Muslims attack Coptic Church and people

[Kollyvas]

http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-48-23

The Cross and the Crescent
By Oleg Liakhovich The Moscow News
THE CASUAL OBSERVER

Looks like Russia finally got its own version of "Christmas controversy". You know, the sort where some idiot would throw a fit (and simultaneously file a lawsuit) every time he saw a Nativity scene displayed in public or heard a Christmas tree referred to in connection with... well, Christmas, instead of "holidays". However, since the local brand of politically correct unhappy customers in this case consists of radical Islamists, who are as far from your average Western atheist liberals as one can be, it would make sense bringing it all closer to home and recall how the Islamists of the United Kingdom achieved England's St. George's Cross being banned from the workplace by some faceless bureaucrat so as not to "offend Muslims." St. George's Cross appears as part of Britain's Union Jack and has been England's sole national flag in the past.
Now, it's Russia's turn. Recently, a group of top Muslim clerics have demanded that Orthodox Christian symbols be removed from the Russian coat of arms and have complained about the Russian authorities and power-wielding structures allegedly refusing to abide by "the principle of secularity".

"This is not only a question of the Russian coat of arms. We can say that icons are all but put up on the walls of state offices," Nafigulla Ashirov, chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Asian Russia, told journalists.

He accused units of the Defense and Interior Ministries and the Federal Security Service of appropriating various saints "who are allegedly the patrons of warriors". "The power-wielding structures, the authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchy are erecting large crosses at border posts and the approaches to towns. Orthodox chapels are being built in the command bodies of the armed forces," he lamented.

In his turn, Damir Mukhetdinov, deputy head of the Spiritual Board of the Nizhny Novgorod region's Muslims, shared the Muslims' concerns. Their feelings are insulted by the Orthodox presence in the Russian coat of arms.

"We, the Muslims of Nizhny Novgorod region, were wholeheartedly in favour of introducing the unity of the peoples holiday. We could not have imagined, however, that the sound of Orthodox bells and the icon of the Virgin of Kazan would become the symbols of this holiday in Russia," he said about the day of people's unity. The mufti is convinced that "all this violates the secular nature of the state and doesn't contribute to the unity of Russia's peoples".

Ali Visam Bardvil, head of the Spiritual Board of Karelia's Muslims, too, believes that the presence of Christian symbols in the coat of arms is impermissible. He said that Russia "is neither a Muslim nor a Christian country".

"The cross is not a Muslim symbol. We respect the religious feeling of Christians but do not recognize the crucifixion of Christ," the Muslim figure clarified. "Therefore," he went on, "in my opinion Orthodox symbols should be removed from the coat of arms to make it acceptable to all religions." Bardvil emphasized that Muslims would support all politicians calling for a change to the current symbols in the Russian coat of arms.

Looking back at British experience, one might also recall how novelty pig calendars and toys - featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet - were banned from one council office - in case they offend Muslim staff. As The Daily Telegraph columnist Mark Steyn brilliantly put it: "If Islam cannot 'co-exist' even with Pooh or the abstract swirl on a Burger King ice-cream, how likely is it that it can co-exist with the more basic principles of a pluralist society?"

Looking back even further in history, one might also discover that the founder of Islam, prophet Mohammed himself, while never and advocate of peace some tend to make him appear, was never offended by Christianity or its symbols. But of course, some of his modern followers know better.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=48064

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Muslim grinches steal
Bethlehem Christmas
World leaders, media blame Israel for fleeing Christians

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Posted: December 25, 2005
3:36 p.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

BETHLEHEM – With Christmas services here drawing far fewer tourists than in the 1990s and the town's Christian population now at an all-time low, many world leaders and hundreds of major media outlets this week blamed Israel for Bethlehem's decline – often citing false information – while a simple talk with the town's residents reveals a drastically different picture. They say Muslim persecution has been keeping Christians away.

"All this talk about Israel driving Christians out and causing pain is nonsense," a Bethlehem Christian community leader told WND. "You want to know what is at play here, just come throughout the year and see the intimidation from the Muslims. They have burned down our stores, built mosques in front of our churches, stole our real estate and took away our rights. Women have been raped and abducted. So don't tell me about Israel. It's the Muslims."

The Bethlehem leader, like many Christians on the streets here, would not provide his name for publication for fear of retaliation.

