.
Whereas previous textbooks referred to members of those religions as “People of the Book,” textbooks such as “Fundamental Religious Knowledge,” a publication released after 2017 that is part of the mandatory curriculum in Turkish elementary schools, have switched to calling them by the pejorative, according to the study published Thursday by the IMPACT-se watchdog group.
Grand Mufti of Egypt says OK for Muslims to build churches
Publication Date: 12/2/2021
Source: Al-Monitor
The Grand Mufti of Egypt issued a fatwa permitting Muslims to work in church construction, which sparked controversy on social media with activists recalling previous fatwas on Salafist websites prohibiting such works.
It seems the Egyptian authorities have been promoting the participation of both Muslims and Copts in the building of houses of worship as a standard to achieve peaceful coexistence in the country since the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood regime on July 3, 2013. In this context, politicians and media outlets hailed the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of Qena’s Feb. 7 decision to donate funds for the completion of Al-Numani Mosque’s construction works.
