Mosques and Churches

One of my work colleagues is Egyptian, a Coptic Christian. She spoke to me on Thursday about some things that she heard on the (Arabic) news.

“They are complaining that Australia is terrible and won’t let them build mosques. Huh! They should talk! How many churches have they bombed in Egypt? They want equality, they say. But their equality works only one way.”

(If you don’t know much about the bombing of churches and persecution of Christians in the Middle East, Voice of the Martyrs is a good place to start.)

Why this inequality? Why are Muslims so happy to claim that they should have mosques here while so determined to destroy churches in their own countries?

It’s because for a Muslim, a mosque represents the fact that you now “own” that country or territory, spiritually speaking. The more mosques, the stronger your ownership is, and the stronger it is felt. As my colleague pointed out, in Egypt there are three mosques to one side of a city block. Their ownership is high there. In Australia, not so much.

But that is also the reason for the churches. A church is a sign of Christ’s ownership of the land. (Which of course He does anyway, even without the church there.) And they hate it. Because Muslims hate the Biblical Christ.

Remember to pray for the Coptic Christians in Egypt, and other Christians in Muslim dominated lands. And likewise, pray that those who are lost in Islam will find the true way to God, Christ crucified and risen for His children.