Bethlehem's Christian population has declined drastically after the Palestinian Authority took control in December, 1995. Once 90 percent of the city, Christians now compose less than 25 percent, according to Israeli survey information. Christmas celebrations this year attracted about 30,000 tourists – 10,000 more than last year but down from an average of 150,000 in 1994.

Many Christians told WND they face constant Muslim hostility.

One religious novelty-store owner cited examples of Muslim gangs defacing Christian property, the PA replacing Christian leaders on public councils with Muslims, and armed Palestinian factions stirring tensions. One such incident was last week's storming of Bethlehem's City Hall, across the street from the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, by gunmen from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.

The store owner said "We are harassed but you wouldn't know the truth. No one says anything publicly about the Muslims."

Indeed many leaders in attendance at Christmas Eve Mass in Bethlehem last night took the occasion to blame Israel's recently constructed security fence in the area for Christian woes.

In a televised midnight Christmas speech, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said "Palestinians are seeking a bridge to peace instead of Israeli walls. Unfortunately, Israel is continuing with its destructive policy ... (and) transforming our land into a big jail."

Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, speaking at St. Catherine's Church, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, called for Israel to remove its "separation barrier, which is causing all kinds of hardships and affecting normal life in Bethlehem."

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, urged Israel "to build bridges and not walls" and blamed Israel for "[compelling Christians] to leave the land of their birth for foreign lands on account of the political situation."

And a sampling of American media coverage of this weekend's festivities seems to find Israel mostly at fault for the decline in Christian living conditions and population figures.

A widely printed Associated Press article by staff writer Sarah El Deeb opens, "Thousands of tourists and pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations Saturday, bringing a long-missing sense of holiday cheer to Jesus' historic birthplace. ... But Israel's imposing separation barrier at the entrance to town dampened the Christmas spirit and provided a stark reminder of the unresolved conflict."

Today's San Francisco Chronicle states, "For centuries, pilgrims from around the world converged on the Palestinian town of Bethlehem at Christmas, packing Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. ... In 2002, Israel began building a 25-foot concrete wall around the city, severing it from Jerusalem and the northern West Bank. Today, the streets of Bethlehem are quiet."

An earlier article by the Chicago Tribune blamed Israel's fence, constructed in 2002, for collapsing Bethlehem's economy and prompting Christians to leave, even though the mass exodus began seven years prior.

"A towering wall of gray concrete slabs, 30 feet high, cuts across what was once the main road into this town from Jerusalem. Just inside the barrier, past a new Israeli security terminal, a once-bustling neighborhood has become a ghost town. Shops are shuttered or empty, and the streets are deserted. ... The deteriorating economy has led to a steady exodus of the city's Christian residents," the Tribune article reads.

HonestReporting.com notes the various press accounts are factually inaccurate.

Contrary to the Chronicle report and scores of other media accounts, there is no barrier that encircles Bethlehem. A fence exists only where the Bethlehem area interfaces with Jerusalem, and only a small segment of the fence is a concrete wall, which Israel says is meant to prevent gunmen from shooting at Israeli motorists.

The Bethlehem economy the past few years has actually improved significantly. Tourism has doubled compared to last year, and Bethlehem's main industries are up: Textiles by 50 percent, stone and marble export by 40 percent, and commercial transportation 20 percent. The increases have reportedly brought an influx of millions of dollars into the Bethlehem local economy.

Israel says the Israeli Defense Forces this year is making access to Bethlehem easier for tourists. IDF Lt. Col. Aviv Feigel said, "The military will try to speed the process by not checking every tourist bus, but conducting spot checks of random buses instead." The IDF also instituted a bus shuttle service to Bethlehem to speed travel time to the city.
For years, Bethlehem was largely Christian. But when the PA took control in 1995 it publicly expanded Bethlehem's boundaries reportedly to ensure a Muslim majority, incorporating into the city over 30,000 Muslims from adjacent refugee camps. Then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally replaced the Christian-dominated city council with a largely Muslim leadership.

Since then, there have been a steady stream of reported abuses and persecution.

An aide to Latin Patriarch Sabbah who asked that his name be withheld told WND the PA has been appropriating lands of the Greek Orthodox Church in Bethlehem and building mosques on the formerly Christian land.

He said he is aware of several cases in which Christian women were raped and murdered, but the alleged criminals were not arrested.

"The Palestinian security forces know who did these crimes. They know where the criminals live. Still nothing to arrest them," said the aide.

The novelty store owner told WND he was shot by Muslims in 2001. He said the assailants are still at large.

