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By Palash R. Ghosh: Subscribe to Palash's RSS feed
February 22, 2012 1:02 PM EST
The Rev. Franklin Graham -- son of famed evangelist Billy Graham – has again questioned U.S. President Barack Obama’s Christian faith and suggested that Obama is overlooking atrocities committed against Christians in Muslim-dominated countries.
Speaking on MSNBC television Tuesday, Graham said: “Islam sees [Obama] as a son of Islam because his father was a Muslim, his grandfather was a Muslim, great-grandfather was a Muslim and so under Islamic law, the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim.”
Graham, who has also doubted Obama was born in the United States, further charged: “I can’t say categorically [that Obama is not a Muslim] because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama… under President Obama, the Muslims of the world -- he seems more concerned about them than the Christians being murdered in the Muslim countries.”
This charge against Obama seems ludicrous.
Indeed, Obama has actually repeatedly called on Egypt’s new government to protect the rights of religious minorities, including Coptic Christians, declaring in a statement: “freedom of religion, the protection of people of all faiths, and the ability to worship as you choose are critical to a peaceful, inclusive and thriving society. And for this season of change to succeed, Coptic Christians must have the right to worship freely in Cairo, just as Shia [Muslims] must never have their mosques destroyed in Bahrain.”
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Graham’s statement that Christians are being murdered in Muslim nations is not entirely false – but he is greatly exaggerating the problem’s true dimensions. However, Graham is correct when he suggests that Christians (and non-Muslims) are discriminated against in most Muslim-dominated nations.
In Egypt -- where Coptic Christians are believed to account for at least 5 percent of the population, making it the largest Christian community in the Middle East by far – sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians has indeed erupted sporadically in the aftermath of the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
(It must be noted that Graham had praised Mubarak for protecting Christians in Egypt during his reign).
Last October, during a particularly bloody clash, at least two dozen Coptic Christians were killed while protesting desecration and attacks on churches in parts of Egypt.
“The high death toll from the clashes on Oct. 9 shows the urgent need for thorough investigations that lead to accountability and better protection for the Coptic community,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch at the time.
Last March, less than two months after the removal of Mubarak from power, a mob of Muslims attacked and burned down a church in Atfih, just south of Cairo – an act that lead to the deaths of at least 12 people and the destruction of several Christian-owned businesses.
Enmity against Copts is nothing new, even though they have lived in Egypt since the very earliest days of the Christian era, before Islam existed.
In 1952, when Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk and established a pan-Arab nationalist republic, the status of Coptic Christians became extremely precarious.
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