The Coptic Orthodox Church has expressed its resentment at the fact that the producers of the "Beyt Beytak" [Make yourselves at home] program ignored an invitation made by the program presenter, Mahmoud Saad, to Shubra el-Kheima Bishop Mark, president of the Media Committee at the Holy Synod, to talk on Saturday's program about Christian teachings as is the case with Islam. The program is broadcast on the Egyptian TV channel. A source at the pontifical office of the Coptic Church said Pope Shenouda was very interested in that invitation. According to the source, this was the first time a Christian clergyman would have talked about Christian teachings on the Egyptian TV. In previous programs, Christian personalities had just been able to talk on public occasions, without touching on Christian teachings. The source said to Al-Masry Al-Youm: "Surprisingly, the program has ignored its promise and did not refer to it at all during the program. This proves one more time that State-owned media continues obscuring whatever concerns Christianity in Egypt." For his part, Bishop Mark said the Church has been receiving many calls from Copts in Egypt and abroad since Mr. Saad's invitation last week. He said they were all very happy about that initiative.
He said: "No one from the program, though, phoned us to arrange the meeting or to tell us when to show up to shoot. So we phoned, but a staff member from the program informed us that the section had been put off indefinitely as the program would host the Egyptian national team on the same day. This means their invitation was dead in the cradle and they didn't even bother to apologize."
The Egyptian Federation for Human Rights has issued a statement on what it called the farce of the disdain for Coptic Bishops. It stressed that what happened is nothing new for the Egyptian State-owned media, which has been marginalizing Copts for several decades and preventing them from expressing their culture, identity and beliefs. The Federation said the Egyptian State-owned media has also been reducing Coptic history, which stretches for almost 1,000 years, to just two or three meetings a year with the Pope, or to just broadcasting the Mass on Christian holidays. According to the Federation, this contravenes the principles of citizenship as fostered by President Hosni Mubarak. The Union President, Naguib Gabriel, said he sent a letter to Information Minister Anas Al-Fiqi to condemn how the Egyptian TV ignored Bishop Mark. He stressed that what the Egyptian television is doing is against freedom of expression and opinion and against the principle of equality as enshrined in the Egyptian Constitution. Last week, the "Beyt Beytak" program had called Bishop Mark and talked about the Pope backing the idea of switching off medical ventilators for clinically-dead people. After the interview, Bishop Mark said: "The Copts would like to have a section in your outstanding program to teach Christianity, like their Muslim brothers." "The program invites you next Saturday - meaning the day before yesterday - to talk about Christian teachings" Saad said.
Saad himself then added: "Christianity is a beautiful and great religion; we all respect and recognize it, no one denies its presence in our life and it conveys a great message."