Cases involving other alleged anti-Christian violence in Bethlehem include attacks against Christians in 2001 after a Palestinian Muslim leader called for a "jihad" against both Jews and Christians; riots that spilled over from Ramallah in 2002 in which Muslim mobs burned Christian businesses and attempted to destroy churches; and regular reports of shootings and threats.

Israeli security officials say over 100 cases of anti-Christian violence are reported to the Palestinian police every year. They estimate most incidents go unreported.

In one of the most infamous cases of anti-Christian violence, Palestinian terrorists in 2002 holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and refused to release the religious staff inside. There were reports the gunmen, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, looted the facilities, desecrated the church and even used the Bible as toilet paper.

One document later captured by Israel indicated the terrorists also demanded monetary support from Bethlehem town officials.

The Bethlehem store owner said he took comfort from the words of Pope John Paul II, who visited the city the same year as the church siege.

Speaking to a gathering of Christians, the pope said, "Do not be afraid to preserve your Christian heritage and Christian presence in Bethlehem."

---

Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Mahmoud al-Zahar and leaders of the Taliban.

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http://www.mospat.ru/index.php?page=29002

Orthodox Christians of Kabardino-Balkaria sent presents to Chechen children

On 23 December 2005, dean of the Orthodox churches in Kabardino-Balkaria Archpriest Valentin Bobylev visited the Republican children’s’ rehabilitation center ‘Raduga’ (‘Rainbow’) where children of the Chechen Republic are treated.

The visit took place in the framework of a charity action, participating in which were Orthodox parishes of Kabardino-Balkaria, Republican film and video association and law enforcement officers.

Archpriest Valentin Bobylev presented children with toys and expressed his hope for these presents to be a visible sign of the beginning of a new peaceful life for the scorched by war children. ‘We become closer to one another and become capable of living in peace and accord only when our souls become close to One True God’, he said.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1227/p01s ... .html?s=t5

Why European women are turning to Islam

By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

PARIS – Mary Fallot looks as unlike a terrorist suspect as one could possibly imagine: a petite and demure white Frenchwoman chatting with friends on a cell-phone, indistinguishable from any other young woman in the café where she sits sipping coffee.
And that is exactly why European antiterrorist authorities have their eyes on thousands like her across the continent.

NO, LISTEN: When Mary Fallot converted, her surprised co-workers asked if she had a Muslim boyfriend. Actually, she explained, she was drawn to Islam by the answers it provided.
PETER FORD

In the Monitor
Thursday, 12/29/05

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Ms. Fallot is a recent convert to Islam. In the eyes of the police, that makes her potentially dangerous.

The death of Muriel Degauque, a Belgian convert who blew herself up in a suicide attack on US troops in Iraq last month, has drawn fresh attention to the rising number of Islamic converts in Europe, most of them women.

"The phenomenon is booming, and it worries us," the head of the French domestic intelligence agency, Pascal Mailhos, told the Paris-based newspaper Le Monde in a recent interview. "But we must absolutely avoid lumping everyone together."

The difficulty, security experts explain, is that while the police may be alert to possible threats from young men of Middle Eastern origin, they are more relaxed about white European women. Terrorists can use converts who "have added operational benefits in very tight security situations" where they might not attract attention, says Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm.

Ms. Fallot, who converted to Islam three years ago after asking herself spiritual questions to which she found no answers in her childhood Catholicism, says she finds the suspicion her new religion attracts "wounding." "For me," she adds, "Islam is a message of love, of tolerance and peace."

It is a message that appeals to more and more Europeans as curiosity about Islam has grown since 9/11, say both Muslim and non-Muslim researchers. Although there are no precise figures, observers who monitor Europe's Muslim population estimate that several thousand men and women convert each year.

Only a fraction of converts are attracted to radical strands of Islam, they point out, and even fewer are drawn into violence. A handful have been convicted of terrorist offenses, such as Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" and American John Walker Lindh, who was captured in Afghanistan.

Admittedly patchy research suggests that more women than men convert, experts say, but that - contrary to popular perception - only a minority do so in order to marry Muslim men.

"That used to be the most common way, but recently more [women] are coming out of conviction," says Haifa Jawad, who teaches at Birmingham University in Britain. Though non-Muslim men must convert in order to marry a Muslim woman, she points out, the opposite is not true.

Fallot laughs when she is asked whether her love life had anything to do with her decision. "When I told my colleagues at work that I had converted, their first reaction was to ask whether I had a Muslim boyfriend," she recalls. "They couldn't believe I had done it of my own free will."

