Human Shields

Deus Caritas Est
In the midst of the unrest in Egypt, I had to share this now somewhat dated story about Christians and Muslims in Egypt. It exemplifies the powerful vision set forth by a group of 138 Muslim scholars. May it become not the exception but the rule.

The story below is excerpted from this article.

Human Shields
As the Christians in Egypt were preparing to celebrate their Christmas on January 7th – according to the Coptic Church calendar – amidst fears of another and similar deadly attack, grief and insecurity were everywhere and the danger of suspected planted bombs was hovering over almost every church gate in Egypt.

The government had increased and tightened security measures around all churches but nothing alleviated the sense of impending danger the Christians felt except the ingenious idea of an Egyptian Muslim artist – Mohamed El Sawy- who called for Egyptian Muslims to form human shields by standing close to each other joined hand in hand in large circles that would encircle and practically shield every church; and this in a clear message to the world that solidarity between Egyptian Christians and Muslims is hard to be interrupted or sabotaged.

It was a gesture that thousands of Egyptians welcomed and embraced. On the night of Christmas the fears the Egyptian Christians had over attending the Christmas mass vanished to be replaced by the warmth and sincerity displayed by their fellow citizens - Muslims who joined in to celebrate the Christmas with them.

It was the first time for some Muslims to attend the Christmas prayers with their fellow Christians but they felt they had to take a stand and make an obvious statement. They had to tell everybody that civilized people don’t yield to a terrorism plan that easily. And this is what civilized people do when they confront danger; they embrace each other and protect one another. They rally in demonstrations of love and solidarity yelling out the slogan “we live together or die together”.

Spe Salvi
Pope Benedict captured this esprit de corps well: "Those who have hope must live different lives!"