WATANI International
6 November 2011
For decades on end, Copts in Egypt had got used to hearing Christianity derided and abused through mosque microphones and, later, through religious programmes on radio and TV. This is not to say that this was standard practice, but it was sufficiently rampant to pain Christians.
Satellite TV, however, brought to Egypt Christian satellite channels broadcast from outside Egypt, which offered viewers a generous dose of Christian programmes. On the inter-religious level, however, some of these channels defended Christianity in the face of the Islamic moral onslaught, while others offered a version of extremism from the other side of the religious spectrum: the Christian side.
Church at home
The 1990s brought to light the first Christian satellite channel in Egypt, the Evangelical Sat 7 TV. In the early 2000s, the Coptic Orthodox Church’s first TV channel, Aghapy, went on air in 2005, followed by Coptic TV (CTV) in 2007. These channels neither responded nor retaliated to the derision of Christianity, and Christians in Egypt felt they finally had a voice on the airwaves. The channels aired religious ceremonies and services, sermons and hymns, and shows that advocated biblical teachings. Many felt that the church and its services had indeed come to them at home, which was the literal slogan used by Aghapy. Especially for the elderly or those unable to go to church frequently, this was an invaluable service.
During the last couple of years, however, the escalation in violent attacks against Copts led Sat 7 and CTV to change strategies, shifting from the strictly religious focus to one that included coverage and discussion of Coptic issues, as well as rights and public causes.
The most recent of the Coptic channels that went on air has been Mar Morqos channel, which was launched one month ago.
Appallingly non-Christian
Egyptian Christian channels aside, Egypt has not been immune to channels which propagate extremist thought. Notorious among them is al-Hakika, broadcast from California by Christian convert Ahmed Abaza, who has apparently made it his business to expose all what he thinks is wrong with Islam. And he has no moral—or Christian—qualms about that. Many Copts on all levels of society practically boycotted the channel for its utterly offensive manner in attacking Islam.
“This manner goes against the very basics of Christian principles,” a carpenter in his forties who lives in the underprivileged Giza district of Barageel told Watani. “We don’t hurt other people in that way just to prove a point. And our Christian faith definitely doesn’t need such belittlement of other faiths to thrive.”
Another Christian, a young female reporter who lives in the middle-class district of Shubra, said she took the channel off her favourites list. “I can’t bear to see all that hatred,” she said. “It’s so appallingly non-Christian.”
Yet al-Hakika became the uninvited guest on many TV sets in Egypt a couple of weeks ago; inadvertent viewers found themselves receiving it as they browsed through the channels. It turned out that al-Hakika was now being broadcast on the Egyptian NileSat satellite and was thus easily accessible to viewers, while before it could have only been received through the European Hotbird satellite.
Sowing sedition
The notion of al-Hakika on TV screens in Egyptian homes had Christians in Egypt into paroxysms. The offensive, anti-Islamic extremist address was sure to stoke the fire of hatred against Christians, despite the fact that they have been the first to denounce it. But who was responsible for making al-Hakika so accessible? The fingers pointed at Media Minister Usama Heikal, since NileSat is a State-owned Egyptian satellite.
A group of Coptic lawyers, headed by Ibrahim Edward and Tharwat Bekheet, filed a claim with the public prosecutor against the Media Minister and the Interior Minister, the Head of the Media Broadcasting Regulatory Authority and the Head of the Egyptian Satellites Company. Al-Hakika channel, the claim declared, which alleges to be a Christian channel, has been for a few years broadcasting on the European Hotbird satellite. Through its coverage it seeks to sow sedition among Muslims and Christians and deride Islam which, according to the plaintiffs, was a fact well known to the defendants when they allowed its transmission on Nilesat. By welcoming this channel on Nilesat, Mr Edward remarked, the defendants committed crimes of disrupting peace and national security, and tampered with and endangered national unity and social peace. The plaintiffs demanded prompt investigation into the matter, as well as the annulment of the broadcasting licence granted to al-Hakika.
The Coptic Church: “not ours“
For its part, the Church in principle rejected al-Hakika channel’s extremist views, as well as its role in sowing hatred and sedition among members of different religions.
When asked about the channel, Anba Yu’annis, Secretary of Pope Shenouda III, said the Coptic Church had nothing to do with it. “I may answer for Aghapy, CTV or Mar Morqos channels, all sponsored or supported by the Coptic Church, but I am in no position to answer for any other channels which claim to be Christian.”
In case of Watani…
A couple of years ago, Watani was asked to print an advertisement, as part of an advertising campaign, for the then “new Christian channel, al-Hakika”. Once several of the reporters tuned to it, however, they were appalled by the hostile, degrading manner in which it approached Islam, and which only reflected an ill attitude of an entity which lacked any vision or mission. They reported the matter to Watani’s editor-in-chief Youssef Sidhom who, once he got wind of the kind of material broadcast by the channel, promptly ordered the annulment of the advertisement campaign in the paper.
This story vividly came to mind in conjunction with the Media Ministry’s recent decision to allow al-Hakika channel to broadcast via the Nilesat. The question that begs an answer is whether Mr Heikal knew about al-Hakika when it was granted licence, or whether the channel was licensed without any knowledge of its identity or attitude?
Whatever the answer, the only wise move to be taken now is to revoke the licence, unless there is a desire to set Egypt on fire.