In fact, she explains, she liked the way "Islam demands a closeness to God. Islam is simpler, more rigorous, and it's easier because it is explicit. I was looking for a framework; man needs rules and behavior to follow. Christianity did not give me the same reference points."

Those reasons reflect many female converts' thinking, say experts who have studied the phenomenon. "A lot of women are reacting to the moral uncertainties of Western society," says Dr. Jawad. "They like the sense of belonging and caring and sharing that Islam offers."

Others are attracted by "a certain idea of womanhood and manhood that Islam offers," suggests Karin van Nieuwkerk, who has studied Dutch women converts. "There is more space for family and motherhood in Islam, and women are not sex objects."

At the same time, argues Sarah Joseph, an English convert who founded "Emel," a Muslim lifestyle magazine, "the idea that all women converts are looking for a nice cocooned lifestyle away from the excesses of Western feminism is not exactly accurate."

Some converts give their decision a political meaning, says Stefano Allievi, a professor at Padua University in Italy. "Islam offers a spiritualization of politics, the idea of a sacred order," he says. "But that is a very masculine way to understand the world" and rarely appeals to women, he adds.

After making their decision, some converts take things slowly, adopting Muslim customs bit by bit: Fallot, for example, does not yet feel ready to wear a head scarf, though she is wearing longer and looser clothes than she used to.

Others jump right in, eager for the exoticism of a new religion, and become much more pious than fellow mosque-goers who were born into Islam. Such converts, taking an absolutist approach, appear to be the ones most easily led into extremism.

The early stages of a convert's discovery of Islam "can be quite a sensitive time," says Batool al-Toma, who runs the "New Muslims" program at the Islamic Foundation in Leicester, England.

"You are not confident of your knowledge, you are a newcomer, and you could be prey to a lot of different people either acting individually or as members of an organization," Ms. Al-Toma explains. A few converts feel "such a huge desire to fit in and be accepted that they are ready to do just about anything," she says.

"New converts feel they have to prove themselves," adds Dr. Ranstorp. "Those who seek more extreme ways of proving themselves can become extraordinarily easy prey to manipulation."

At the same time, says al-Toma, converts seeking respite in Islam from a troubled past - such as Degauque, who had reportedly drifted in and out of drugs and jobs before converting to Islam - might be persuaded that such an "ultimate action" as a suicide bomb attack offered an opportunity for salvation and forgiveness.

"The saddest conclusion" al-Toma draws from Degauque's death in Iraq is that "a woman who set out on the road to inner peace became a victim of people who set out to use and abuse her."

[Kollyvas]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=48107

Judges asked to rethink 'Islamic-indoctrination'
Parents challenging public school that taught kids to 'become Muslims'

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Posted: December 29, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Parents and children challenging a California school district for its practice of teaching 12-year-old students to "become Muslims" are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling in front of the entire panel of judges.

As WND reported, the lawsuit was filed by the Thomas More Law Center against the Byron Union School District and various school officials to stop the "Islam simulation" materials and methods used in the Excelsior Elementary School in Byron, Calif.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit – widely regarded as the nation's most liberal federal appeals court– upheld a San Francisco federal district court's ruling that the Byron Union School District did not violate the U.S. Constitution.

The Thomas More Law Center, however, contends the panel did not address the plaintiff's claims that their free exercise and parental rights had been violated.

Edward L. White III, trial counsel with the Law Center, says parents were never told about the Islamic program and didn't know they had the option to remove their children from such an activity.

White says one of the parents found out by accident, looking through her son's schoolbag after the program had finished.

The Law Center says that for three weeks, "impressionable 12-year-old students" were, among other things, placed into Islamic city groups; took Islamic names; wore identification tags that displayed their new Islamic name and the star and crescent moon; handed materials that instructed them to 'Remember Allah always so that you may prosper'; completed the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith, including fasting; and memorized and recited the 'Bismillah' or 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,' which students also wrote on banners hung on the classroom walls.

Students also played "jihad games" during the course, which was part of the school's world history and geography program.

In December 2003, the San Francisco court determined the school district had not violated the Constitution.

In her 22-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton determined Excelsior was not indoctrinating students about Islam when it required them to adopt Muslim names and pray to Allah, but rather was just teaching them about the Muslim religion.

