Source: The Moshe Dayan Center For Middle Eastern And African Studies
Author(s): Michael Barak
Original Link: https://dayan.org/content/first-all-i-am-egyptian-citizen-and-afterwards-christian-coptic-church-egypt-between
The increasingly close relationship between the Egyptian Coptic Church and the Egyptian regime, since 2013 headed by Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi, has long been greeted with mixed feelings by members of the Coptic community in Egypt. This trend resurfaced in the beginning of December 2018, with the announcement of Patriarch Theodore II’s support for an amendment to the Egyptian constitution that would allow extending the term of the current president. The online discourse sparked by this statement exposes the dissatisfaction of Coptic users with the church’s involvement in politics, their suspicion of the regime’s willingness to actively promote Copts’ rights in the country, and the ongoing erosion of the power of the Coptic Church, partly because young Copts are unwilling to accept the Church as their sole representative in Egyptian politics.
Read more at original link