HG Bishop Angaelos met with a number of
state representatives and officials in Washington DC and spoke at the National
Press Club and the Hudson Institute on 17-18 March regarding the state of
Christians in Egypt and the broader Middle East.
His
Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United
Kingdom spoke to an audience of journalists, government representatives, NGO’s
and media professionals at the National Press Club in Washington DC on
‘Sensitivity rather than sensationalism in media reporting’. After his address
he responded to questions as part of a panel made up of Katrina Lantos Swett,
President of the Lantos foundation, Robert A. Destro, Professor of Law and founding
Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Law & Religion at The Catholic
University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C, Thomas Farr,
Director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University’s Berkeley
Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Journalist for the National
Review, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and Nermien Riad of Coptic Orphans. In his address Bishop Angaelos shed light on the
dangers of sensational reporting, and noted the power of journalism in
influencing public opinion, generating reactions and directly impacting lives.
Praising
journalists for their response to the brutal murder of 21 Coptic Orthodox
Christians in Libya, His Grace said:
“The Coptic community felt encouraged by the
sensitive media coverage of those who were killed in Libya. Their martyrdom was
a turning point for the world, and after this atrocity we must realise that news
coverage is not merely about headlines, ratings, or statistics, it is about
lives.”
He
contrasted this with past coverage of events such as the burning of over 100
Churches and places of Christian ministry in Egypt in August 2013 where
mainstream media was slow to respond. He went on to say,
“It is important that journalists do all they can to
ensure that individuals and communities do not feel forgotten, disregarded or insignificant.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to covering the Middle East, and it is
important that the media is not selective in reporting atrocities.”
Later
in the day His Grace gave a keynote address on the ‘Prospects for Christians in
the Path of Persecution’ at the Hudson Institute. The session was chaired by Nina
Shea, Director of the Centre for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute and
Sam Tadros, Senior Fellow at the Center
for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute made a response to the address by His Grace.
The panel then responded to questions from the audience, who were made up of government
representatives, media professionals, and NGO’s.
In
his address Bishop Angaelos spoke of the increasing intolerance and violence
facing indigenous Christian communities in the Middle East and the danger of the
current model of extremism spreading across the region and beyond. He spoke of
the tendency to generalise the situation facing Christians in the Middle East,
saying:
“The answer is not to empty the Middle East of its
Christians nor to force them to remain in the region to maintain a presence,
but to seek what they desire and enable them to fulfil their own choices, which
will vary depending on many factors including where they live and what their
experience is.
We must realise that many Christians do not desire
to leave their homelands because they are the indigenous people of the region,
so let us look at the Middle East within its own context and not impose Western
models.”
His Grace concluded with reassuring words of
Scripture relating to the state of Christians in the Middle East, saying: ‘We
are hard-pressed but not crushed, persecuted but never forsaken’ (paraphrased
from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
In
response Sam Tadros spoke of the importance of safeguarding the rights of Christians
in the Middle East due to the impact their presence has on the region, saying:
“When we speak about the rights and persecution of
Christians it is not because we care about their presence because we are
Christian, but because the fate of Christians is tied to the whole region
itself…the Christian presence has also been a valued bridge between the East
and the West.”
As
part of his visit to Washington, His Grace also met with Melissa Rogers, Special
Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the White House Office of
Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. His Grace also attended a
Congressional Hearing after which he met with Ambassador Saperstein, the State
Department’s Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
Bishop Angaelos’ engagements on
17 March included attending a Congressional Breakfast on Capitol Hill and
meeting with Co-Chairs of the Middle East Religious Minorities Caucus, Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, and Congressdwoman Anna G. Eshoo. His Grace also met other members of the Caucus, including Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, Congressman Dave Trott, and Congressman Tim Walberg.
During his visit Bishop Angaelos prayed a vespers service at St Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church and preached on the life of the Cross and the recent martyrdom of 21 Coptic men in Libya.