But White insists a line was crossed, placing the students in the "position of being trainees in Islam, which is impermissible in a public school."

When WorldNetDaily first reported the story in January 2002 – shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks committed by 19 Islamist terrorists – major controversy ensued nationwide.

The course was part of a curriculum taught to seventh-graders all over the state, included in the state's curriculum standards required by the state board of education. Although the standards outline what subjects should be taught and included in state assessment tests, they didn't mandate how they're to be taught.

At the end of the three-week course, Excelsior teacher Brooke Carlin presented a final test requiring students to critique Muslim culture.

The Islam simulations at Excelsior are outlined in the state-adopted textbook "Across the Centuries," published by Houghton Mifflin, which prompts students to imagine they are Islamic soldiers and Muslims on a Mecca pilgrimage.

The lawsuit also alleges students were encouraged to use such phrases in their speech as "Allahu Akbar," which is Arabic for "God is greatest," and were required to fast during lunch period to simulate fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Nevertheless, Judge Hamilton ruled the program was devoid of "any devotional or religious intent" and was, therefore, educational, not religious in nature.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2 ... %2C00.html

Taliban Behead Teacher for Educating Girls
Wednesday, January 04, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Taliban militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched, officials said Wednesday, describing the latest in a string of attacks targeting educators at schools where girls study.

Four men stabbed Malim Abdul Habib eight times late Tuesday before decapitating him in the courtyard of his home in Qalat, said Ali Khail, a spokesman for the provincial government of Zabul, where the attack took place.

The assailants made Habib's wife, four sons and four daughters watch, Khail said. His children were between the ages of 2 and 22. No other family members were hurt.

The insurgents killed Habib, 45, after he refused to go with them to meet their commander, said the victim's cousin, Esanullah, who goes by only one name.

The attackers fled and Habib's wife called the police, Khail said. Police are questioning three people who were guests in the victim's home at the time.

Habib was the headmaster of Shaikh Mathi Baba high school, which is attended by 1,300 boys and girls.

Zabul, a remote and mountainous province populated mainly by Pashtuns and bordering Pakistan, is a hotbed of Taliban militancy. The former Taliban regime prohibited girls from attending school as part of its widely criticized drive to establish what it considered a "pure" Islamic state.

Zabul province's education director, Nabi Khushal , blamed Taliban rebels for the killing.

"Only the Taliban are against girls being educated," he said. "The Taliban often attack our teachers and beat them. But this is the first time one has been killed in this province."

Cleric Sayed Omer Munib, a member of the nation's top Islamic council, said there was no justification in Islam's holy book, the Quran, to prevent girls from studying.

"Nowhere in the Quran does it say that girls do not have the right to education," he said. "It says that 'people should be educated.' This means girls, too."

Hundreds of thousands of girls have returned to school since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

A UNICEF spokesman said the attacks were "incredibly worrying."

"Militants are clearly trying to intimidate communities and force families not to send their girls to school," Edward Carwardine said. "We hope these incidents will not deter families. ... Fortunately, so far we have not seen a decline in girls attending."

He said about 90 percent of Afghan adults are believed to support educating girls. Many of those who oppose it are in conservative rural areas dominated by ethnic Pashtun where the Taliban — who also are Pashtun — are most powerful.

The government condemned the killing. Masood Khalili, the Afghan ambassador to Turkey, where President Hamid Karzai was visiting, said it was "disgusting action by the enemies of Afghanistan."

Esanullah said Habib resumed a more than 20-year teaching career two years ago after the Taliban threatened him while he was working for an aid group helping the disabled. Since then, the Taliban had warned him twice to stop teaching.

Habib's funeral Wednesday was attended by hundreds of students and teachers.

Taliban spokesmen and commanders in the region, one of the most volatile in Afghanistan, could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the past year, Taliban insurgents have occasionally put up posters around Qalat demanding girls' schools be closed and threatening to kill teachers, Khushal said.

He said 100 of the province's 170 registered schools have been closed in the past two to three years because of poor security. Of the 35,000 students attending schools in Zabul, 2,700 were girls, he said.

There has been a series of attacks on girls' schools and teachers across Afghanistan since the Taliban regime fell. In October, gunmen killed a headmaster in front of his students at a boys' school in southern Kandahar province, the former stronghold of the Taliban regime.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/19 ... School.htm

Coptic Orthodox school enjoys growth

Bishop visits for fundraiser for St. Clement academy

By Jeannine F. Hunter

Staff Writer

There is a link between education and salvation, knowledge and faith, Bishop Youssef of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States said here yesterday.

