What does this mean for Egypt’s Christians?  Somehow I doubt this is good news for Christians in Egypt.

Morsi claims min his speech that he is for all Egyptians, including Christians.

Unfortunately the west doesn’t don’t have the same influence in Egypt that we have in e.g. Libya.  That can’t be helped, but hopefully western goverments can bring maximum pressure on the islamist government to conform to international norms.

Like where has that happened?  Saudi Arabia?

Sorry, Egypt is now an Islamic state and will act like one.  I also suspect that we will have one man one vote one time.

#1, Christians are hanging their hopes on the military council to keep the Islamists in check.  I fear it can’t be done, but time will tell.

Br Michael - there are lots of Islamic states in the world and they aren’t all the same.  Its about time westerners came to terms with that fact, because we have to live with them whether we like it or not.

I hope it is clear that my comment in #6 explains the fundamental response to the question in #4.

Now to add to Katherine’s comment in #5:  The new Islamic government in Egypt has a delicate balancing act.  Morsi is driven by the more extreme elements of his constituency to a confrontation with Israel, but he will get little thanks from the moderate side if he does so, hence his very restrained comments. 

The slaying of the Egyptian president in 1981 essentially sums up Morsi’s dilemma:  The Islamists were able to put together enough numbers to make a plot to assassinate Sadat, but they could not raise up major demonstrations or other dissent against his policy of rapprochement with Israel.  His successor Mubarak continued that policy with little sign that any mass of Egyptians disagreed with it.

Even the Arab League had to concede on the issue.  They suspended Egypt from membership in 1979 over its relationship with Israel, but neither Sadat nor Mubarak were moved by this, in the absence of any major popular concern at home.  In 1989 the Arab League quietly lifted the suspension.

I suspect Iran recognises this - it has been less than effusive in its welcome to the new Egyptian islamist government because it recognises the reality that Egypt is in the western orbit and unlikely to move very far from it.

It might have helped if the West had given more active support to the uprising, and hence gained more influence which could have been used on behalf of the true moderates in Egypt.  But that was always difficult to do, compared to Libya.  Anyway, what’s done is done and now we all just have to make the best of it.

#1, one of the practical things we in the west can do for Christians in Egypt is to bring any persecution promptly to the attention of our political representatives.  Western political pressure carries a great deal of influence in Egypt.  Their economy is heavily dependent on western tourism, and they have to live next to Israel (and now, also next to a western-oriented Libya).  Morsi knows that if he alienates ordinary Egyptians by affecting their living standards, his popular support could shrink to just the small number of extreme islamists. If that occurs, the Army won’t lift a finger to help him.

So write to your local representative whenever an issue comes up for Christians in Egypt.  Encourage others to do the same.  It will have an effect.