To play down sectarian tensions is a dangerous strategy. What is needed is to address the facts squarely, not brush them beneath the carpet. Inequities exist: they need to be recognised and then tackled. Mosques and churches have turned into political arenas. It can be argued that this has happened because political parties have been decimated by the state, are in shambles or else are clueless. What cannot be denied, though, is that in the current situation a few sparks can quickly set off a bonfire, as happened when Muslim crowds attacked a church and Coptic shops last week in Alexandria. The urge to violence is not confined to religion. Football fans in Cairo recently attacked the residence of a club chairman and beat his daughter. National Democratic Party supporters have clashed with opposition members in the streets. There is an undercurrent of violence in our society that must be addressed. Muslim and Coptic fanatics view all but their strictest co-religionists as ungodly. And unless we do something about the fanaticism that has led to this situation tragic incidents of the type seen in Alexandria will be repeated. Police intervention can only do so much. The problem is much bigger than one of preventing crime. One cause of sectarian tensions is that the government is weak. It does not want to be seen to be punishing Muslim fanatics for fear of alienating the Muslim public. It does not want to punish Coptic fanatics for fear of foreign pressure fomented by expatriate groups. Meanwhile, the problem festers. There are those who use mosques to stir up conflict, feeding young people a diet of hatred. Despite protestations to the contrary, the Muslim Brotherhood must take some of the blame for this morbid attitude. Neither is the Coptic Church blameless. For the past few years the church has been appropriating a political role to which, as a religious institution, it is ill-suited. It is hard to believe that a CD of a two-year-old theatrical performance could provoke such an outcry. Yet it did, and it did so because there are fanatics, on both sides of the equation, who believe they will benefit from sectarian conflict.