"We thank God for the school you have given for the children to raise them in the true faith," said the bishop, who was the honored guest at a fundraiser last night at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel to benefit Nashville's St. Clement Coptic Orthodox Christian Academy.

"All of his life, the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching the people the mysteries of heaven through parables, through miracles, through teachings of the Old Testament," said the bishop, whose diocese spans from Tennessee to New Mexico and consists of 27 priests serving 20 churches and 26 Coptic communities. "He instructed, before his ascension in heaven, all of his disciples to go and preach and teach and make disciples in the whole world."

Operating in the basement of St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church, St. Clement is the nation's first Coptic Orthodox school, according to church leaders. It serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Students come from Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and Iraq, among other nations. It is named after a theologian who served as dean of the church school of Alexandria, Egypt, and died in A.D. 215.

"All the disciples paid very, very close attention to the issue of education and learning," the bishop said. "Wherever they went, they established schools and continued to learn and train others. St. Mark went into Egypt and established the first school based on the teachings of Christ in Alexandria, which became so important, the school's dean became the patriarch of the church in Alexandria."

The Coptic Church's beginnings are rooted in the teachings of St. Mark, a disciple of Christ, who took Christianity to Egypt in the first century A.D., according to church tradition. It has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in 451, an ecumenical council in which there was a schism among Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches over the divine and/or human nature of Jesus Christ.

Coptics believe that Jesus Christ's humanity and divinity are united in one nature.

In 2000, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Coptic Orthodox pope of the city of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark the Evangelist, visited Nashville to consecrate St. Mina. This was the leader's first visit to Tennessee, home to some of the fastest-growing Coptic communities. Shortly afterward, the pope, who formerly led the church's educational programs, expressed interest in the development of a Coptic private school to serve the greater community of Nashville.

The local Coptic community consists of about 2,500 people, said St. Mina priest Father Boutros Boutros.

There are large Coptic Orthodox communities in Houston, New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, which has 27 churches, he said.

Five years after Pope Shenouda's visit, St. Clement Coptic Orthodox Christian Academy is a school with 65 students, growing from 25. Enrollment has grown primarily through word-of-mouth because the 5-year-old school has not initiated either a marketing or publicity campaign, said Principal Fausta Curatolo.

"A school not only teaches the children but also the entire community," Curatolo said Friday morning, minutes before she, teachers and students assembled to attend the day's worship service. "(Pope Shenouda's) vision was so clear. He did not want people to come into a strange land and forget who they are, their traditions, their language. While retaining the bond, we are also helping families learn about their new home. For example, we will teach English and provide awareness for the families."

Local families helped establish Nashville's St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church 18 years ago as the state's first Coptic Orthodox church. Since then, other congregations developed, including St. Pishoy in Antioch, headed by Father Mina Iskander.

Students may study four languages: Arabic, English, Spanish and Coptic, now spoken primarily by the faithful during liturgy and taught by Father Boutros Boutros, who also teaches a Coptic hymn class.

During the liturgy on Wednesday and Friday mornings, some of the boys in the school chant, light incense and perform other tasks to assist the priest during the worship service.

Long-term goals for the school, which holds membership through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, include expansion to accommodate high school students and designation as a NASA Explorer School, a partnership of innovative science and mathematics instruction for students in grades 4 through 9 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Coptic Orthodox Church

Mark the Apostle, a disciple of Christ and author of the oldest canonical Gospel, established the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt in the first century A.D., according to church tradition.

There are five Coptic Orthodox congregations in Tennessee: St. Mina and St. Pishoy churches in Nashville; St. Athanasius in Chattanooga; the Coptic community in Knoxville where a priest from another community travels to officiate at services; and St. Mary & St. Rueis in Memphis. Worldwide, there are 27 million Coptic Christians.

The church's leader is the patriarch of Alexandria of the Holy See of Saint Mark, Pope Shenouda III, the 117th pope.

The word "Coptic" refers to the ritual language of the Coptic Christian church. It is written in the Greek alphabet with additional characters.

Earlier this month, Egypt's first Christian satellite television channel began broadcasting. Established by the Coptic Church, Aghapy Television is the nation's first television channel to broadcast programs with a Christian outlook, according to a BBC report last Monday.

SOURCE: CIA World Factbook; Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern U. S.; Coptic Orthodox Church Network; BBC.