On February 5, a fire broke out inside the Church of the Archangel Michael, in a village of the Qena governorate of Egypt. Civil Protection Forces were able to contain the fire before it spread or caused any casualties. Full investigations have yet to be concluded, but so far security sources said that the fire was likely caused by a lit candle inside the church.
This may seem like a plausible explanation to casual observers unacquainted with Egyptian “micro-politics,” but not for those in the know.
“Close to one thousand churches have been attacked or torched by mobs in the last five decades [since the 1970s] in Egypt.”
First, Muslim arson attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt are very commonplace. According to researcher Magdi Khalil, “
And before that—from the seventh century Muslim conquest of Coptic Egypt, up until the twentieth century—tens of thousands of churches were destroyed.
Second, although Muslim hostility for churches has not abated or been “reformed,” in recent years, whenever Coptic churches and other Christian buildings burn, these fires are almost always presented as unfortunate byproducts of “candles,” “faulty wires,” and other “natural” causes.
There are numerous examples of this (here, here, here, here, here). In one month alone, August 2022, a full 11 churches “caught fire.” In one of these fires, 41 Christian worshippers, including many children, were killed in the conflagration.
There can only be two explanations: either the “radicals” have—possibly with insider help, including from sympathizers within state security—become more sophisticated and clandestine in their attacks on churches (in one recent case, surveillance camera caught yet another votary candle suddenly and randomly exploding and creating a fire); or else Coptic Christians have, for some inexplicable reason, become the most careless and fire-prone people in the entire world, as it seems more Coptic churches than any other kind keep “catching fire.”
Why are “accidental” fires in mosques—which outnumber churches in Egypt by a ratio of 40 to 1—completely unheard of?
Considering that the Copts are much more careful with their churches than most Christians—precisely because their churches are so few and widely suppressed and under attack in Egypt—it would seem that the former explanation, that the radicals and their state abettors are the ones behind these constant “accidental” fires, is more logical.
Moreover, if it is true that lit candles, faulty wires, and other electrical problems are behind this upsurge in church fires, why are “accidental” fires in mosques—which outnumber churches in Egypt by a ratio of 40 to 1—completely unheard of?
Could it be that the candles, wires, and electrical circuits of Egypt are also “radical” and biased against churches?
The bottom line is this: up until a few years ago, it was very common to hear of several Coptic churches being torched every year by rioting Muslims in Egypt; in the last few years, however, there have been virtually no such open attacks on churches—even as the same amount of churches continue to burn every year.
Is this sheer “coincidence” or business as usual—though under a new cover?
