Pew Forum Weekly
Q: I keep hearing different estimates being cited about how many Christians there are in Egypt. What are the facts?
A: The numbers are debated. Media reports, sometimes citing officials of the Coptic Orthodox Church, frequently say that Christians make up 10% or more of the country’s approximately 80 million people. But researchers at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life have been unable to find any Egyptian census or large-scale survey that substantiates such claims.
The highest share reported in the past century was in 1927, when the census found that 8.3% of Egyptians were Christians. In each of seven subsequent censuses, the Christian share of the population gradually shrank, ending at 5.7% in 1996. Religion data has not been made available from Egypt’s most recent census, conducted in 2006. But in a large, nationally representative 2008 survey — the Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey, conducted among 16,527 women ages 15 to 49 — about 5% of the respondents were Christian. Thus, the best available census and survey data indicate that Christians now number roughly 5% of the Egyptian population, or about 4 million people. The Pew Forum’s recent report on The Future of the Global Muslim Population estimated that approximately 95% of Egyptians were Muslims in 2010.
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Danie Mouton skryf ook die volgende op Grenspos oor die situasie van Christene in Egipte
Na Mubarak: Die toekoms van Egiptiese Christene
Die spanning tussen Christen en Moslem is sterk aangevuur deur die aanval op ’n Christelike kerk in Alexandrië op 1 Januarie 2011.
Tog het Christene en Moslems skouer aan skouer teen pres. Mubarak betoog, ten spyte van die Koptiese pous, Shenouda III, se veroordeling van die opstande. Die gemeenskaplike fokus op politieke verandering het eeue-oue godsdienstige twiste tydelik opgeskort.
Na Mubarak se val ontstaan vrees dat die Moslem Broederskap, ’n fundamentalistiese groep, beheer van die land kan verkry. Dit sal erger verdrukking vir Christene meebring. Tog is daar ook hoop dat demokratiese hervorming tot groter gelykberegtiging van Christene sal lei.
Lees meer oor Christene in Egipte na Mubarak in hierdie artikel op Christianity Today se webblad.