Egypt’s Christians want political party

1/2/2012 Mohamed Abdel Salam CAIRO: A number of Coptic Christian activists said on Tuesday that they agreed on the need for the establishment of an independent political Coptic Council away from the influence of the Coptic Church, pointing to the continued policy of marginalization of the Coptic community in Egypt, especially after the revolution, and described their situation as “no different from the era of Mubarak.” The activists added that their situation is “even worse under the rule of the military junta.” The activist demanded, during a conference on the “situation and state of Copts after the revolution,” freedom from the grip of the Church, which,according to them, fell in the “trap of the military council and continued its wrong path in political life and caused the election to turn into a sectarian issue.” Head of the General Coptic Association, Sherif Doss, stressed that the political situation is the “same as it was before the revolution, as the state did not take any action towards the incidents and violations against the Copts.” Prominent activist Naguib Gobraiel said “Copts must unite in one party, as the military junta did not offer anything for the Copts.” He added that “We [Copts] shall make the Party a political bloc, not religious.” BM Source: