Will the Egyptian people seriously consider this new Constitution before the time of the vote?
OR
Will the thousands who still gathered in Tahrir Square in protest of the President's recent power-play simply reject the proposal that was so quickly passed after many liberal, secular, and Christian voices felt disregarded in the 6 month discussion process?
AND
How many are really able to give the Constitution serious consideration?
With high illiteracy attempting to comprehend 234 Articles that took the framers 19 hours to simply vote on--how will the bulk of the population be able to correctly understand and vote on intelligently on this cornerstone for a new democracy in Egypt?
We have not viewed a copy of the document, but there reports of expanded Presidential powers as well as limited freedoms for media--whether or not these statements are true is hard to determine from the brief bits of information gathered from the reporting on a few of the Articles. There are already rumored concerns that peoples' votes in favor of the Constitution could be swayed with the promise of a bottle of oil and some bread. These are serious questions and accusations at a time when many people feel a strong division has been created in the country--some going as far as likening it to the precipice of "civil war".
Demonstrators have not left Tahrir, as you will see from the videos below--and countless thousands simply do not want to go and expose themselves to the possibility of violence in such gatherings, but are equally dissatisfied with moves of the President and the sudden approval process of the draft by the controversial Constituent Assembly. Many felt the rush of the process was simply to help provide President Morsi a way out of his "Pharaoh-like power" without looking weak.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood and others supportive of President Morsi have made the right decision to not demonstrate their support in Tahrir where so many continue to gather in protest. They will instead hold their demonstration at Cairo University on Saturday. This, again, is a wise move that will hopefully prevent further bloodshed or unnecessary loss of life in the midst of very passionately divided groups.
The need to continue to Pray for Egypt continues; Thank you for your ongoing interest and support...
UPDATES below Before we move forward to current events, let's review:
President Morsi made a decree last week that gave him unprecedented powers that would be above judicial correction in a country without a Parliament or Constitution. He stressed that these powers were temporary to safeguard the goals of the 2011 Revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak; he and the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party have repeatedly said that these powers exist only until a new Constitution is in place.
The same decree prevented the apparent dissolution of the second Constitution Assembly and gave the group additional time to finish the project. The Constitution draft had been widely scrutinized as lacking real clarity on key issues, and was hotly debated due to retaining the 2nd Article's wording that based Egyptian law on the "principles of Sharia" rather than the Islamist groups desires of simply "Sharia" based law. In recent weeks, the Constituent Assembly had witnessed all the Christian and a majority of the moderate/liberal representatives resigning nearly daily in protest of being disregarded by Islamic representatives; President Morsi spokesperson countered in a statement saying that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi Nour parties are not the majority of the assembly, and that the "resignations" were merely "power plays" as many had not yet filed the official papers removing themselves from the Assembly.
President Mori's supporters praised this "bold move" and were thrilled that they were going to finally have the power to remove the remnants of the former regime from current government positions, as well as to retry those former government officials (including Mubarak) who some say got off too lightly. Such power above Judicial oversight, and the ability to retry people who have already had their day in court, drew much criticism and objection from half the judges in the country who are protesting in a variety of ways; a meeting between Morsi and the lead Judiciary members led to no compromise.
Not Happy Campers:
Anti-Morsi protestors in Tahrir on Tuesday night--
groups continue to gather and demonstrate,
hoping to exceed this number on Friday. (photo by Hossam Fadl as used on EgyptIndependent)
President Morsi and his supporters may have underestimated the number who would disagree with this Presidential decree. Opposition groups, including former Parliamentarians, Judeges and most of the former Presidential candidates, have united in calling for the repeal of this decree; formerly these groups were divided by religious, civic, and social goals--now they're all united in the call for a repeal of this power. Some violent opposition groups took to fighting security forces, storming Muslim Brotherhood offices, and causing clashes with Morsi supporters. More peaceful demonstrations numbered in 10's of thousands a few nights ago, filling Tahrir Square. The opposition demonstrators continue in the streets and squares and are attempting to maintain momentum to a Friday gathering.
Meanwhile, President Morsi and the Freedom and Justice Party have continued to stress that they will not repeal this decision, claiming (despite the numbers of protestors) that the majority of Egyptians are on their side.
Now, this is what's happening in the past 24 hours (November 28-29, 2012)...
The small story: Death Penalty...
New Prosecutor General, also a result of the Presidential decree, moved quickly to obtain the "death penalty" for the 7 Coptic Christians living abroad who are alleged to have links in financially supporting the film "Innocence of Muslims"--the same poorly made film whose YouTube trailer sparked anti-American protests throughout the Middle East. Of course, the decision would only be applied if any of the individuals returned to Egypt.
The bigger story: New Constitution Draft Soon?
Perhaps in an effort not to prevent President Morsi from having to repeal the controversial decree, the remaining Constituent Assembly members (maybe 55 of 100) say they will not need the additional 2 months of time given by the decree and will finalize the Constitution for a vote as early as today. In this CNN Article...
In a Time Magazine interview, President Morsi said, "My chief responsibility is to maintain the national ship to go through this transitional period...What I can see now is, the Egyptians are free," he said. "They are raising their voices when they are opposing the president and when they are opposing what's going on. And this is very important. It's their right to express and to raise their voices and express their feelings and attitudes. But it's my responsibility. I see things more than they do." (emphasis mine)
Quoting from the CNN article, "Sameh Ashour, head of the lawyers' syndicate and a former member of the council, said that only 55 of the 100 original members of the assembly remained, and all of them were from Islamist movements such as the Salafists or theMuslim Brotherhood, Morsy's political movement. 'The Muslim Brotherhood are stealing the constitution,' he said. 'They are tailoring it according to their view after Coptic church representatives, civil movements, and revolutionary representatives withdrew.'"
Is this move to speed up the Constitution an effort to help President Morsi "save face", and prevent the first freely elected leader from looking weak? A couple of the analysts interviewed by CNN think it's a possibility. Aly Hassan, a judicial analyst affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, said "This could be a way for him to get out of this debacle without reversing his decree and decisions." AND, H.A. Hellyer, analyst of Brookings Institution, said "I think his advisers are figuring out a way where he can climb down a little bit to defuse the situation without coming across as weak."
What a new Constitution Draft means...
If passed by the Constituent Assembly, the Constitution Draft would be placed before the Egyptian populace for review and then vote within 15 days.
There are several issues (see article 1, article 2, article 3, and article 4 for starters) that could further embolden the opposition against President Morsi and the Freedom and Justice Party's efforts to push this Constitution through; however, the issue with the greatest divisive potential is within Article 2's wording regarding the basis of Egyptian law upon the "principles of Sharia".
Currently the demonstrations are against a perceived abuse of power--if the wording of Article 2 is changed to simply "Sharia" (especially after all the resignations of Christian and moderate/liberal representatives), the demonstrations and protests may become a religious divide that would pit Islamists like supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi's Nour Party against moderate-Muslim, Christian, and secular voices.
If, however, the wording is not changed to simply "Sharia", the backlash upon the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi by the Salafi's Nour Party and other fundamental Islamist groups could be similarly intense. These groups were angered by the failure to change Article 2 when they witnessed the first draft, released on October 10; these groups took to demonstrations that sparked media and community debates on the course of democracy in the new Egypt. President Morsi's largest support base in his run-off election win was within the Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi supporters; losing the support base of the Islamists who want Sharia in addition to all the current opposition groups would be a huge political blow to the embattled President.
In either case, if a Constitution Draft is passed within the next few days, the following 15-day period leading up to the vote on a new Constitution is likely to be a particularly tense time.
Thank you for your continued interest and support -- PRAY for Egypt...
UPDATES--4:00 pm local time...
Constituent Assembly has begun approving the 234 articles, one article at a time:
-- 85 members of the 100 are present*
-- Article 2 passed with "principles of Sharia"
-- Article 3, stating "Christians and Jews may resort to their own religions on issues of personal status", passed
-- if the draft is fully approved today as many expect, it will be submitted for review by President Morsi on Saturday, and he will announce the date for the public's vote
The Popular Current issued a statement Tuesday calling for maintaining peaceful protests. The statement held Morsy responsible for the violence that occurred, and warned that if it continued, Egypt could fall into a “civil war.”
“This is an exit. After the referendum, all previous constitutional decrees, including March 2011’s decree and the current one that created all this political fuss, will fall automatically after 15 days,” Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan told Reuters.
“The secular forces and the church and the judges are not happy with the constitution, the journalists are not happy, so I think this will increase tensions in the country,” said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University. “I don’t know how the referendum can be organized if the judges are upset,” he added.
A new CNN video/interview asks a President Morsi spokesperson whether or not this Constitution approval has been too quick:
Strikes and demonstrations continue in several major squares as we head into Egypt's weekend; the demonstrations were near enough to the US Embassy that it cautioned its citizens not to come in today, though stressing that the demonstrations were not against the US Embassy, just near to its gates.
These demonstrations are likely to continue into the night and into what will likely be a busy demonstration day in downtown Cairo and other cities throughout Egypt. As the opposition demonstrations continue, the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups have called for their own "million man march" to demonstrate support of President Morsi's recent declaration. Obviously, large groups of demonstrators representing opposing ideals is not a recipe for a peaceful day.
Thanks again for your continued interest and prayers...
Hey--did you know that Three-Worlds now has its very own YouTube channel? It's true--from the serious to the complete nonsensical humor of the Team are now being uploaded regularly from across the Europe and Middle East region.
Check it out for yourself from this link: ThreeWorldsTV
On the channel, you'll find 2 newer videos that were created this past month here in Cairo.
This next interview with Nathan was late at night--we didn't realize at the time just how tired we sounded! Well, live and learn--we'll do future interviews earlier in the day and hyped up on caffeine ;)
Have a request for an interview or video? Feel free to pass them along...
Earlier this week, Egypt President Mohammed Morsi was basking in the praises of global leaders and media for his role in negotiating a peaceful ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.
Last night, the same President Morsi drew harsh criticism as he gave himself sweeping powers within Egypt. The criticism from political opponents led to protests on the streets immediately, and the call for a "million man march" today (Friday, November 23) to demonstrate the opposition to such "anti-democracy" decision making.
President Morsi has been claiming to be a President for "all Egyptians"; yet, his only supportive voices after this Kate's announcement are his Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom & Justice Party, and the Islamist Salafi's Nour party. These groups are also planning to gather in all the squares today--not in protest, but in support of Morsi.
Such gatherings of opposition and support are likely to produce violence in city squares throughout Egypt.
While we have retreated with the CCF to the Mediterranean coast near Alexandria, the older Christian Egyptians we are serving are very much aware and alarmed over the news reports and commentaries playing on the one television in the conference center lobby.
I'm writing this post from a blog app that doesn't allow me to embed story links into the text, so please excuse the long strings of web address codes that follow; as you read these news articles, please pray for Egypt in these next few hours particularly as hundreds of thousands begin filling the square ls throughout the country:
CCF canceled services last night, in part to threats of ongoing demonstrations downtown and the other in part due to fatigue from this weekend's retreat.
The frequent US State Department warnings now include that the Embassy employees have been cautioned against using the popular and frequently used Metro "subway" system for travel; we, of course, use the Metro line ourselves each week particularly for getting to and from the meetings of the CCF.
There are definitely "two-sides" forming now, in-support-of OR against the President's new powers. As the following Al-Jazeera video begins, on the streets, it's difficult to discern who is for what and the chaos seems to spiral out of control. There are some reports of assault against female teenagers by men during the riots.
Meanwhile, rival demonstrations are scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 27 -- and scheduled to take place near to each other. Many are preparing for the possibility of unrest again, as we have heard that some schools in Cairo are preparing to release early in the day; one of our kids' schools will not hold after school activities tomorrow as a result of these scheduled demonstrations.
A new story within the last hour or so is that President Morsi quietly passed a new law that may "pave the way for the Brotherhood to control the trade federation" -- there is not much information on this story yet, except that it was met with disapproval by current trade leaders.
The next few days will be interesting--continue to Pray for Egypt...
Muslim Brotherhood "postpones demonstration" in favor of President Morsi--this is good, and hopefully will prevent some of the anticipated clashes today. We will see whether or not all Islamists in favor of President Morsi follow suit and allow opposition groups to express their disagreement peacefully.
Fatalities from this latest wave of unrest have now reached 3.
CNN article has many good video clips and pictures, including these: first, commentary on the disputes over the new Presidential edict...
2nd, This next video represents defense of the President's edict by one of Morsi's advisors, as well as reporting on the Judicial meeting:
and this one, which shows video from the streets during the recent unrest:
Thank you for your continued interest and prayers for Egypt...
Formerly Bishop Tawadros, the new Pope had been serving the Beheira province of Egypt. Then Bishop Tawadros was among five candidates presented for vote by 2,000 members of the Coptic Church on October 29; as one of the top three vote recipients, Bishop Tawadros' name was written on a piece of paper and placed within a box on the altar at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo.
Yesterday, as you can see from this brief video clip, a blind-folded altar boy selected from the three pieces of paper.
Pope Tawadros II replaces the leadership of Pope Shenouda III who died in March. Pope Tawadros enters this leadership role at a unique and tumultuous time in Egyptian history; the day before this installation, it was announced that the three Coptic representatives resigned from the Constituent Assembly. That assembly was charged with the drafting of the new Constitution, but "secular" and moderate Muslim leaders alike have been withdrawing from the leadership in the last week with complaints of being silenced by the Islamist majority.
(I hope to write more on this later this week).
But for now...
I've appreciated the process the Copts have of selecting this senior leadership. There's the vetting process of selecting qualified candidates, which are then submitted to a vote (though not by all) to further narrow the field in a process of ratification. Then. there's the unpredictability of "casting lots", along with the symbolism of a child's innocence, and even the blindfold.
What about you...
Do you think western churches would dare to select their leadership by such a process?
Do you see this process as one of "faith" through which there exists the greater possibility of Spirit-determination rather than majority-determination?
Do you know of another leadership selection process by a faith group that is different from the norm of majority election or ratification?
The RT guys discussing aspects of our new life in Egypt.
Contrary to the norm, it's been over a week since we last posted to the blog--that's not been because we're lazy and nothing's happening! On the contrary, things have been busy and there's been a lot happening here in Cairo, Egypt and the Middle East.
Over the past week, we've been hosts to the Three Worlds Roundtable. The Roundtable is an "added layer of accountability" for Patrick and Jamie Nachtigall's leadership of this new mission paradigm for the Church of God in Europe and the Middle East. Patrick and Jamie invite a select group of pastoral and missional strategists (who have also demonstrated a desire for deep partnership in 3W) to act like a Board of Directors: hearing and reviewing reports of personnel, decisions, transitions, finances, hurdles, and successes. They also speak into current events/initiatives, as well as potential future events (through hypothetical case study discussions) to help Patrick and Jamie effectively lead a diverse team, across a diverse set of countries and cultures.
Nathan gets a few extra days in Cairo.
