Egypt: Church Vandal Caught in the Act

During the recent spate of attacks on Christian churches in Egypt, nearly 100 churches, monasteries, and other Christian institutions were destroyed — all in the name of the Muslim Brotherhood. Other churches, however, were “lucky” in that they were “only” vandalized with graffiti.

To the right is one of the rarer instances when a pro-Brotherhood vandal got caught in the act. After placing a picture of ousted Brotherhood president Morsi on the side of St. Fatima, a Chaldean Catholic church in Heliopolis, Egypt, the man was stopped mid-sentence writing “Islamic” on the church door.

Based on other graffiti that was spread on other churches around the same time, he may have been planning to write something like “Islamic, oh you slaves of the cross” (as was spray painted on another church in Heliopolis) or “Islamic, despite Tawadros the Dog” (reference to the Coptic pope, as was painted on the walls of an Asyut church).

At any rate, note how the vandal himself appears “righteously” outraged, even as those preventing him appear passive and apologetic — as if to suggest he is right, after all, to desecrate the church, since those “dhimmi” Christians dared overstep their rights by protesting against Morsi on the June 30 Revolution, but that he should be the “better man” and let it go.