This year's participants included Pastor Rod Stafford and Pastor Alan MacDonald (Rod is the Lead, and Alan directs Global Engagement) both from Fairfax Community Church outside of Washington, D.C. Also attending was Pastor Andrew Gale, who similarly directs mission engagement at the Church at the Crossing in Indianapolis, Indiana (the congregation in which Ken grew up). And Nathan Tatman, Outreach Pastor for Countyline Church of God in Auburn, Indiana. (Bob Moss, Senior Pastor of Salem Church of God outside of Dayton, OH also contributed via a Skype conference). All but Nathan have returned home as of this morning; Nathan will stick around to learn more about our family before heading to Greece to partner in some work with other 3W leadership.
A potential, large part of our role in the Middle East is to connect outside groups and leaders from North America and Europe to the Christians in the Middle East, and to help them better understand the challenges and cultures in which their faith is experienced and expressed. So, hosting a group like this within our first year gave us a good trial run at understanding the preparation, organization, and the work that hosting requires. We think we did a pretty good job--but these guys were easy--all they did was sit around and work all day ;) Future groups will require more transportation logistics as well as potential project supervision. This was a good experience for us and we're eager to begin making preparations for the next group.
We were also just really blessed by their presence and fellowship over the past week. They didn't just come in and act like we were hotel management; they were sincerely interested in knowing and interacting with the kids--and that was great for them.
During the week, we also had a visit from Dr. Latif, pastor in Alexandria and Secretary for the Egyptian National Church of God's Executive Committee. This visit was long overdue, and we were able to catch up and make plans for future meetings to work through additional issues. We are blessed by the sincere friendship we have experienced with Dr. Latif and we look forward to all the potential plans of service we can offer the Egyptian church.
The Cairo Christian Fellowship, whom we serve weekly, is preparing for their annual Fall Retreat in a couple weeks, and their Christmas programs next month. CCF at Christmas is sure to be a delight--why don't you make plans to join us? ;) We're also discussing how to launch a children's program for the CCF--pray for these developments.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, there are many interesting headlines:
one Islamist extremist was broadcast calling for the destruction of the Pyramids and Sphinx on the grounds of idolatry; many, many oppose such rhetoric claiming that no one actually worships the Pyramids.
An Egyptian citizen died in Lebanese clashes this past week--but not in the northern part of the country where ongoing skirmishes exist among pro & anti Syrian regime; the Egyptian died in a southern skirmish between Hezbollah and Sunnis. We are used to getting State Department warnings from the US government cautioning us to avoid crowded areas where trouble may exist; now Egyptian citizens are receiving similar warnings.
Oh--there's so much more that's going on. It would be difficult to catch you up on all our coming-and-goings, headlines, and possibilities. We will write more in the next couple days to keep you better informed; thank you for your continuing interest, prayers, and encouragement...
One Year ago this weekend, Titus and I flew from Huntsville, AL to Boise, ID -- beginning a 40-day trip that connected us with many of our support churches in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California.
One Year ago this weekend, we flew into Boise and met Pastor Tom Dougherty (Cloverdale Church of God) and his family. Titus and I have many happy memories from this first host church:
We went from the airport to have lunch with Pastor Tom, eating at Big Juds (see video) -- our kids are fans of Man vs. Food so Titus immediately recognized the place and thought it was so cool to be eating there (no, we didn't try the Big Jud--but we were just as impressed with the smaller versions).
We watched the Boise State game with the Dougherty's at one of favorite host's home (the wonderful Wes and Tricia Curtis) while constantly flipping the remote back to the Alabama-LSU game ;). Titus has a Boise State hat in his collection direct from a very generous Pastor Tom.
We had the chance to worship with Cloverdale, and then return on a Wednesday night for their kids program and Bible study. In between, Pastor Tom loaned us his van for a wonderful father and son trip through western Oregon and into western Washington, during which we met with churches along the way.
Good memories, great people, and amazing sights were a part of that trip one year ago -- and, the relationships have continued.
Thanks to all of you who not only hosted and served us, but loved and included us into your church families. We are continually blessed by your interest, partnership, and prayers.
